You might be familiar with magnet fishing. It involves throwing a heavy-duty magnet into bodies of water to see what you can find.

For Stephen Bowen, who only began magnet fishing a few months ago, a relaxing afternoon in eastern North Carolina turned explosive when he made an unusual discovery.

“It’s a really good hobby, I love it,” Bowen said.

The discovery he made on New Year’s Day was one he couldn’t have been prepared for. In an attempt to get an ID on the item he contacted Wallace police. However, the afternoon took a turn.

“I said ‘Guys, I don’t know what it is.’ I said, ‘I can tell you what it looks like,’ “ Bowen said, thinking it might be an old railroad charge.

“And next thing, they had — they had a perimeter, they had shut down,” he said.

And not long after, the authorities decided what to do.

“They couldn’t determine by X-ray what it was, and just to be on the safe side, we’re gonna blow it,” Bowen said.

Bowen finds all kinds of items underwater including horseshoes and motors, but he says there’s one thing he’s always hoping to find.

“Firearms is basically what I’m after, that’s usually what I go after,” he said.

But the fun he says is in the wonder of what you will find next.

“It’s interesting because you don’t never know what you’re gonna get when you throw in,” Bowen said.

Although Bowen was happy that everything turned out alright on New Year’s Day, he was a little disappointed he didn’t get to finish out his day of fishing.

“They wouldn’t let me go back and magnet fish, so I had to stay out here. No, they did the right thing, and they were really on it,” he said.