KTLA News February 23, 2010
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles police bomb squad was called to a Hollywood home Monday morning after the owners found a Civil War-era cannonball in their basement. David Goggin says the “iron ball” was found while digging out old pipes in the basement.
Officer Don Thompson holds the potentially explosive Cannonball.
The bomb squad, which was called in around 11 a.m., feared the ball was filled with unstable black powder. “Cannonball” Goggin says he trusted his steady hands to carry the explosive device through the front yard and hand it over to authorities. He also says he’s glad to have it out of his home. “I just didn’t think it was a good idea to have ancient munitions in your basement,” he told KTLA.
The cannonball was eventually deemed safe, according to Sgt. Sal Ogaz of the Los Angeles Police Department. The discovery wasn’t the first of its kind inside the home along the 2900 block of Durand Drive, just east of the Hollywood Reservoir. About 18 years ago, three other Civil War-era cannonballs and a grenade were found there. Goggin’s wife Keiko actually dropped the grenade on the ground, but luckily it was inert.
Three squad cars, three Bomb Squad trucks and a dozen members of the LAPD were on hand to insure public safety on the barricaded street.
Copyright © 2010, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
Photos ©2010 Mr. Bonzai
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad you guys are ok, I’d like to know more about the history of whomever has occupied that house…
Funny, I was going through my tape library yesterday, I found a bunch of ancient bombs also.
Our guess is that the original 1957 owner of the house had a military past. One of the officers posted a two-minute video of their wild & loud Code Three drive across town to our home.
Glad it was all OK. Civil war is pretty old. We still get a lot of bombs and other munitions turning up around here (southern England) from WW2,. Fewer now, but when I was a kid.. many
Yes, I have seen reports of large unexploded bombs being detonated to this day. We wish that such brutal devices were just a part of our past, but it is still going on today.
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