An Indiana man might have an explosive problem on his hands after discovering his grandfather’s stash of what looks like sticks of dynamite. He claims to have found them after purchasing the estate from his aunt, which included the house, a shop, storage bins, and approximately 45 acres of land. The new homeowner is unsure of what exactly to do with the sticks, but thousands on Reddit believe he’s not taking the situation seriously enough.
“I’m struggling on what I should do with them,” says Glum-Blueberry-3870, the grandson of the man who once owned the alleged dynamite stash. “I’m not opposed to blowing them up, but will they blow up? [They’re] possibly 40 years old,” he surmises. If it really is dynamite, he believes his grandpa might have used it to clear beaver dams.
While OP seemed rather casual in the way he wrote, the comment section was anything but, with hundreds warning him to take the matter very seriously. “DO NOT touch them. Depending on what kind they are, simply moving them can cause a detonation,” said a commenter. “Old dynamite is absolutely volatile,” agreed another.
Several suggested calling the fire department, while many others told OP to call the police’s bomb squad to have the dynamite removed. A few shared their own horror stories of people they knew who carelessly handled or played around with old sticks of dynamite before they exploded.
While a few Redditors commented that Glum-Blueberry-3870 could use dynamite to clear unwanted trees or simply for fun, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security states that he needs a license before dealing with explosives since they’re under regulation. On the other hand, a small handful of commenters are certain that the sticks aren’t even dynamite, but railroad flares.
A Few Users Believe The ‘Dynamite’ Might Actually Be Old Railroad Flares
One person claiming to be a “former railroader” said, “Yes those look like road flares we would use. That said if OP says they say dynamite they it s a bomb squad problem. Otherwise it’s just trash.” Another individual shared a link to a product page on Eagle’s Eye Find, where the displayed antique flares do share strong resemblances with OP’s post at first glance.
Whatever the case, the objectively safest option would still be to contact the police or fire department, as handling old dynamite isn’t worth the risk.
