Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Strange find while hiking...

ssdd - 16-4-2009 at 16:43

So a few weeks ago I went for a couple of mile hike with my girlfriend (western NY, nothing fancy). But while we were hiking I came across something that really caught my eye. An orange cord coming out of the ground that lead to what appeared to be a filled in 6inch wide drill hole. Looking closely at a tag on this cord I saw that it read "Danger Explosive".

The trail was not closed and this was right in the middle of the trail. I took some images of it with my phone to share here. (I was unable to report it because the service that ran the trails was closed for the week)




Anyone know what this may be, if it is real, what the numbers on the tag mean, etc etc? I did not tamper with it for the sake of not blowing myself up...

-ssdd

Sedit - 16-4-2009 at 16:53

Id report it to the local police if the care takers of the trail are not avalible. If it is a danger on the middle of a public hiking path its best to alert someone before bad things happen.

ordenblitz - 16-4-2009 at 20:07

That looks like a electric, zero delay blasting cap lead. Probably the left over wires from a used cap.

hissingnoise - 17-4-2009 at 03:04

Quote: Originally posted by ssdd  
I did not tamper with it for the sake of not blowing myself up...

In a case like that, resisting the temptation to tamper takes serious will-power; I'd have given in and tampered bigtime.
What's the little blue doughnut thing?

ssdd - 17-4-2009 at 04:15

I think the doughnut thing is a weight of some sort... not sure of the purpose of that.

The only reason I didn't tamper around was because I was with my girlfriend and I figured she would frown at that (plus not killing ourselves is always a perk).

Anyway, later today I'll give the group that runs the trails a call (that will be a fun phone call) because they are open as of today.

-ssdd

User - 18-4-2009 at 02:16

Well i have to admit that its pretty awkward that they just left it.
Could it be military training grounds.
Maybe some bad ass soldier decided to have some fun after work

Vogelzang - 19-4-2009 at 18:58

Is this it?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=detonating+cord&...

chief - 20-4-2009 at 01:31

The "MS 0" on the label might mean "0 milliseconds" ; the blue doughnut-thing, depending on it's consistence, might be some ferrite-core (painted), to prevent accidents from any radiowaves or something ...

After all: When the circuit is set off and teh stuff detonates, then in that moment the spark is broken up again, perhaps giving cause to electromagnetic artifacts ...