A decades-old keepsake sitting inside a Paxton home turned out to be something far more dangerous than a family memento: an unspent World War I artillery shell, roughly 110 years old, that had been handed down from the homeowner's grandfather. The discovery on Wednesday triggered an emergency response involving local, state and military personnel before the shell was hauled away for destruction.
The homeowner realized the old shell posed a hazard and immediately called Massachusetts State Police, according to WCVB. State police then coordinated a response with local, state and military personnel to safely remove the item from the residence, the station reported. The shell had come from the homeowner's grandfather.
Officials said the roughly 110-year-old shell presented a serious risk within the home and required specialized handling by trained explosive ordnance personnel, the station's report states. Despite the danger, there were no reports of any injuries, and at no point was there any danger to the neighboring homes, per the same account.
Bomb Squad, Fire Crews and Air Reserve Experts Respond
The response drew on more than just state police. According to the Telegram & Gazette, the operation was carried out in coordination with the State Police Bomb Squad, the Paxton Fire Department and ordnance experts from Westover Air Reserve Base. That level of coordination reflects just how seriously authorities treat century-old munitions, even ones that spent decades sitting unnoticed on a shelf or in a closet.
Accounts differ slightly on the shell's final status. WCVB reported that the artillery shell was transported to Devens, where it will be destroyed under controlled conditions, while the Telegram & Gazette reported that authorities transported the shell to Devens, where it was destroyed under controlled conditions. Either way, the shell is no longer inside the Paxton home that housed it for generations.
Why Old War Relics Still Pose a Threat
The Paxton Fire Department warned that many old military relics remain unstable even more than 100 years after they were manufactured, according to the WCVB report. That warning lines up with guidance from the state: Massachusetts policy notes that the U.S. Coast Guard and State Police Bomb Squad have specific protocols to deal with munitions and other unexploded ordnance, per mass.gov.
The U.S. Army has echoed similar caution on a national level, noting there are many stories where improper handling of unexploded ordnance, including war relics or old munitions believed to be safe, has proven deadly, according to army.mil. Officials reminded the public not to touch or move old military munitions, explosives or suspicious items, and to contact emergency authorities instead.
Not an Isolated Incident in Massachusetts
Paxton's discovery is far from a one-off in the region. Just weeks earlier, an unexploded artillery shell was found inside a home on Douglas Avenue in Maynard, Massachusetts, on September 10, according to the Lowell Sun. The Maynard Police and Fire Departments and the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad responded, and the bomb squad confirmed the ordnance was live before transporting it to a secluded location off Pine Hill Road, where it was safely detonated at about 5:30 p.m.
A similar case surfaced outside the state too. In Jordan, New York, Todd Platten found a World War II-era artillery shell in the basement of a home his parents had owned before they died on August 4, where it had sat for more than 80 years, according to syracuse.com. That shell and its shipping cap were eventually handed off to Fort Drum's 754th Ordnance Company and later detonated. Together, the incidents in Paxton, Maynard and Jordan show how often decades-old wartime souvenirs resurface in American homes, long after the families who kept them forgot — or never knew — just how dangerous they could still be.
