Civil War Cannonballs Trigger Wild TSA Alarm at Alabama Airport

A traveler’s bag triggered Transportation Security Administration alarms on July 18 after officers found Civil War era cannonballs packed inside the luggage at Gulf Shores International Airport in Alabama.

The discovery turned an ordinary baggage screening into a cannon related airport scare.

The inert cannonballs had been wrapped in paper towels before being placed in the luggage.

Police later determined that the antique artillery projectiles had been stolen from Fort Morgan, a coastal stronghold located near the airport.

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TSA officer Justin Dupree encountered the suspicious objects during the baggage screening process.

With only part of an item visible, he initially could not determine whether he was handling an active explosive.

“My first thought was, ‘I couldn’t see a fuse and need to get some help quick,’” Dupree recalled in a release.

“I couldn’t see the entire item but was scared I might have been holding a live explosive.”

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The cannonballs varied in size, according to Dupree. The largest was comparable to a grapefruit, giving officers considerably more than the usual questionable airport souvenir to examine while determining whether the objects presented a danger.

Dupree said the discovery stood apart from other suspicious military items he had encountered during airport screenings.

Even for an officer familiar with inert grenades and training munitions, cannonballs wrapped in paper towels were a new one.

“I had never seen anything quite this unique,” Dupree said. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.”

A TSA explosives specialist was notified after officers discovered the objects.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office also responded, and authorities ultimately determined that the cannonballs were inert and posed no threat.

That conclusion ended the immediate explosives concern, but it did not settle the question of how the historic projectiles wound up inside a passenger’s luggage.

Law enforcement investigated the circumstances surrounding their acquisition.

The passenger claimed to be unaware of how the projectiles had been acquired, according to authorities investigating the incident.

The source did not identify the passenger or provide further details about that claim.

The cannonballs were later returned to Fort Morgan, the release stated. Their brief and ill advised journey through airport baggage screening therefore ended back at the nearby coastal site from which police said they had been stolen.

Attempts by passengers to transport illegal items and unusual weaponry through airport security are not new. Another glaring example occurred in 2019, when a Florida man traveling through Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania set off alarms with a particularly outlandish item.

That traveler’s bag contained a disassembled rocket propelled grenade, according to the account.

Airport security took the man to an inspection area after the weapon was discovered during screening.

The traveler told airport security that he believed he could bring the checked RPG aboard the plane, CBS Philadelphia reported.

Inspection later showed that the launcher was not operational and that the grenade itself was a realistic replica.

Security confiscated the launcher and replica grenade. In a remarkable finish to the episode, the traveler still managed to board his flight on time after bringing the disassembled weapon through the Pennsylvania airport.

The Alabama case similarly involved military ordnance that authorities eventually determined was not dangerous. Unlike the 2019 episode, however, the Gulf Shores discovery involved genuine antique projectiles that police said had been stolen from a nearby fort.

In both cases, baggage alarms alerted airport personnel to objects that required additional examination.

The latest incident left TSA officers confronting multiple cannonballs, paper towel wrapping and a passenger who claimed no knowledge of how the projectiles were acquired.

For Dupree, the initial concern was straightforward because he could not see a fuse or the entirety of the object.

Specialists and local law enforcement resolved the threat question, and the cannonballs completed their strange airport detour with a return to Fort Morgan.

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