Bomb Squad Called to Open 100-Year-Old Time Capsule

It took a bomb squad to open a 100-year-old time capsule. In 1924, historians at Kansas City's Liberty Memorial, now the National World War I Museum and Memorial, buried a time capsule. Along with 14 other items, a piece of 1920s film was placed in the time capsule. Film from that time was often made with nitrate, which becomes flammable as it deteriorates. The Kansas City Police Department Bomb and Arson Unit removed the time capsule and took it to a safe location where it could be unsealed.

[@jimb.7523]

*I'm just imagining the reactions when people in 2126 uncover a time capsule we buried in 2026....*

[@MAXCOBRALAZERFACE]

It will have a presidential letter from Trump 🇺🇸

[@720_Skatez]

@@MAXCOBRALAZERFACEHaha funny joke

[@imutorln2470]

Bold to assume we're making it to 2126.

[@777Skeptic]

Some classic greatest hits from KZbin's early days that can't be searched for anymore because KZbin wants to show you stuff irrelevant to your search.

[@pokechespingames9084]

@@720_Skateztrump is a top tier president

[@kimwoodhouse7891]

I’m admiring how nicely they packed it. 💕

[@AA-zv6yo]

Same. I'm like woah. Idk hate to open those, how nice they were packed and the stamped wax seals! Gorgeous

[@BoltRM]

Back when time capsules meant something 💪

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

Gift wrapped!

[@VegasMax3]

Yah, I want to know what they used, because it looks to be in pretty good condition after 100 years. Even the paper looks pretty good.

[@editk7019]

So…it was a time capsule bomb…a time bomb.

[@Bungalowlover]

🥁 🥁 🥁

[@thanosianthemadtitanic]

oh these aren't pies there bombs

[@fireflymiesumae]

Yup

[@SkiesKurosawa]

No it wasn’t a literal bomb the film was potentially hazardous when coming in contact with oxygen smh

[@eastonenroth2366]

@@SkiesKurosawa learn to take a joke

[@god5428]

Utilizing a vacuum chamber could have reduced the risk by a lot. I know nothing happened, but if it had caught on fire and destroyed everything inside the capsule, this would have been a joke.

[@SunnyWu]

Or just a sealed container with gloves, and a nitrogen atmosphere so nothing really reacts.

[@Veritas-invenitur]

@@SunnyWuArgon atmosphere

[@christophershore8481]

I would have recommended dry ice

[@friedhegg8874]

Ok captain hindsight

[@RichieWellock]

i recommend nothing as it has 0 chance ever of catching fire under normal temp humidity and no fire source . like your car does not auto start on its own just because it has Gas and 21% Oxygen. Really sad and dumb of the bomb squad really

[@MadGunny]

*Bomb Squad blows up 100 year time capsule* “Okay sweet looks like this wasn’t a bomb after all. Carry on folks.”

[@7heRedBaron]

This was police propaganda. If they know that something inside might be flammable, set up a tent around it, fill the tent with CO2 and then open it. Opening it outside where the oxygen will rush in is the recipe for a fire.

[@joeyakathug5215]

Better be safe than sorry

[@daviegriffin3539]

"100 years?! Awe that's so cute." 🤭🤣 *-Egyptians* 🇪🇬

[@JaySean-bs5od]

Lool nice.. this comment underrated AF

[@MoteDaddy]

​@@JaySean-bs5odno

[@josecorrales7195]

Bruhh Egyptians - hold my sarcophagus 😂

[@nostoneunturned7641]

Imagine bragging that your country peaked thousands of years ago.

[@allangibson8494]

The Sumerians have the Egyptians beat - the oldest named person is Sumerian (it was a complaint letter about his corrupt business practices).

[@MamboKing215]

'not as interesting if things would've exploded' Kinda defeates the purpose of a time capsule

[@Rust·Spencer·Cohle]

Merica.

[@k90v85]

then its a time bomb

[@Derpy1969]

Such an exaggeration of the risk.

[@Paul_Wetor]

Now that's how to seal a time capsule! The contents look well-preserved.

