{"id":1693,"date":"2026-07-30T21:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1693"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:53:02","slug":"tsa-finds-stolen-civil-war-era-cannonballs-in-a-passengers-suitcase-at-an-alabama-airport-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1693","title":{"rendered":"TSA finds stolen Civil War-era cannonballs in a passenger\u2019s suitcase at an Alabama airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

This photo provided by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shows a stolen Civil War-era cannonball discovered by TSA officers in a checked bag at the Gulf Shores International Airport in Gulf Shores, Ala., on July 18, 2026. (Transportation Security Administration via AP)<\/small><\/p>\n

2026-07-30T21:38:14Z<\/p>\n

GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) \u2014 A TSA agent discovered a set of stolen Civil War-era cannonballs in a passenger\u2019s suitcase during a routine security screening at an Alabama airport earlier this month, law enforcement officials said. <\/p>\n

The Transportation Security Administration<\/a><\/span> said in a statement Friday that the relics were discovered at Gulf Shores International Airport on July 18 after the agent observed what appeared to be a large, opaque item inside a suitcase during an X-ray screening. When he opened the luggage, he found five small cannonballs wrapped in paper towels and notified a supervisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never seen anything quite this unique,\u201d TSA Officer Justin Dupree said in a statement from the agency. \u201cI\u2019ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cannonballs \u2014 the largest about the size of grapefruits and weighing about as much as a shot put ball \u2014 were inactive and didn\u2019t contain any explosive material or active components, the TSA said. Still, cannonballs are artillery munitions and considered prohibited items on planes.<\/p>\n

Police eventually determined the cannonballs were stolen from Fort Morgan, based on paint marking applied to the artifacts by fort staff, and that they dated to the American Civil War.<\/a><\/span> The historic Gulf Shores fort played a significant role in several military conflicts, including the Civil War. <\/p>\n

The Baldwin County Sheriff\u2019s Office said Thursday that a juvenile stole the cannonballs from a storage area in the fort and then placed them in their grandmother\u2019s checked bag. The grandmother told officers she did not know they were stolen. <\/p>\n

Spokespersons for Fort Morgan didn\u2019t respond to a email seeking comment. The sheriff\u2019s office said the institution declined to press charges, and the artifacts were returned to the fort. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This photo provided by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shows a stolen Civil War-era cannonball discovered by TSA officers in a checked bag at the Gulf Shores International Airport in Gulf Shores, Ala., on July 18, 2026. (Transportation Security Administration via AP) 2026-07-30T21:38:14Z GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) \u2014 A TSA agent discovered a set of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}