Man 'ran for the hills' after finding live civil war shell

13 February 2023 , 09:10

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Park spokesman Jason Martz said it "could have easily killed a dozen people" (Image: Gettysburg National Military Park)

An archaeologist was horrified to find a live artillery round buried under dirt at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Park spokesman Jason Martz said it "could have easily killed a dozen people" as the whole area was cleared.

Archaeologist Steven Brann and his team had planned to rehabilitate a famous area of the Civil War battlefield known as Little Round Top and made the shocking discovery while sweeping the grounds ahead of the work.

While digging the area, his metal detector started alerting to an object before he unearthed the intact, still-live four-and-a-half-kilo artillery shell.

Penn Live reports that it likely dates back to the 1863 battle that claimed about 51,000 casualties over three days of fighting and the spokesman called it "an extremely rare find."

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Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (Corbis via Getty Images)

Mr Brann “laid it gently on the ground, took a picture of it and ran for the hills,” Mr Martz told CNN.

Park rangers then contacted members of the US Army’s 55th Ordnance Company, who travelled 92 miles from their headquarters to remove the shell, according to an Army press release.

The shell was brought to safety and then blown up.

Once officials determined the area was safe they were able to open up the roads again.

The shell was brought to safety and then blown up. (Gettysburg National Military Park)

Booker said the company responds to about 50 calls per year to remove unexploded ordnance. It last went to Gettysburg in August 2022, when another artillery shell was found lodged in a historic building that was being refurbished.

Finding antique munitions in unexpected places continues to be a problem, especially overseas, according to Stars and Stripes.

In February 2022, archaeologists found a four-kilogram Civil War shell near the Kennesaw Mountain battlefield in Georgia.

About 2,000 tons of unexploded bombs are found each year in Germany – a result of countless bombing raids by Allied forces during World War II.

Rachel Hagan