[@dreason2860]

Beats the one that they opened a couple years back with the car in it. Thing had so much water penetration in it that nothing was salvageable

[@S.Clause]

Am I wrong in thinking it was welded closed? 😅

[@tesstickle7267]

It's been 100 years,it's literally not long enough to be opened so soon. Pointless

[@dreason2860]

@@S.Clause Can't quite tell from the video quality. Looks like it could be an old weld, but it just as well could be old epoxy or something too. That stuff gets gray and nasty like that after a long time.

[@rex_schd]

Rick from Pawnstars will give you 5dollar and a big laugh for the box because it is a box with lock broken

[@lipozrljohnson7078]

That’s so freakin awesome. Btw if you haven’t gone to visit this museum it’s a must see.

[@morrisfalker2773]

It's about time.

[@swadlol]

They will probably get the bomb squad to open our 2026 capsule cus we’ll put a lithium battery in it 😂

[@austinballard6815]

those items look like they fared very well over the years! paper still looks new. i wonder how the movie film held up? meaning, was it intact enough to be playable or digitalized?

[@dfirth224]

Nitrate film is why so many silent movies have been lost. They disintegrated before they could be copied to plastic film after 1952.

[@allangibson8494]

@@dfirth224And the film they were copied onto wasn’t great either (cellulose acetate decomposes with time too but doesn’t detonate). More modern polyester film stock is much better. A lot of early film and news reels were lost to a couple of archival storage fires.

[@GWNorth-db8vn]

It would have been cooler is they didn't already know exactly what was in it, but it is a museum.

[@ChrisRot137]

They got the absolute unit to open the capsule

[@seangearhart4616]

What does that even mean? "Absolute Unit". 😂 Stupid.

[@ChrisRot137]

@@seangearhart4616 It’s just a way of saying a large, strong person. Like the guy in the video

[@AfraidMonsters]

it's so crazy... 100yrs doesn't sound like a lot of time, honestly. but there they were. tons of war, no technology like we have today, etc. millions of people completely gone and the world literally handed down to millions of others... its crazy to think about.

[@KandyKane999]

So many young men died that they were called "the lost generation". So sad.

[@Rust·Spencer·Cohle]

And if those same generation who fought in the war, looking at the generation today, they'd realise that their friends died for nothing.

[@journeymansmitty8283]

Wow imagine all that history inside this bomb Time Capsule thingy LMAO😂😂😂😂

[@glytchd]

Aye - is scary how much is being lost and rewritten. During this Dark Ageb of Information

[@burchified]

I was expecting a hypobaric chamber or something pumped full of nitrogen but nope, a snow fence and a big stick 😂

[@thephilpott2194]

Overkill.

[@rogueplanet13]

100 years ain't long for a time capsule let's b honest...

[@tesstickle7267]

Americans, that's nearly half their country age lol 250 years minimum

[@brandonbe5351]

Would've been nice if you covered some more of the contents that were in there.

[@christopherbean-dp8hn]

So tax payers payed to open a time capsule

[@SixStringSting-99]

What movie was uncovered in the time capsule?

[@darkdemigod]

"it's highly flammable, could even explode" so they open it up on GRASS and surround it with gates like that would stop a fire

[@King_TuTT]

cool I love history. priceless pieces of history.

[@ericb-hk3hf]

It's great for training and future preservation.

[@tommy0con2]

wait this capsule held documents that important to history and they just opened it with a rope in the middle of a park... where they hoping it was going to explode, my high school science class was better equipped than they where and that is saying something

[@Goldfish_Vender]

Why not just open it in a low oxygen environment to ensure no damage to any of the contents?

[@cadebecker2486]

100 years is not that long ago.

[@GollumFishy]

Ik 😂

[@xlerb2286]

No, it isn't. My dad was born 101 years ago and I'm getting a few miles on the odometer myself.

[@goodday126]

The soldering along the rim of the lid is lead. Back in those days it was used to make seals, solder pipes, repair leaks in gas tanks etc. It didn't look very well joined, but they couldn't exactly heat it up very hot with a torch to get the molecular bond with paper inside.

