A grandfather’s old pantry doorstop turned out to be a live WWI artillery shell, and the bomb squad blew it up with a pound of C4

An attempt to clear out a basement led Carly Dimanche’s family to call in the bomb squad. In a TikTok and Instagram post with well over 10 million views, the content creator who posts under the handle fitfreesoul shared that while moving things from her grandfather’s house in Illinois, they stumbled upon a live but corroded artillery shell from World War I. The situation escalated fast, eventually bringing in the Department of Defense.

Her video, which is a montage of photos and chat screenshots, showed how the incident progressed. The first photo showed a state police truck with a text overlay: “Your mom’s moving stuff out of your Grandpa’s basement but the saxophones are getting louder.” Then the post showed the shell and highlighted its size through a photo with Dimanche’s mother.

In a series of messages shown in the post, the family was told the bomb squad “will get it and X-ray it to see if it’s still live and are going to detonate it in the field.” When they learned it was live, the family talked about how the shell had been a fixture in the home for decades and used “to prop the pantry door open in the old house.” The messages noted that the family had been evacuated and that the Department of Defense had been called.

The bomb had to be carefully handled

In her post, Dimanche highlighted, with text screenshots, that experts on the scene told the family that the shell could have detonated at any time and that the ball bearings inside had a range of 5 miles. The item was eventually moved to a field behind the property, where it was destroyed using a pound of C4. The last photo shared was of the split-open artillery shell after it had been blown up underground.

Many of Dimanche’s viewers were stunned that something so dangerous had been used so casually. One Instagrammer commented, “This is the most valid use of the saxophones i have ever seen. wdym it’s live and was keeping a door open.” Another quipped, “nooo, not grandpa’s emotional support bomb.”

Many others shared stories of live ordnance in their houses. One user shared that over Thanksgiving, a child found their grandfather’s collection of live grenades and pulled a pin, but somehow put it back in. Another user shared the perspective of their father, who they said worked on a bomb squad in the 1960s and 1970s. They wrote, “He said almost all their work was exactly this. So many ww1 and ww2 veterans held onto bombs.”

The US Army Corps of Engineers notes that military munitions should never be kept as souvenirs. Anyone who comes across something that seems like a munition should follow the 3Rs of Explosives Safety: recognize a munition, retreat from the area without touching or moving the item, and report it by calling 911. The agency notes that even if an item has been in a family for years, it can remain hazardous and needs professional attention. In October, an Austin bomb squad removed estate sale WWII grenades that were still live.

Dimanche kept her caption light, writing, “Just another day in the country!!”