Holy penetrators? Won't go there.
A couple of years back I was in an un-named country in N. Africa. They were at that time in a ceasefire for a border conflict with another country, but in an unrelated incident identified that they had recovered a large quantity of buried ordnance at a number of sites across the northern part of the country, and due to some specific history during WWII they suspected that these weapons might be chemical. They requested technical assistance in the identification of the items, so I had the opportunity to select a team and the four of us spent a couple of weeks site-seeing throught the mountains and along the DMZ.
At the larger sites there were more than 1000 weapons recovered, but one of the most interesting was at a smaller site, where some "suspicious munitions" had been recovered while digging graves.
We were taken to the center of the city in question, to the front of a fortress looking compound with high gate for about a 5 meter stone wall which made a large circle around the compound. The gate was opened and we were allowed inside, where we found a cemetary that ran around the inside of the wall. This cemetary looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie, with gravestones tilted at different angles, dead tufts of grass and the required dead tree looming above everything else. Forty meters in, there was a second wall, the gate was opened and we were shown into the Churchyard inside where we were met by a wrinkled little black man with a long white beard - the Priest(?) of the church.
Our escorts explained our presence and he nodded his understanding and explained the discovery. He stated that, a few years earlier they were burying a local man and had started hitting projectiles. This had happened before, but only with 1-2 items at the most. They pulled 20 munitions or so out of the ground and could see more in the bottom, but it was critical that the man be buried within a certain period of time, so they left the others and buried him on top of them.
At this time I asked "What if these turn out to be chemical filled?" I was assured that digging him back up was no problem, he just needed burial in the specified time required by their religion.
At this point I asked if we could go somewhere to view the projectiles. The Priest shouted to two boys standing nearby, and they ran into the church, returning a few minutes later carrying projectiles. They kept running back and forth into the church for some time, until nearly 30 projectiles were lined up along one wall.
I was flabergasted and looked at the head escort, asking "They store them inside the church?"!!" He looked a little embarassed and explained that, as the munitions had been found on holy ground, they were now considered to be holy relics and under the protection of the church. Amazed, I asked, "what if they are chemical?" He shrugged and said, we might have a problem.
In the end the projos were mostly pre-WWII and not CW filled. When we announced that we were complete, the boys were put back into action and the munitions were taken back to their proper place inside of the church.
I thereby affirm these to be verified, true, Holy projectiles.
I'll try to remember when I get home tonight to look up some of the photos, just in case we have any theology students interested.
I would like to make one request, please keep any assumptions in regard to the countries involved among yourselves and limited to PMs rather than posting them. In this way I can avoid sensitivities in the workplace.