Texas Man Used A Desk Paperweight For Years, Only To Find It Was A 160-Year-Old Artillery Shell

Imagine you have been using a paperweight at your home desk for years only to find that it is a war relic. This happened with a man in Texas, who kept a Civil War-era artillery shell and used it as a paperweight, believing it to be a harmless vintage antique piece for the house. However, his misunderstanding changed after a man with prior military experience inspected it and warned that it may still be live.

Following this, the man contacted the Atascosa County Sheriff's office, which called an explosive ordnance disposal team and identified the 20-pound object as a live Parrott round. The team then transported it to an explosive rage at Camp Bullis, which was safely destroyed.

Found It While Fishing

The man, identified as Steve Martin, acquired it from his son, who found it while fishing. Steve believed the explosive to be a projective, and have been using it as a paperweight since then. Martin asserted how visitors had always found the object very intriguing. Everyone, including Martin, thought the object to be a military item for display. The belief finally changed when a truck driver with a past military experience revealed that the object is an explosive which may still be alive.

Experts from the Atascosa County Sheriff's office tested the object at Martin’s house. The team said that the shell, which weighed roughly 20 pounds, was built for a Parrott rifle, a muzzle-loading cannon designed by inventor Robert Parker Parrott in 1860. The National Park Service explained that the gun was “used with devastating effect by the Union against Confederate-held Fort Pulaski in 1862 and against Fort Sumter from 1863 to 1864. "The team then reportedly destroyed it.

Martin was disappointed that the experts couldn’t preserve the artefact. Martin asserted that he would be more careful about displaying objects at his desk.

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