Garden Ordnance Find Goes for a Ride

Glasglow, Scotland a gardener / handyman working on a residential property in Pollok came across a rusty projectile buried in the landscaping. Curiosity got the best of him and he asked the homeowners if he could keep the rusty relic. The homeowners did not object so the young man put the projectile in his backpack.

After finishing work for the day, the gardener rode home on his bike which was five minutes away. A few days later, the young man showed his find to nearby neighbors who became concerned advising him to report the find to the police.

Thankfully, the advice was followed and the find was reported sparking off an emergency response and evacuation of the area. An EOD unit was called in for technical support to remove the ordnance for proper disposal (specific type not reported).

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Lobstermen Trap MK29 off the Coast of Maine

Cushing, Maine Two lobstermen got quite a shock when they discovered a military rocket stuck in their traps. Captain Cameron Pease and his stern man were aboard his boat, the Beverly E, when Pease found something tangled in his trawler's rope. That "something" turned out to be a 5-ft rocket, weighing about 150 pounds.

He did not immediately contact authorities, but instead kept it in his boat all day then loaded it onto his truck bed and brought it home. According to a Maine State Police social media post, Pease contacted a local warden the next day who then contacted the State Police Bomb Squad.

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Bomb Squad Responds to Remove Goodwill Grenade

Round Lake Beach, Illinois Police were called to a Goodwill store after an employee found a hand grenade while going through donations at the store. The store was evacuated, and the Waukegan Bomb Squad was called in to x-ray the device for explosives.

According to police, the grenade had been hollowed out but plugged, so they were not sure if it was live initially. The bomb squad did deem it inert and safely removed the device. Police Chief Wayne Wilde urged anyone who needs to discard old munitions to contact police, not take them to Goodwill.

Man Arrested for Posting WWII Incendiary Bomb on Online Auction Site

Southampton, England A civilian who discovered a munition while using his metal detector thought he could make a few bucks from the find by posting the item for sale on an on-line auction site. Luckily for everyone, a military collector recognized the device in the item as a live WWII era German incendiary bomb and promptly notified authorities. The British Army's bomb squad responded and evacuated the neighborhood around the man's home.

According to reports, the man listed the ordnance on the auction site with the price starting at 15 pounds (approximately $18). Military collector Ralf Sherwin saw the listing and sent the following message to the man - "Mate, do you realize that's not de-activated  it's live!". The military collector described what happened to reporters covering the story, "I went into great detail about that fact that you could see the iron oxide seeping out of the air holes and the join. In the nose there's a detonator, and once that dries out, it will go off, and I told him he wouldn't be able to put it out. After that, I expected him to take it down and call the police, but the idiot completely ignored me and carried on selling it. What was he going to do if someone bought it  cover it in bubble wrap and post it off in a Jiffy bag?"

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No Deal for Pawn Shop Customer on WWI Projectile

North Port, Florida The North Port Police Department (NPPD) was called to a pawn shop after a customer brought in ordnance. Traffic jams ensued as Northbound traffic was rerouted in the area while U.S. Air Force EOD responded to inspect the projectile.

"The device found turned out to be a WWI anti-ship personnel round which had never been fired," police said. "An individual had attempted to sell the device at a nearby pawn shop who informed them that it could be dangerous. The individual then called NPPD."

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Butt Bomb - the Sequel

Toulon, France No, your eyes are not deceiving you, there has been another report of a man being admitted to the hospital for a war relic lodged in his rectum. It seemed certain that our last report of such a strange incident would be an anomaly, but a French hospital was partially evacuated after an elderly man arrived with a WWI artillery shell in his "bottom."

The 88-year-old patient came into the Hospital Sainte Musse in Toulon to have the explosive removed, sparking a "bomb scare." In a statement a hospital spokesperson said, "An emergency occurred from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday evening that required the intervention of bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and pediatric emergencies as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies."

"We had to manage the risk in a reactive framework," the spokesperson said, "When in doubt, we took all the precautions."

Bomb disposal responded to the scene and determined there was little possibility the shell would explode inside the man. "They reassured us by telling us that it was a collector's item from the First World War, used by the French military," the hospital stated.

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Man Buys $3 Civil War-era Ordnance from Scrap Yard

Asheville, North Carolina A Civil War-era artifact recently bought by an Asheville man turned out to be a live explosive. The Asheville Police Department (APD) Bomb Squad responded to a home in east Asheville after John Miller, who bought the 12-pound sphere item for three dollars from a scrap yard, grew suspicious of the device.

According to Miller, it rolled around in the back of his van for a few days before he decided to take a closer look. "I was getting a little nervous about it because I realized it wasn't a normal cannonball, as I assumed it was," he said.

Although the artifact appeared to be a cannonball, Joe Silberman, APD bomb squad commander said it actually was not. He explained, "It's a 4-and-2/3-inch bursting shell, or case shot. The way this would work, it was fitted with a fuse, it would be loaded into a piece of artillery, like a cannon, and it would be fired, and it would explode overhead on a battlefield," Silberman said. "If you harassed [it] enough or did certain things to it, like tried to drill into it or cut into it, it could have exploded."

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Military Explosives Found in Salvaged Car Door

Flint, Michigan A Flint man got quite a shock when he discovered military grade explosives in the door of a car door he purchased from a junk yard. According to Flint Police Chief Terence Green, the unidentified man found military grade C4 explosives stashed in the door while attempting to install it.

Green said, "Indeed this is military grade C4 explosives they are very dangerous and hazardous." The Flint Police Department's bomb squad responded to take custody of the explosives soon after the man reported the find.

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Man Drives Found Ordnance To Police Station

Normandy, France A man do some planting and gardening at his house came across two WWII era munitions. Rather than calling the police to report the find, the man took it upon himself to drive the munitions in the backseat of his car to the police station.

The police officers evacuated the station and notified their cognizant bomb disposal team for assistance. After reviewing photos of the munitions, the bomb technicians instructed the police to move the ordnance to a container filled with sand away from the building and guard them until the bomb squad could arrive to properly dispose of them.

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Man Brings Home Unexploded Artillery Round

Berry Springs, Australia An Australian man is lucky after the UXO he found and brought home was safely detonated by bomb experts. He reportedly called authorities to let them know that he had transported the 25-pound explosive from the Manton Dam area back to his Berry Springs residence approximately 18 miles away.

Police immediately responded to the residence where they determined that the explosive artillery round used in WWII was "unsafe to travel long distances". According to a statement from Superintendent Shaun Gill, "A nearby block of land was cordoned off and the device was safely detonated."

Gill added that the public should never move any unexploded devices they might come across, "If the public ever come across or have any suspicions about military ordnance, it's important not to move them and call the police immediately. Instead of moving the device, mark the exact location and contact authorities who will attend and safely remove the item."

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