A woman renovating her Buffalo, New York, home was surprised to find a World War I artillery shell in the basement wedged between some tiles and the wall.
Judith Sobresky found the shell when she was pulling up tiles in the basement, WKBW reported. “I saw this thing in the corner,” she said. “I went and picked it up and as soon as I looked at it, I realized it was an artillery shell.”
Sobresky has been living in the house for two years with her young daughter. “It’s pretty bizarre and pretty scary and pretty nerve-wracking,” Sobresky said, adding that she immediately called police to report the shell.
Buffalo police, the fire department, and the bomb squad all responded to the scene, and later called U.S. Air Force bomb specialists for help as well, according to US News and World Report. It took about four hours to remove the shell from Sobresky’s home. It was then taken to a secure location where it could be safely detonated.
Sobresky said her 7-year-old daughter’s bedroom was directly above the spot where she found the shell. She said, “It kind of makes you wonder when you find one shell, there may be a few more in there,” WKBW reported.
The house is one of a number of older houses in the area around North Buffalo, and there’s no telling whether more shells or other World War I items might be in other homes in the area as well. “If you’re demoing an old North Buffalo rec room, you never know what you’re going to find,” Sobresky said, WKBW reported.
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