[@rustycherkas8229]

Who else remembers radio DJs using the expression, "And now, here's a blast from the past..." 🙂

[@Warp2090]

Funnily enough i've heard some radio DJ's in kansas city say this on the 1980's music stations

[@Seven_Hills753]

My brother and Dad buried a time capsule in our back yard in a tool box in 1977. At the time we were thinking, this is cool , maybe in 100 years it will be found. 😂

[@no-nx3ip]

Never tried finding it?

[@aluxtaiwan2691]

Tbh is not that interesting anymore for a time capsule if you document everything well enough to the point you know what exactly is the content of the capsule.

[@misterbig9025]

Please put inside an adult film for 2026 time capsule! Thanks

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Yeah, some really hardcore stuff with Germans. "FRAU PUMPERNICKEL ZEE SIND SEHR SCHMUTZIG! SEHR SCHMUTZIG!"

[@Itsscabrust]

@@1337fraggzb00N as a german i can confirm that would be funny asf 😂😂 🇩🇪 🇩🇪

[@joshpark7745]

Man, time flies. It’s unbelievable.

[@many_lives4925]

Ah yes the official bomb squad experts of our modern society still use the "pull it with a rope to open" technique.

[@josecorrales7195]

Rick Harris from pawn stars would offer $10 and a subway coupon for that time capsule, and he's taking on all the risk opening it 😂

[@shawnsullivan5443]

That guy with his head right over it crazily looking makes me think of a dud firework.

[@tesstickle7267]

Artifacts 😂 my shovel is older then those items.

[@phant0m233]

Things I can think of to put in there: -Piece of the world trade center -Moon rock, Mars rock -iPhone -CD of taylor swift's best hits

[@CoryTaylor904]

So that wos stupid. Why didnt they open it inside o container firred with argon or something

[@wiedapp]

If the contents of that box were deemed to be so harmful, jet so valuable: Why didn't they bring it into a space with a nitrogen atmosphere inside, get someone with an oxygen supplied suit inside to identify and separate the contents beforehand? A tent would be enough, you just need to displace the oxygen enough to prevent a reaction. But what do I know, I'm just an electrician.

[@dougaltolan3017]

Or just a sand blasting cabinet with gloves that stick through.

[@johnweaver8864]

why did they not open it in a vacuum chamber and separate the potential film from the rest?

[@G-Man-half-life]

If I was gonna put a time capsule somewhere I’d put a 100 dollar bill, my laptop 💻, pictures of the city I live in, my iPod, some letters, some Twinkies, and some video clips of city life as it was in 2024 and then I’d seal the time capsule shut for 20 thousand years until about the time Chernobyl becomes safe for human habitation once again.

[@patriciawhitlow520]

😂

[@joshr8666]

Good choices

[@zuckoVAL]

iPod? Even for 2024 that is ancient

[@DannyxboyXxz]

The only thing left would be the 100$ bill. All the electronics would be dead from the batteries corroding

[@AdamAddictL]

@G-Man-half-life Good one,consider as it still stands right now,Chernobyl is STILL not 100% able to be occupied by humans again….unless someone wants radiation poisoning 🦠☠️

[@AS-zt3xl]

Bomb squad has a lot of time on their hands

[@danielboone8435]

That's probably a good thing

[@Marshall1q.]

😭😭

[@OO-tb4ou]

This is the USA, not the middle east

[@777Skeptic]

We spend lots of time and money training them, recertifying them every year, and we hope we never have to call them.

[@fjb4932]

Show boating. They could have placed it into a container filled with a neutral gas, removed / seperated the contents from the film, placed film reel in water and later dried / played the film. But a Bomb Squad is more dramatic . . . ☆

[@yuhyuh8171]

show boating, they can just take the top off lol

[@tobarstep]

Why wouldn't they open it in a chamber where the oxygen had been removed?

[@keurikeuri7851]

I also thought about that. If that thing burst into flames/explode in the open air everything in that capsule will be destroyed.

[@EdinoRemerido]

Wait, why didnt they just open the time capsule in a vacume sealed room?

[@justayoutuber1906]

Guy opens it and puts his face right over the suspected explosive material with NO safety glasses...brilliant.

