I read about the parachute being found, and that is was a 1945 parachute made of silk. This is most likely from a Japanese balloon bomb from WWII. I'm not kidding - we were watching a show called Weaponology on the Military channel, and one tactic the Japanese used during WWII was to send approximately 3000 bombs over the Pacific by balloons made from parachutes. Only a few hundred were ever found on US soil, but they were found in the NW and as far east as Illinois. Only one is known to have caused injuries, in Bly, OR. Check out the link. If it is one of the balloons, there could be an unexploded bomb in the area.
http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp...