Cape Cod man says he was swallowed whole by humpback whale: ‘I was completely inside’

It’s a whale of tale.

A Massachusetts man diving off the coast of Cape Cod said he was swallowed whole Friday morning by a humpback whale.

“I was completely inside. It was completely black,” Michael Packard told the Cape Cod Times. “I thought to myself, ‘There’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’”

Packard, 56, works as a lobster diver, meaning he physically dives to the sea floor and picks lobsters off the bottom, the Cape Cod Times reported.

Michael Packard poses with a lobster, not a whale.
Michael Packard poses with a lobster, not a whale.


Michael Packard poses with a lobster, not a whale. (Facebook/)

He was working Friday morning when he surprisingly found himself impersonating Jonah, he told the newspaper.

“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” Packard said. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.”

Packard spent about 30 seconds in the whale’s mouth before it surfaced and spit him out, he said in a Facebook post.

His work partner, Josiah Mayo, boated over and picked him out of the water, the Cape Cod Times reported. Packard suffered several soft tissues injuries but no broken bones, and was released from a local hospital by Friday afternoon.

First responders confirmed that they got a 911 call about a whale incident Friday morning, according to the Cape Cod Times. Experts told the paper that humpback whales usually avoid people, and this one probably gobbled up Packard by mistake.

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