CHESAPEAKE CITY, Md. — Dirt bike riders, hikers and others living along Bethel Road in Chesapeake City frequently use this wooded tract of land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for recreation.
"We rode our bikes up there the other day and we saw something on the left-hand side, and we just thought it was homeless people's tents or something," said Todd Frazier of nearby Chesapeake Estates.
But on Wednesday, a person walking the trail became alarmed when they took a closer look.
"I came outside and saw some police officers and bomb squad,” said Joe Rode. “They said there were some bombs up there."
Tucked just inside the woods, police found several improvised explosive devices along with rudimentary bomb-making materials like common lawn chemicals, containers full of mixed metal parts, tubing and plastic pipe.
Investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office called in a bomb squad.
"They rendered the devices safe and removed them immediately and took them to the lab so they determined that nothing was going to go off or anything like that, but it is a definite bomb squad situation, because it's several explosive devices," said Emily Witty of the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At this point, investigators have no idea who constructed the devices or what their motive might have been, but people we spoke with living in this manufactured home community just across the road aren't too worried about it.
"I don't think someone was trying to hurt or nothing,” Frazier said. “I think it was just goofing off kids."
"I think it was just someone playing around," Rode said.
But police say child's play or not, the devices could have caused serious damage or injury had they gone undetected.
