The Curious Case Of David Hahn: The Nuclear Boy Scout Of Detroit

One of the strangest Michigan Mysteries is that of the man who earned the name 'Nuclear Boy Scout.' David Hahn was a Detroit area boy who is best described as a nuclear radiation enthusiast.

When nearly anyone else would want to get as far away as possible from dangerous radioactive material, Hahn had a lifetime fascination with the deadly stuff.

When Hahn was in high school he built a nuclear reactor in his family's backyard and drove around with radioactive material in his car. The stuff was found in Hahn's car during a traffic stop. The feds got involved and the family property was deemed a Superfund Clean-up site by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Before the feds were involved with the clean-up which included taking the material to a dump site in Utah, Hahn's mother had thrown much of the material away in the regular trash.

For his experiments, Hahn used small amount of elemental material from common household items like smoke detectors, clocks and lanterns.

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After drifting through community college and a stint in the military, Hahn was back in his hometown of Commerce Township where he was arrested in 2007 for swiping several smoke detectors from his apartment building. It's speculated he was looking to collect the material inside that could be used for radioactive experiments.

When he was booked, his mugshot showed a face full of open sores. Officials speculated his condition was caused by exposure to radioactive material.

A decade later Hahn was dead in what was ruled an accidental overdose.

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