TSA Officer Gets a Shock Upon Discovering Cannonballs in a Traveler’s Luggage – “Never Seen Anything Quite This Unique”
Perhaps the Weirdest Luggage Find Ever
People can travel with remarkably odd things at times, but one Transportation Security Administration officer recently found what may be the strangest luggage items ever. The items in question? Cannonballs from the Civil War.
Lead TSA Officer Justin Dupree received quite the shock while scanning luggage at Gulf Shores International Airport (JKA) in Alabama. When X-raying luggage, he saw what he first thought might be medicine balls, but soon realized were a handful of small cannonballs. The five cannonballs were bundled inside paper towels.
Dupree, who has been an officer with the TSA for four years, stated in the TSA’s Employee Stories, “I had never seen anything quite this unique. I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.”
How Did the TSA Respond to the Cannonballs?
Dupree immediately called a supervisor over after the cannonballs set off a security alarm. He explained in the Employee Stories, “My first thought was, ‘I couldn’t see a fuse and need to get some help quick. I couldn’t see the entire item but was scared I might have been holding a live explosive.”
Supervisory TSA Officer Richard Cash took one look at the cannonballs before he started making calls. He first contacted the TSA explosives specialist for the region, as well as assistant federal security director-law enforcement. They requested he immediately contact the local police to see if a bomb squad was necessary.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office was quick to show up. Thankfully, the cannonballs didn’t contain any explosive materials, so there was no danger of them going off. However, they still couldn’t board the airplane because the TSA prohibits passengers from bringing artillery munitions on board.
Where Did the Cannonballs Come From?
As if traveling with cannonballs wasn’t unusual enough, how they came to be in the luggage in the first place was even more bizarre.
After the initial dust settled, police investigated the incident and discovered someone had taken the artillery from Fort Morgan. This historic fort played a significant role in a number of conflicts, including the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Now a historic landmark, it is also a tourist site.
However, police said the person whose luggage contained the cannonballs claimed they didn’t know how someone had taken them. Whatever way they ended up in the luggage, though, they eventually found their way back to Fort Morgan via the police department.
(feature image: TSA JKA)
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