A 26-year-old treasure hunter thought he hit the motherlode when he found a 30- to 40-year-old briefcase in the East Valley desert Wednesday and took it home.
"He takes it home and opens it up and finds papers in there and dynamite," said Chris Hegstrom, a Maricopa County Sheriff's spokesman. "It appears to have been from the late 70s and 80s."
The 26-year-old man was treasure hunting with a metal detector near Bulldog Canyon when he came across the briefcase, Hegstrom said.
Once the case was opened, he noticed the explosives had already begun to crystallize.
"They say when it starts to crystallize, it becomes extremely volatile," Hegstrom said. "There was a safety issue there for that young man."
The man called authorities, who responded about 1 p.m. and evacuated 25 people from their homes near East University Drive and North Ellsworth Road.
Bomb Squad officers then worked to stabilize and remove the explosives, which were later safely detonated in an unspecified location in the desert.
How do you get to be one of the "authorities" assigned to detonate that in the desert? Sounds fun.
And who the pumpkin left a briefcase full of dynamite in Bulldog Canyon 30+ years ago? Bizarre!
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
I'd assume it was a prospector who left the case. My uncle prospected in the Superstitions for 13 winters, back in the 50's. I am sure he carried dynamite, he always had it around every time I visited him in N. Nevada in the 60's. He used it, too!
There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
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Wally, where were you on????????? 
