Potentially Explosive Antique Medical Bottle Prompts Museum Evacuation In Brooksville

BROOKSVILLE, FL — A potentially explosive antique medical bottle donated to the May-Stringer House Museum prompted a hazmat response and temporary closure of the museum on Friday morning in downtown Brooksville.

Museum staff discovered a glass bottle labeled "picric acid" while sorting through donated artifacts Friday morning, Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said during a news conference.

The curator immediately notified authorities after realizing the substance could be hazardous, the museum said in a social media post.

The call was received by Hernando County Fire Rescue shortly after 8 a.m., with the sheriff's office responding to the museum at 601 Museum Court soon after.

Officials said the bottle appeared to be an old pharmaceutical container dating to the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Picric acid was once commonly used as an antiseptic and pain reliever for burns, but the chemical can become highly unstable when it crystallizes, Noehuis said.

"When picric acid crystallizes, it apparently becomes an explosive," he said.

They contacted the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad to safely dispose of it.

The museum closed for the day while authorities secured the area.

Investigators determined the bottle had been donated by a woman whose late father had been a physician in another part of Florida, the sheriff said.

She told deputies that she had been donating antique medical items from her father's former office to the museum and was unaware the bottle posed a danger.

Authorities said there is no indication of criminal activity related to the donation, and no injuries were reported.

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