[TigersEye]

Wow! A 280 yr old mortar shell. And still potentially dangerous.

[Pontiac]

The undetonated shell is thought to have been fired by government troops from a Coehorn mortar and then to have landed on boggy ground, where its fuse was extinguished.

Wow! A 280 yr old mortar shell. And still potentially dangerous.

It would be a very remote possibility that this shell was dangerous (other than dropping it on your foot).

This was a blackpowder shell. Once it was wet it was not going to explode.

Being wet for, at least periodically, the saltpeter would have leached out of the blackpowder years ago.

Note the hole in the mortar. When ready for use the would have been plugged with a wooden pin through which the fuse passes. This plug buried in boggy ground would have rotted away a century ago.

I would imagine that the museum people mentioned safety just to satisfy the Karens reading the article.

"We made it safe for all the little children that visit the museum."