Woman came across this Bormann shell while cleaning a house in NE Pennsylvania. Turns out she and property owner found it while scuba diving years before

A woman who came across a Civil War artillery shell while cleaning a residence in northeastern Pennsylvania told police she and the owner of the property found it decades ago on the East Coast.

Conyngham police Chief Thomas Eibach told the Picket in an email Tuesday he was notified of the discovery on Main Street on Sept. 24. The department photographed the item (left) for identification.

The bomb squad for Scranton police subsequently determined it was a Civil War shell that potentially still contained case shot and explosive material. Artillery expert Jack W. Melton Jr. said it appears to be a Bormann shell made for Union forces.

“The person cleaning out the property was not the property owner; however, (she was) a family friend who is an executor of the property, being its original owner has passed away,” said Eibach.

“In that same respect of being a family friend, she and the original owner of the property were avid scuba divers, diving all over the world. From her recollection, this item was discovered while diving on the East Coast approximately 20-30 years ago and brought home as a souvenir, not knowing what the item was.”

Someone who saw the artifact in a garage told the woman it was possibly military ordnance, officials said.

An Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)  team, believed to be the 55^th Ordnance Company based in Fort Belvoir, Va., was called in. (The closest military installation is Fort Indiantown Gap, a National Guard facility.)

Courtesy Jack W. Melton Jr. / CivilWarArtillery.com

Eibach said the team had forwarded him a Melton diagram (above) of a cross section of an artillery round of that type. The diagram indicates a Bormann fuse and deadly case shot inside.

The Army team took the artifact away. A public affairs spokesperson at Fort Belvoir said the round was likely destroyed. He did not know what type of shell it was. (Photograph, below, Conyngham Police)

Even 165 years later, Civil War ordnance is found, whether in homes, the ground or on coast lines. Several years ago, a huge cache was found at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh, Pa. The facility made a wide variety of cannon shot for Federal forces.

Eibach said this type of incident was a first for him.

“However, several years prior an inert hand grenade was discovered in an attic during a home clean-out. From time-to-time, Revolutionary War Items are discovered in our area, some of which are on display at the Conyngham Valley Historical Society-Museum on Main Street. These items I believe are from the time surrounding the battle known as the Sugarloaf Massacre.”

The massacre occurred in September 1780. Native American warriors and British loyalists surprised militia, killing up to 15 soldiers.