Brothers who found cannonball in Tempe Town Lake have questions answered
TEMPE, Ariz. - A FOX 10 viewer solved a 175-year-old mystery after the story of two brothers who go magnet fishing in Tempe Town Lake aired.
The brothers, Shane and Ryan Musgrove, said they believe they found a cannonball. Typically, the duo pulls up things like electric scooters or scrap metal.
So when they pulled up the metal ball, they knew it was special.
Brothers bond over magnet fishing in Tempe Town Lake
Two brothers from Arizona discovered crime scene evidence while magnet fishing at Tempe Town Lake, and they believe they've also uncovered a significant amount of history in the process.
What they're saying:
"What we believe to be a cannonball," Shane said.
It was a highlight find for the brothers.
They’ve been magnet fishing Tempe Town Lake for three years, and at one point they found a treasure believed to be a civil war-era cannonball.
Tons of online comments made fun of the cannonball, saying things like, "I remember the battle of Tempe Town Lake. It was traumatic," or, "Must’ve rolled downstream from the legendary Battle of Tempe Marketplace."
We brought in a real-life archaeologist who said it was actually possible it could be a cannonball.
Dig deeper:
"All of a sudden, you guys shot a clip of his findings and the cannonball there and that’s when I knew what it was," said Matt Burns of the Tempe Fire Department.
In 2014, a Tempe Fire dive team member signed up for an event called GORUCK. After several days of grueling challenges ended at the lake, the leader dropped two cannonballs in the water.
"The challenge was they had to jump in and retrieve them both. They only retrieved one," Burns said.
For several weeks, Tempe Fire's dive team trained to find the missing cannonball.
"We set up a dive operation, and we had to have three divers and two tenders, and we did our thing, but we never found it," Burns said.
Now, he’s confident what the brothers found is the missing cannonball.
"It’s gotta be the same cannonball. I have no doubt," Burns said.
Ryan was happy to hear the news.
"It’s an actual cannonball? That’s cool, man. We found an actual cannonball in Tempe Town Lake," Ryan said.
Ryan says they now plan to magnet fish at other spots in our state looking for history.
"It’s just crazy how like putting things out there and then people are like, ‘Hey, I know what that is.’ So, it kind of brings it like full circle. So it’s kind of cool," Ryan said.
Who knows what other mysteries Tempe Town Lake holds? If there are any, the brothers say they’ll be the ones to find them.