Friday, March 29, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > World of the Bizarre > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

World of the Bizarre

Woman uses unexploded bombshell as a vase

By T.K. Randall
October 2, 2015 · Comment icon 11 comments

Unexploded bombs from WWII can still pose a risk of serious injury. Image Credit: PD - Ministry of Information
A careers adviser from Warwickshire in England used the old WWII shell to hold flowers for 30 years.
45-year-old Kathryn Rawlins had originally discovered the shell buried in the playing fields at her school when she was 15 years old and, assuming it to be safe, took it home to use as a vase.

It wasn't until she watched a World War One documentary several decades later that she started to realize that her long-held ornament might not be quite as harmless as it had first appeared.

Concerned for her safety, Rawlins called the police and learned to her horror that the innocuous looking relic was in fact an unexploded bombshell that could have gone off at any time.
"The police said that the shell had the potential to have killed anybody that was within about 20 metres of it and could well have taken the house down," she said.

"I have had the shell on the mantelpiece for three decades now and even took it to university. I used to stick plastic roses out of the top of it when I was dancing around to Madonna."

Fortunately however nobody was hurt and the shell, which was taken away and rendered safe by bomb disposal experts at the MoD, is now back on the mantelpiece holding flowers once again.

Source: Telegraph | Comments (11)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #2 Posted by Imaginarynumber1 9 years ago
What an explosive story
Comment icon #3 Posted by ROGER 9 years ago
Can not see how it could be so dangerous if she managed to dig it out, cart it home, take the top off it, put the top back on it and stick flowers in it and it still did not explode? What does it take to get this thing to go off!!!! I dont know . the web show some of them packed quite a punch. http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-artillery-shells-and-shell-casings
Comment icon #4 Posted by Noteverythingisaconspiracy 9 years ago
Can not see how it could be so dangerous if she managed to dig it out, cart it home, take the top off it, put the top back on it and stick flowers in it and it still did not explode? What does it take to get this thing to go off!!!! It takes a lot to get a shell to explode if its detonator doesn't work. Afterall those shells were designed to survive being shot out of a cannon without exploding. Just to nitpick, it is not a bomb shell. Bomb shells have fins for stability, not rifling grooves. It is probably a 3 inch anti aircraft shell.
Comment icon #5 Posted by Infernal Gnu 9 years ago
Amazing symbolic combination there--- an object of violence used to hold delicate flowers.
Comment icon #6 Posted by Harry_Dresden 9 years ago
I had no idea that the Germans bombed the UK in WW1 using zeppelins. You learn something new every day...
Comment icon #7 Posted by ShadowSot 9 years ago
The Japanese had some balloon bombs that reached the US as well. Werent very effective, though.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Black Monk 9 years ago
I had no idea that the Germans bombed the UK in WW1 using zeppelins. You learn something new every day... The zeppelin raids on Britain started in 1915 when they targeted areas along the east coast. The raids started on the night of 19th/20th January 1915. Two Zeppelins targeted Humberside but were diverted by strong winds, and dropped their bombs on the Norfolk towns of Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, King's Lynn and the surrounding villages. Four people were killed and 16 injured. They were amongst the first places in history to be bombed from the air. The Kaiser initially forbade attacks on Lon... [More]
Comment icon #9 Posted by Immune to Bieberfever 9 years ago
Thanks Black monk untill now i was under the impression that Guernica in 1936 was the first airbombing against civilians!
Comment icon #10 Posted by Shayde 9 years ago
This case isn't a one off. There was a tale from a few years back - can't recall exactly mind - that involved a blacksmith and his nephew. The Blacksmith had sitting on a shelf for years the top end of a tank shell. Anyway, nephew comes visiting, just after the lad had went into the army. At this point, the lad had transferred into the Royal Logistics Corp. So lad visits uncle, sees the old shell, and releases thanks to his new training that the shell is highly likely to still be live. So, a quick call is made, the lad's colleagues turn up, and it was confirmed that indeed the uncle's prize so... [More]
Comment icon #11 Posted by AustinHinton 9 years ago
I used to have an old artillery shell as a decorative piece. Granted it wasn't an active bomb, but still.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles