World War II era Butterfly Bomb found in a Seneca, Mo. closet

SENECA, Mo. – Monday Seneca Police Department received a call regarding a suspicious device from an individual clearing out a closet at a family property being sold.

Seneca Police Chief James Altic tells us they responded and didn’t know what the device was, so they contacted outside agencies to assist.

Family contacted the relative who had lived there for more than 40 years.  She said the device was passed down by a father-in-law.  Chief Altic tells us the family member said it was mailed from England or Europe packed in a box of china, some time around World War II.

Munitions experts communicating with the police department determined through photographs it could be a World War II era ‘butterfly bomb‘.  Bomb specialists from Fort Leonard Wood in Mid-Missouri were dispatched to Seneca, arriving late in the evening.

On scene the device was inspected using x-ray. They confirmed that it was a Butterfly Bomb.

The bomb is a German design, “Sprengbombe Dickwandig used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when the bomblet deployed gave it the superficial appearance of a large butterfly.”

The bomb was easily defused after x-ray and removed by the Fort Leonard Wood bomb experts.

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