TSA Officers Found Five Cannonballs Stolen From a Civil War Fort in a Checked Suitcase at an Alabama Airport

The inert artifacts gave security officers in Gulf Shores a good scare. Investigators say the weapons came from Fort Morgan, which guards Mobile Bay

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

July 28, 2026 3:42 p.m.

Share

Copy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrint

Add as preferred source

A Transportation Security Administration officer got a scare this month at Alabama’s Gulf Shores International Airport (JKA). He was running checked luggage through an X-ray machine and spotted an opaque lump in a bag. When experts opened the suitcase, they found hunks of metal wrapped in paper towels.

“My first thought was, ‘I couldn’t see a fuse and needed to get some help quick,’” says TSA officer Justin Dupree in a statement. “I couldn’t see the entire item but was scared I might have been holding a live explosive.”

The five metal balls, ranging from grapefruit- to cherry-sized, were deadly weapons—perhaps a century and a half ago. Investigators say they’re inert cannonballs, likely lifted from the Civil War-era Fort Morgan historical site, reports WKRG’s Debbie Williams.

“That would have to be the weirdest thing, in our short existence, that we’ve ever had come through TSA,” Jesse Fosnaugh, the director of the airport, which opened to commercial passengers last year, tells WKRG.

Fort Morgan occupies a strip of land called Mobile Point, guarding the entrance to Alabama’s Mobile Bay. Back in 1813, the U.S. Army built a log-and-sand structure there called Fort Bowyer, to defend against the British during the War of 1812. In 1819, work began on a more permanent structure, which became Fort Morgan.

Because of Mobile Point’s remoteness, Fort Morgan took some 15 years to complete. Masons, including many enslaved Black people, laid its 40 million bricks. The fort became a Confederate stronghold during the Civil War. In August 1864, when Mobile Bay was one of the last open Confederate ports, Union forces attacked, led by Admiral David Farragut. The Battle of Mobile Bay ended with a two-week Union siege upon Fort Morgan, after which its Confederate soldiers surrendered.

Today, Fort Morgan retains just one small building from the 19th century. Between 1898—the year of the Spanish-American War—and 1910, the military expanded and transformed the base, which served as a training base through World War I and World War II, after which it became a historical site open to the public.

So, how did five cannonballs from Fort Morgan’s grounds end up in a checked suitcase? Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Captain Nathan Lusk tells CNN’s Aaron Cooper that a “juvenile” from out of state had taken them. Fosnaugh tells WKRG that an “unidentified passenger” said she picked them up at a roadside stand.

“I don’t think there was any ill will from the passenger in this case based on the story they told us,” Fosnaugh says.

Authorities returned the cannonballs to Fort Morgan, whose director declined to press charges, per CNN. And the passenger made the flight. The illicit loot joins the list of other smuggled goods that have made news recently, like the nearly 600 ancient Egyptian pieces confiscated at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Still, Dupree says in the statement that he’s “never seen anything quite this unique” in his four years with the TSA. “I’ve seen inert grenades and training munitions but never an Indiana Jones-esque stolen artifact-type situation.”

Sonja Anderson | Read More

Sonja Anderson is a daily correspondent for Smithsonian magazine who covers art, archaeology and culture, from newly discovered artifacts to the latest art heists.