Bomb Washed In Sink Before Being Reported To Authorities

A World War II bomb was washed in the sink after a sixtysomething British woman found it while digging in her spring garden last week. It must have been pretty grimy, because Carole Longhorn decided that it might be a good idea to wash off the 10 inch long live shell.

According to reports in the United Kingdom’s media, the energetic gardener decided to haul it indoors to let husband Clive Longhorn check it out.

She covered the bomb in what is being described as a plastic seat, which I suppose she thought would be a shield, and then scrubbed off the heavy World War II bomb in her sink.

Her husband eventually phoned emergency services, and they were told to leave the house for a few hours to allow a bomb disposal squad from RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire do their thing. However, apparently the daring duo couldn’t bear to stay away, because they returned in time to witness the item being taken to a nearby quarry for a controlled explosion.

An RAF spokesman said the bomb probably dated back to World War II and could have still been live, demanding that they go ahead and blow it up as a precaution.

By that time, Clive Longhorn was finally getting into the spirit of things too. He said:

“It was brilliant…you could feel the shockwaves come across and bump into you. The bloke said to me: ‘Tell the wife if she finds any more, put them in a nice neat heap and we’ll deal with them all at once.'”

An almost incomprehensible number of bombs were dropped in the course of World War II, leading to repeated discoveries of the objects even today.

Last week, The Inquisitr reported on a World War II bomb found in bustling Tokyo, Japan. It too was ultimately detonated without causing any harm.

The photograph up top is a 2009 find in Spain. And here is a video about an April find in Berlin:

Experts say that there are likely thousands of live World War II bombs remaining to be discovered throughout Europe and the world.

But Carole Longhorn’s discovery may be the first time that anyone took the time to give a World War II bomb a wash in the sink.

[World War II bomb found in 2009 photo courtesy US Navy via Wikimedia Commons]