On December 31, 2003, my future wife and I were sitting in our Charlotte, NC apartment, watching “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve” on TV. We had a fire burning in the fireplace, as shown in the picture above. Suddenly, we heard a “pop” sound from the fireplace. Initially, we thought it was just the wood log crackling and ignored it. However, about 30 seconds later, we heard a large number of “popping” sounds coming from the fireplace. When I looked over, I saw little balls of flame shooting up from the fireplace to the mantle.
My future wife gets out of the apartment quickly, so I decided to try to put the fire(s) out myself. I run into our kitchen and grab a squirt bottle. Like one you would use for household cleaning, fill it with water and stand in the middle of the living room, squirting water at the fireplace. Meanwhile, my future wife was at the front door, trying to activate the alarm, and our next-door neighbor called 411 to get the number 911. I am in shorts (because I wear shorts inside even in December), squirting my water at the fire when I feel a sudden sting on my leg and hear something whizzing by my ear. I finally decide to get the hell out of there.
I think what happened was that some idiot who lived in the apartment before us decided to store their bullets inside the fireplace. One got hot and exploded, knocking the whole box into the fire, and then exploded.
So yes, I have been shot by my own fireplace. And yes, I have an “indention” on my left leg from where I was shot.