Never mind WWII ordnance, how about those Civil War "relics"?

[Stoic]

Civil War Relics Collector Killed in Richmond-Area Blast

Chesterfield County Police said neighbors reported the explosion Monday afternoon after hearing the blast and then finding the victim fatally injured in his backyard near a detached garage.

Police identified the victim Tuesday as Samuel H. White, 53.

Authorities found other unexploded military ordnance at the house, and evacuated about two dozen homes nearby until authorities could determine the area was safe. Police spokeswoman Ann Reid said the evacuation would remain in effect indefinitely.

140+ years later, the Civil War is still killing people.

[Squatch]

1. Fort Monroe, VA...currently on the BRAC list for closure

"There is a large amount of unexploded ordnance buried throughout Fort Monroe and much of it pre-dates the Civil War - and it was put there by the Union Army. There are documented findings of ordnance buried as far down as ten feet on Fort Monroe and under structures that are on the National Register of Historic Places -- possibly including the Catholic Church on the Post. How do you clean buried ordnance under historically significant structures?"

Link

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Although, I would hazard a guess that 140+ year old black powder munitions buried at or below sea level have been rendered largely inert.

[Teaser]

2. that's crazy

.

[Ian David]

3. Welcome to The Darwin Awards, Mr. White!

I feel bad for the guy and his family.

But keeping unexploded relics in the garage is Darwin waiting to happen.

[Alcibiades]

6. My thoughts exactly

I was already typing the post below when I got a phone call, so you beat me to the punch. :)

[NoPasaran]

4. Holy Parrott Shells, Batman!

White ran a Web site called Sam White Relics. The site contains photos of various relics for sale, such as Civil War artillery shells, cannonballs, bullets and other artifacts.

White said on the site he "will disarm, clean, and preserve your Civil War period and earlier military ordinance" for about $35 a piece.

"I've done approx. 500 artillery projectiles and still have all my fingers (I must be doing something right, knock on wood)!" the site states.

I guess it only takes one mistake.

[Alcibiades]

5. Darwin award nominee

Though a man at age 53 is likely to have already spread his genes, so we get no evolutionary benefit from this.

I'm guessing this is how he would have wanted to go. What higher honor can there be for a collector of civil war memorabilia than to be killed by an actual piece of civil war memorabilia?

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If you read the story, it says that: "White ran a Web site called Sam White Relics. The site contains photos of various relics for sale, such as Civil War artillery shells, cannonballs, bullets and other artifacts.

White said on the site he "will disarm, clean, and preserve your Civil War period and earlier military ordinance" for about $35 a piece.

"I've done approx. 500 artillery projectiles and still have all my fingers (I must be doing something right, knock on wood)!" the site states.

Neighbor Brian Dunkerly told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that a chunk of the ordnance flew into the air and smashed through the front-porch roof of his home about one-quarter-mile away. The piece of metal -- weighing close to 15 pounds -- then shattered his glass front door, hit the interior wood floor and bounced to the ceiling before coming to rest in the center of his living room."

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This guy was running a business disarming unexploded military ordinance from his home! As Mr. Spock would say, double-dumbass on him. I feel sympathy for his family, as I'm sure some of them must have had the sense to say to him "Sam, isn't defusing live bombs on your property just a crazy thing to do?" I'm glad that none of his neighbors were hurt by his extreme foolishness. I do wonder if he had any training or the proper facilities. I kinda doubt it. This sort of activity is heavily regulated--just look up the rules on to setting up your own black powder manufacturing operation and you'll see what I mean.

[NightWatcher]

7. I'm scared of the 'possible' H-Bomb that is offshore my beach

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0803-08.htm

The Case of the Missing H-Bomb

On the night of February 5, 1958 a B-47 Stratojet bomber carrying a hydrogen bomb on a night training flight off the Georgia coast collided with an F-86 Saberjet fighter at 36,000 feet. The collision destroyed the fighter and severely damaged a wing of the bomber, leaving one of its engines partially dislodged. The bomber's pilot, Maj. Howard Richardson, was instructed to jettison the H-bomb before attempting a landing. Richardson dropped the bomb into the shallow waters of Warsaw Sound, near the mouth of the Savannah River, a few miles from the city of Tybee Island, where he believed the bomb would be swiftly recovered.

The Pentagon recorded the incident in a top secret memo to the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The memo has been partially declassified: "A B-47 aircraft with a nuclear weapon aboard was damaged in a collision with an F-86 aircraft near Sylvania, Georgia, on February 5, 1958. The B-47 aircraft attempted three times unsuccessfully to land with the weapon. The weapon was then jettisoned visually over water off the mouth of the Savannah River. No detonation was observed."

Soon search and rescue teams were sent to the site. Warsaw Sound was mysteriously cordoned off by Air Force troops. For six weeks, the Air Force looked for the bomb without success. Underwater divers scoured the depths, troops tromped through nearby salt marshes, and a blimp hovered over the area attempting to spot a hole or crater in the beach or swamp. Then just a month later, the search was abruptly halted. The Air Force sent its forces to Florence, South Carolina, where another H-bomb had been accidentally dropped by a B-47. The bomb's 200 pounds of TNT exploded on impact, sending radioactive debris across the landscape. The explosion caused extensive property damage and several injuries on the ground. Fortunately, the nuke itself didn't detonate.

The search teams never returned to Tybee Island, and the affair of the missing H-bomb was discreetly covered up. The end of the search was noted in a partially declassified memo from the Pentagon to the AEC, in which the Air Force politely requested a new H-bomb to replace the one it had lost. "The search for this weapon was discontinued on 4-16-58 and the weapon is considered irretrievably lost. It is requested that one weapon be made available for release to the DOD as a replacement."

[Stoic]

8. There's probably a 1 in a Billion chance that could go off...

...by accident. Heat or an electric current wouldn't set it off, but ten thousand years from now, if someone came across the remnants, they would die from radiation exposure.

[Stoic]

9. Heh, you should see all the civil war artillery shells for sale on Ebay

and the claims they have been "defused". Defused by who?!