Seattle Now: Dave & Dave and the midnight orca ride

A story about a man named Dave, another four guys named Dave, and two majestic killer whales taken from the Northwest.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Hey, good morning. It's Patricia Murphy. It's Monday. This is Seattle Now.

Welcome to summer. We're in store for a beautiful day in Seattle. The kind of picture perfect postcard day that's just begging for killer whales frolicking in Puget Sound. And if you've ever wondered what it might be like to see orcas up close, I mean really close. We got a story for you. That's coming up in just a minute. First, let's get you caught up.

Drink plenty of water today National Weather Service's morning temperatures will likely hit the 90s we might even break some records. Seattle Times says 89 is the number to beat for today's all time high. Don't race out to buy the box fan though we'll dip back down to the 70s until things start to move into the 80s again closer to the weekend.

Seattle is putting off the question of how to unwind the pandemic landlord-renters situation by another three months. On Friday, Mayor Durkin extended the city's eviction ban until September 30, it was due to expire in just over a week. The moratorium is meant to help struggling renters by making sure they don't lose a roof over their heads. But some mom and pop landlords are struggling to0 trying to hold on to their properties. There's also pressure on Governor Inslee to extend the state's eviction ban which is set to expire at the end of June.

And the New York Times reports that there's a petition to try to get Jeff Bezos to buy and eat the Mona Lisa. The petition on Change.org began as a joke by a Maryland man out with friends at an Applebee's, it states nobody has eaten the Mona Lisa and we feel Jeff Bezos needs to take a stand and make this happen. As of late Sunday, it had almost 12,000 signatures, which proves that you can get 12,000 people to sign anything. The Mona Lisa is valued at about $850 million. Just a fraction of Bezos is estimated $200 billion fortune. A spokesperson for the Louvre Museum told the times it has no comment.

Today, we're telling a story that's a little different for us. It's a story about a man named Dave and two majestic killer whales. I couldn't imagine it happening today because our southern residents, the Orca that the Lummi view as family are beloved. But up until 1976, you could capture killer whales haul them off and sell them to private theme parks, and if you've ever seen an orca show, there's a good chance that killer whale or its relatives came from here captured from the Salish Sea. Nearly 300 were captured in this region. Many ended up in California, which is where this story begins.

MARINELAND AUDIO: Dawn, and another beautiful day welcoming you to Marineland.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Marineland, like SeaWorld, was all about giving visitors an up close view of ocean life.

MARINELAND AUDIO: Marineland is an unusual place. It lets us observe fascinating creatures who we otherwise may never have a chance to see.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Marineland was home to two killer whales, Orky and Corky two Northern resident workers who were captured and sold to the park in Rancho Pallas Verdes, a suburb south of Los Angeles. Orky and Corky were a big draw. The big draw.

MARINELAND AUDIO: Ladies and gentleman it's Orky (crowd applauding)

PATRICIA MURPHY: Fans came from everywhere to see the killer whales. Dave Mulligan was one of them. Dave was a longtime local, it was the mid 80s. Dave was 25, and at this point, he was staying with his mom.

DAVE MULLIGAN: I was a bit of a ne'er do well.

PATRICIA MURPHY: He felt a drift and wasn't really sure what his future held., and he'd spend time staring out from his mom's house at a perfect view of Marineland.

DAVE MULLIGAN: It was right in the center of our view, I was lucky enough to grow up in a place on the coast, and the --- we had over 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean. Catalina Island right out there in the middle, and beneath that on the edge of the peninsula, below our house, was Marineland.

PATRICIA MURPHY: One day while staring out at that view. Dave came up with a great idea. Five friends a fancy party, a hat tip to the good old days.

DAVE MULLIGAN: Well, it was a celebration of Dave really it was five Daves that had grown up together, and we wanted to reach back and sort of have a fun event about just the fact that five of us were all named Dave. So one of my buddies had a dinner at his house where he had grown up his mom cooked it all for us and that's where the night began with the Dave dinner.

PATRICIA MURPHY: After dinner. They had a few drinks and Dave, the main Dave of this story had an idea.

DAVE MULLIGAN: At last call for alcohol, we got together and I said hey, let's relive the old days when we were kids and got in trouble in school sneak into Marineland.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Sneaking into Marineland was something Dave had done many times when he was younger.

DAVE MULLIGAN: It was really fun to sneak in, jumped the fence and they had security that would cruise around with flashlights, and so it was you know, like being in a movie hiding in a bush. As you know, the security guard goes by with his flashlight panning around-- and so we did that quite a few times.

