Junk yards can turn out all manner of amazing finds, but workers at the Scrap All Inc, in Ybor City, near Tampa, Florida, had a rather explosive surprise this week.
When police were called to the yard after being told that a "torpedo" had been found, they were alarmed to discover that the new occupant was, in fact, a Patriot surface-to-air missile.
Though the missile still had its rocket motor and guidance system, experts from the nearby MacDill Air Force Base quickly confirmed that it was harmless.
Lieutenant Omar Villarreal, a spokesman for the base said that the Patriot did not contain "the part on top that goes boom".
While the origin of the missile is a complete mystery, it could've proved a real money-spinner, according to John Pike, a missile expert for GlobalSecurity.org.
He told the St Petersburg Times: "They should have grabbed that puppy and put it on eBay.
"People would pay a lot of money for it. I wish I had found it. It's a real collector's item. Someone might have wanted to clean it up and put it in front of their gun shop."