[@Legoman69469]

It’s funny that you think the safety glasses would do anything

[@aowi7280]

That film bombed.

[@HazeyCazeyTv]

They're going to find film of Joe Biden graduating from college.

[@jarrettervin2306]

😂😂😂😂

[@jimlahey3919]

Haha top of his class. I wonder if the chain he used to beat up “Corn Pop” is in there as well?

[@justayoutuber1906]

But never Trumps tax returns or medical records...

[@MJ98.]

😂

[@LordBrittish]

I’m going to go bury stuff in my backyard in a box so that one day it can be uncovered and considered an “artifact“.

[@Jian-q6s]

all fun and games until an Arab guy buries a 300lbs time capsule

[@Code_Plug]

Those stickers and wrappers look way too prestine for 100 years

[@yourlocalfurrybraixen55]

Because they were in a preserved time Capsule

[@perryallan3524]

The capsule was soldered shut. All free O2 would have reacted with something decades ago if there was something to react with, and there would have been very limited O2 in the sealed box. More interesting would have been to drill a small hole into it and run an air sample to determine the O2 level, and flood the capsule with either Nitrogen or CO2 prior to opening it to preserve the nitrate film.

[@nbaairdog3124]

Admit it, it was 'BLOWN' out of proportion 😅

[@theresamohr1635]

Interesting for sure.

[@joseescobedo7899]

Well the movie is most definitely a banger...

[@wonniewarrior]

Wasn't there a film depository that went up massively because alot of the original film archived was the same nitrate film ? And the responding fire brigade wasn't aware and they helped accelerate the loss of the priceless films ? I am sure The History Guy did a story on it.

[@butteredtoast6510]

Little did those leaders know that they would be sending their own sons to die after the “war to end all wars”

[@marines225]

That lady peeking in while holding a tumbler of coffee. Very professional.

[@vanillasmerk5742]

Looked as if they were hoping for an explosion the way they yanked it out and yanked that lid off with such force. Or im trippn. Also i was hoping for some more interesting artifacts but regardless really cool;)

[@inksday]

Helpful tip: You don't need a bomb squad to open a time capsule. Stop wasting tax dollars. Thank you.

[@keurikeuri7851]

I believe you didn't get to the part 0:47 were they explained that in the 1920s were the capsule was locked, the film reels were mixed with nitrates to better preserved it. Nitrates as explained in time becomes flammable and can cause an explosion hence the bomb squad.

[@RogueOne-77]

Please actually watch the whole video next time. Thank you 😁😁😁

[@battlesheep2552]

I would have thought they would have known enough about nitrates in 1921 to know that was a bad idea

[@allangibson8494]

The problem was a lack of alternatives, cellulose acetate only started being used in the 1950’s and it has its own problems in sealed storage.

[@0311-e8b]

The bomb defuser walking up to it in the beginning of the video his walk made it look like he was gonna fight the bomb himself.

[@m0rdecai89]

New time capsule: stanley tumbler, iphone, box of tissues.

[@ascrein5247]

They took every precaution to ensure safety. And lol, its good nothing was harmed or destroyed.

[@keurikeuri7851]

Can't wait, I promise to be there when they open the time capsule in 2126

[@MrNoLen5]

Sooo he wanted it to explode???

[@daviegriffin3539]

The general public did not know that Film was sooooo dangerous back then. 🎞🔥

[@HarshDude126]

Do you not know what a joke is?

[@MrNoLen5]

@@HarshDude126 apparently you don't lol

[@asylumlover]

FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION, IT'S A GOOD THING THAT IN THIS CASE, OPENING THE CAPSULE WAS NOT A REAL BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@sidekick96734]

The new time capsule should have a poop emoji.

[@josmarreyes9139]

Imagine this is a similar scenario to the movie Knowing

[@ladybeavanerdventures]

Hope Jennifer Coolidge was invited to see this piece of family history

[@timothywalker4563]

Safety first 👀

[@NevilofMars]

And here I was hoping the bomb squad used Det. Cord to open the capsule!

