The Bell Island Museum was delivered with a bit of a bombshell this week thanks to its display of WWII shells.

Last week, a local lobster fisherman discovered a Second World War shell, and retrieved it from the shallow water near Bell Island, never imagining that the piece of ordinance was still live.

He handed the shell over to police who contacted the military who safely detonated the shell in the area of the airstrip earlier this week.

That got the people involved with the local museum thinking about the WWII shells on display in their museum. Teresita McCarthy says she never imagined that the shells might be live, but museum staff had no way of knowing.

She called the RCMP who showed up on Thursday. She says after a bit of back and forth, they were informed by police that they’d have to close the museum to get the matter sorted.

She says they were told that the RCMP’s munitions officials wanted the shells to be removed, to determine whether they’re live. She was then told that the museum would have to close for 1-6 days.

McCarthy says she’s not a munitions expert, but she’s confident the shells are not live.

She jokes “our accessioner in a chuckle said, ‘Oh my heavens, sure I’m after dropping one of them!'”