PATRICIA MURPHY: So at two in the morning, it was decided and all five Dave's snuck into marine land. As main Dave headed to the Orca tank some of the other Dave's had second thoughts.

DAVE MULLIGAN: One other Dave join me down there and the rest of the Dave's fled into the night.

PATRICIA MURPHY: The two remaining Dave's undeterred approached the Orca tank still in their celebratory dinner clothes.

DAVE MULLIGAN: We were wearing ties, and I was wearing penny loafers and slacks.

PATRICIA MURPHY: And then main Dave pulled out an old trick he knew from back in the day,

DAVE MULLIGAN: I wanted to do this thing that I'd done when I was younger, and I put my hand under the water and snap my fingers, and the two giant killer whales It was Orky and Corky, a male and a female, Orky was the largest killer whale ever in captivity over 30 feet long, just a massive, beautiful beast, and they both dropped beneath the surface and then showed up right in front of us with their mouths open thinking they were gonna get fed. But we didn't have any fish or anything. So we just started petting them.

PATRICIA MURPHY: These whales were familiar with humans and friendly, but Dave didn't stop there, and this part may sound crazy. But Dave says he and the whale connected.

DAVE MULLIGAN: And as I was petting it, I just had this sense like, I think it wants me to get on its back. I -- I think it really wants some company. So I did it without even really announcing it I just said sort of here I go and took a deep breath and got on and my buddy Dave. He was like, Mullo what are you doing Mullo. So I was, you know, sort of hyperventilating a little bit, so excited. I look back over my shoulder. As this whale took off and went started going around the tank. I looked back and said to the other day, Dave Berg, I said, get on the other one get on the other one, so he did and it just was sort of an exhilarating, spontaneous moment to get on.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Picture it the two days riding orky and Corky two men in suits, and loafers and ties, riding on the backs of killer whales in the middle of the night.

DAVE MULLIGAN: Well, sometimes they were moving very quickly and other times they would just sort of loll around or roll over on their back.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Maybe it was the alcohol maybe it was the exuberance of youth, but the Dave's were not afraid. They jumped off the whales swam alongside them got back on again.

DAVE MULLIGAN: Suddenly, I realized oh, this isn't Corky, this is Orky. So yeah, so we'd switch off and then we'd stand on their back and surf you know, pretending like you know, putting the hands out like this and nananananana.

*surfer music*

And uh, other times sitting back against the dorsal fin like it was a big lounge chair, and I remember one time saying, hey, Dave, I wonder what the other Daves are doing. And he just laughed. Oh, Mullo this is great. So we did it was about a half an hour in the water, all speeds all kind of you know, did the only time it was ever a little bit, ... Not scary, but a little bit disconcerting, I'd say floating there and they were both gone. They were just underneath and couldn't see either one of them, and then I looked down and I could see just a big shadow and then a white patch. And then as it went by underneath me just looking at me and I thought yeah, that's a --that's a giant killer whale. Right. Right under me in the water.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Yeah, yeah. Massive creature. Dave massive creature. Eventually, you guys were loud enough to attract some attention, right?

DAVE MULLIGAN: Yes, they heard laughter and it was security, and it was a big security guard. Big heavyset guy and he had with him a young gal. It was your first night she was in training. So they heard laughter and he said, we have to go investigate that. What? There shouldn't be laughter at 2:30 in the morning coming from the killer whale arena. So I was standing up surfing on Orky I believe at that point, which is the male, and I suddenly heard this "get off, get off the whale" and I looked up and there he was the big fella leaning over the side with his gun trained right on me. He had a pistol in his hand holding it with both hands and he was terrified, and and I'm moving at this time. Keep in mind so we're going around the tank clockwise, in case you're keeping track, and he was jogging along the railing leaning down with the gun pointed at me screaming "get off the whale, get off the whale" and I said okay, relax, relax it I put my hands up, as you do. The other Dave of had gotten off he got off right at the platform because that's where he was when he heard that the screaming and the-- the --the officer, I guess you'd call them the security guard. So he got right off and they came down to the little ladder onto the platform and I eventually got over there when Orky brought me over, I got off. And normally, in those situations, when I get in trouble in those days, I would just run away. You know, there's no way this guy was gonna catch me. But he was --had his gun on me and he and I didn't want to get shot over a killer whale ride. So I just, I let him handcuff me, and Dave was already handcuffed, and so he just he went along with that I let him cuff me and then then it was just chaos because he was on the radio "uh, this is Bob, uh there, there are two swimmers in the killer whale tank. They're wearing ties uh they're-- and so it was like what can you repeat that you know, coming over the radio and so they didn't know if it was a drowning if if there were more people in there if anybody had been eaten, so it was just a helicopter showed up at about eight minutes. From both sides you can see we're at it on a peninsula. You can see inland you can see siren lights, hear them and coming from both directions and soon it was the cops and paramedics and firemen and a helicopter and the news. So it really ---all hell broke loose.

