New Museum Curator Makes Explosive Discovery

Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana A new employee at the Berrien Springs County Plaza Museum in Berrien Springs, Michigan got some interesting "on-the-job" training when he came across an artifact marked with a sticky-note stating, "Danger, it may be active." The curator was sorting through old inventory when he found the Civil War cannon ball with the note attached.

He immediately notified the museum director, Rhiannon Cizon. Cizon's first thought was, "This is not good." Cizon went on to say, "He then told me that there were three more where this came from." Other munitions were also discovered that had the potential of still being active.

Grissom Air Reserve Base EOD was then notified. "We could tell from photos that the munitions had the potential of being live," said Staff Sgt. Rogerito Miravete-Disantis, 434th Civil Engineer Squadron EOD technician and team lead for the incident. "This type of cannon ball in particular often contains an internal charge that can be unstable due to the age and condition of the device."

A five-member team responded, and through they were not 100 percent sure the munitions were live, a decision was made to treat them as such due to the potential threat. The items were rendered all safe, much to the relief of the museum staff.