Backyarchaeology: Casing Closed

Three years ago — almost to the freakin’ day — I was surprised to unearth a spent bullet (pictured above, click it for the bigger picture) from our backyard that never ceases to amaze and mystify. Back then I dwelt a spell not only the projectile’s potential caliber, but also the probable circumstances and potentially chilling results that might have transpired for it to have been fired — and at what… or whom!? Let’s hope it was a what and not a whom!

This afternoon, I didn’t even have to dig to find what I did. I just happened to look down at the ground after pulling a fossilized palm frond down from the fig tree branches it had hung in for who knows how many years, and laying there as if it had been strategically placed was what I first thought to be the end of an old fuse. But after cleaning off the years of crud from the surface around its base the telltale “38 S&W” was revealed along with a deep centerfire indentation left by a firing pin, meaning what I discovered could very well be the spent 38 caliber Smith & Wesson casing for that bullet — or if not that specific bullet, maybe another one… waiting to be found (click the thumbnails for the bigger pictures):

   

Pardon the pun, but I’m just blown away.

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Will

Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."