Stolen Civil War cannonballs seized at Alabama airport

On July 18 2026, Transportation Security Administration officers at Gulf Shores International Airport in Alabama discovered five inert Civil War‑era cannonballs wrapped in paper towels inside a passenger’s checked suitcase. The dense objects, described as roughly the size of a grapefruit, were initially mistaken for a medicine ball before officers identified them as historic artillery munitions.

The cannonballs were traced to nearby Fort Morgan, where they had been taken from a storage area by a juvenile relative and placed in the grandmother’s luggage without her knowledge. Because the munitions contained no explosives, they were deemed safe but prohibited from air transport. TSA seized the items, alerted explosives specialists, and coordinated with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, which recovered the artifacts and returned them to Fort Morgan. No charges were filed.

The incident was later highlighted on TSA’s social‑media channels with a light‑hearted warning about “loose cannons,” linking to the agency’s formal news release.