[@RichieWellock]

Nitrate and 21% 0xygen would never combust just on them factors, it is dumb . What probably happened is by using the bomb squad at a remote location , the box could then be transited back and looked at for critical war info that is not public knowledge. once removed then given to the memorial staff. No bomb squad worth its salt would ever see this as a threat. maybe if they do I could run there training programs for them.

[@Infarlock]

1:23 yeah the way he looks at it is very safe

[@martyharless5097]

There would have been oxygen inside that Time capsule unless it was a perfect vacuum.

[@justayoutuber1906]

If it were sealed, the O2 could have converted to another gas.

[@allangibson8494]

Air is 21% oxygen. Sealed containers often see oxygen levels fall due to oxidation of the container (particularly if it is copper) and paper contents. This leaves nitrogen at a reduced pressure inside. Purging the container with an inert gas to start with eliminates this and all the non-radioactive inert gases were known by 1921.

[@melloangelwolf8611]

Can we get the film played

[@GarC170]

Those Inglourious Basterds

[@Davie-jx4rh]

We won’t need time capsules in the same way with the internet Although it isn’t perfect, it’s far better than any other medium I’m just glad that nobody will call the 2020’s the good old days, they’ll have more than enough evidence that itsucked

[@allangibson8494]

And then you realise the “Internet Archive” has been down for a week due to a hacking attack.

[@Davie-jx4rh]

@@allangibson8494 man that sucks, why would anyone hack the internet archive

[@22espec]

Look a Solar Flare, it's so big wow but don't worry eveything will be.......

[@rustysalmonella7681]

Cellulose nitrate, they actually used it in mining and as gunpowder too. In Inglorious Basterds, they used it to burn down the cinema

[@TheSimba86]

well it's not as fun opening a time capsule when you already know what's in it

[@Mike__B]

Somehow I feel like the bomb squad was a bit over kill for the situation. I mean sure the potential for stuff to catch on fire when exposed to air is there, but the way it gets exposed to air is when you open it, and once you open it you remove any chance of a sealed device with expanding gases. And lets be perfectly honest, does the bomb squad really have experience with this specific instance? "Oooh the bomb squad rigged up a remote way to open the lid..." but who knows, maybe the bomb squad had no bombs to deal with, they're getting paid anyways, so why not use them and call this a training op. Ok I take back everything I said.

[@pipersdestinydrummond6111]

They SHOULD HAVE USED A FACE SHIELD when closely inspecting the contents.

[@Luke_Skywalker1836]

What was inside???

[@maryseidler5083]

Cool

[@MelB868]

Why didn't they think about that 100 years ago

[@yyeezyy630]

They should put a McDonald’s cheeseburger in it

[@Cptn_Charles]

i hope we do not put any dumb memes in the next time capsule like the toilet meme...

[@kuraito1346]

It’s been sealed away for 100 years?

[@-108-]

That's SO dumb and overdramatized. If the nitrate was really such a legitimate threat and unstable, why was caution thrown to the wind as soon as the bomb squad opened the box? Surely it could have ignited in the process of removing and examining the objects, which was done by non-bomb squad personnel, if it were really that unstable and dangerous. Just a big publicity stunt is all that was.

[@johnlucas6683]

Explosives blowup because it is compressed and in a sealed container. Once it was opened and there were no reaction, there wasn't really much or any threat.

[@-108-]

@@johnlucas6683 Semantics. Flashing can be just as dangerous as exploding.

[@hanliu6861]

What’s next. A whole army just chillin inside a box over the past 162 year

[@daneking1209]

Thankfully they opened it in an oxygen rich environment with no fire suppression ready. 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@Mangolite]

That was a film threat.

[@matthewrinehart2367]

I vote for a copy of Peter Jackson's documentary, "They Shall Not Grow Old".

[@Jonathan-un7uq]

Put a CD-ROM in there next time

[@ZombieGrandpa]

Definitely don't include film with nitrate, lol.

[@davidbigirwa7308]

Was he happy? Happy that didn't happen?😂

[@TheTransformationBodySwap01]

How about we bury something and dig it up 1,000 years in the future.