PATRICIA MURPHY: So what was the fallout from your experience?

DAVE MULLIGAN: Well, legally, all I was charged with was trespassing. So the cops took us and they didn't like us for whatever reason they were really pissed off. They --they thought it was really cocky or arrogant and so they were rather abusive. So yeah, they took us in the back of the car and they tried to they were driving through a bumpy area called Portuguese band, a landslide area, so super bumpy and they were hitting the bumps as hard as they could and just laughing they're two deputies.

PATRICIA MURPHY: They're giving you the royal treatment.

DAVE MULLIGAN: It's the royal treatment they and they loved it. So that was you know, we got and we're processed and put in a cell and of course it was the old stereotypical "hey, what are you in for? Riding a killer whale?" Oh, bullshit, you know, none of the other drunks or whatever they're in for believe this, but I smelled like seawater and whale poo. That was I think eventually it was it was convincing because I was soggy. My wool slacks.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Yeah, you probably smelled great because they are fragrant creatures.

DAVE MULLIGAN: Yeah. Yeah. The water was. It's a bit pungent.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Yeah, definitely. You know, Dave, you wrote a memoir, where you talked about this and you talked a little bit about the deeper motivation and one of the reasons you actually felt like you probably did this.

DAVE MULLIGAN: Yeah. Well, it was after the death of my father who --- I was --- my father and I were very close and he was only 55 years old. He was a Hollywood writer, comedy writer, producer. And he passed away with no warning at 55 in on our condo, we actually have a condo or did up in Lake Tahoe so he was up there on a date night with my mom, and she went out to get a pizza and came back and he had left his body. So it's, you know, we're still dealing with it, but I think part of the reason I did that, I suppose. You know, it's easy to psychoanalyze, in retrospect, but just acting out, being a prankster missing my dad.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Do you follow the developments with the whales up here? Do you still follow killer whales?

DAVE MULLIGAN: Uh, yeah, and I've read a lot about them, you know, people giving me gifts, even years later. "Oh, yeah, I heard about your killer whale thing, have you ever read this or sending me links?" So I understand how they're studied, how they're followed how their pods are families are given names and the characteristics of their, of their tail, their --their dorsal fins, all those things that I've that I've since learned, and, you know, I might know some of that anyway, because again, I'm an animal lover and follower. Not certainly in any professional level, but just as an amateur, somebody who's curious about those things.

PATRICIA MURPHY: You know, David it's so funny, because there are so many ways to think about the things we did when we were young. But there are always greater truths in --in all of it. I think, for some of us, at least in an examined life. What do you think about now when you think back about this time?

DAVE MULLIGAN: Uh, it's a good question and I know that I --I could have, I could have been injured. I know that people remind me that, but it was just reflective of who I was at that time. I was a little crazy, I was a little lost after the death of my father. And it was, I guess, a little bit of a pivotal point. And I think after that I realized I got to make some changes and I so I think it did help shape me and I've I checked on Orky and Corky over the years. Orky the big male, he passed away, almost right away after being Greenland was sold just months after we did the ride, the fateful Midnight Ride. SeaWorld took possession of the of the two whales and put them in big trucks with tanks in the back, brought them down to San Diego and Orky, he passed away soon thereafter, but I've thought about them many times and I even wondered perhaps selfishly. If they remembered us for that strange Midnight Ride those those crazy drunks in their in their neckties.

PATRICIA MURPHY: And penny loafers.

DAVE MULLIGAN: They were my father's, you know, part of that same story I was wearing. I was wearing his shoes because I missed him.

PATRICIA MURPHY: Wow, wow. I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate it.

DAVE MULLIGAN: I appreciate your time as well. Thank you so much.

PATRICIA MURPHY: A lots changed since Dave's orca ride. Thankfully, it's no longer the 80s and it's no longer legal to capture orcas here, thanks to activists who raised awareness to their plight, and of course, the love and adoration cultivated from seeing them up close.

Thanks for listening to Seattle Now, if you like this show, tell a friend about us or leave us a review.

Caroline Chamberlain Gomez produced this episode. Our production team is Claire McGrane, Diana Opong and Jason Pagano. Matt Jorgensen does our theme music.

I'm Patricia Murphy. See you soon.

GUEST: Dave Mulligan, author of Mulligan's Wake

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