Many people fear death, but there’s at least one small comfort in it—we’re not the ones left to deal with the aftermath. That burden falls on the loved ones we leave behind, and perhaps more unexpectedly, on the pathologists and medical staff tasked with caring for our bodies. It’s rarely an easy role, and the things they encounter can be truly jaw-dropping.
Across the internet, autopsy workers have been opening up about the most shocking and bizarre discoveries they’ve made on the job, from live lizards to brightly colored organs. The stories are the kind that make you wonder how these professionals manage to keep their composure day after day.
If you’re curious enough to find out, scroll on—but consider yourself warned: what follows is not for the faint of heart.
#1
I am a vet, I do necropsies.
I can still remember the cat who swallowed a thread. One end of it got stuck at the base of the tongue, the rest was swallowed and progressed down to all the intestines. We found that the intestine, with its movements, basically saw itself on the thread. It was an awful view.
The sad thing is this is not so uncommon, a classic in the books, but seeing it was shocking.
And this is why you don't want your cats to play with threads or yarns.
I can still remember the cat who swallowed a thread. One end of it got stuck at the base of the tongue, the rest was swallowed and progressed down to all the intestines. We found that the intestine, with its movements, basically saw itself on the thread. It was an awful view.
The sad thing is this is not so uncommon, a classic in the books, but seeing it was shocking.
And this is why you don't want your cats to play with threads or yarns.
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46points
#2
I met a medical examiner at a friend's party recently, and he told us that once he received the body of a cheese factory worker who fell and drowned/burned in molten cheese.
It was super awkward as the corpse they received was embedded in a chunk of cheese as it had cooled down. Felt like carving out a corpse from the leftovers of a "fondue" (french molten cheese dish).
It was his top one.
Anon:
Dahmer Dip.
It was super awkward as the corpse they received was embedded in a chunk of cheese as it had cooled down. Felt like carving out a corpse from the leftovers of a "fondue" (french molten cheese dish).
It was his top one.
Anon:
Dahmer Dip.
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38points
#3
Dude who compulsively ate coins had about 7 bucks of change in his digestive system when we opened him up. He died choking on a quarter. I like to believe he died doing what he loved.
ErasInTime:
Younger brother did this way back when.. He was around 4, and my parents were convinced they would have to take him to the ER. They waited overnight to see if he would evacuate normally, watched him like a hawk the whole night, taking shifts. He never complained of any pain or anything, other than when the nickel came out the other end. Funny thing though. He ate 17 cents and only gave back 16. They never found the other penny. 🤷♀️
ErasInTime:
Younger brother did this way back when.. He was around 4, and my parents were convinced they would have to take him to the ER. They waited overnight to see if he would evacuate normally, watched him like a hawk the whole night, taking shifts. He never complained of any pain or anything, other than when the nickel came out the other end. Funny thing though. He ate 17 cents and only gave back 16. They never found the other penny. 🤷♀️
36points
#4
Most common was elderly male patients who had been in nursing homes and had undiagnosed prostate cancer, mainly because they had directives to have no further medical care except end of life comfort.
Nothing else stands out.
knowsomeofi:
My dad (retired pathologist) says that any man who lives long enough will eventually die of prostate cancer.
Nothing else stands out.
knowsomeofi:
My dad (retired pathologist) says that any man who lives long enough will eventually die of prostate cancer.
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29points
#5
I had a guy with a completely blue heart. Bright blue, apparently from methylene blue use.
sweetbabyruski:
Just the heart? I had an autopsy of a guy given methylene blue for treatment in the ICU and all the organs as well as his skin were blue. Fun stuff.
OP:
There were a few blue streaks along the arm vessels, minor bluing on the plural cavities, but the heart seemed to have a real affinity for it! I was not ready for that level of blue when I sectioned it!
sweetbabyruski:
Just the heart? I had an autopsy of a guy given methylene blue for treatment in the ICU and all the organs as well as his skin were blue. Fun stuff.
OP:
There were a few blue streaks along the arm vessels, minor bluing on the plural cavities, but the heart seemed to have a real affinity for it! I was not ready for that level of blue when I sectioned it!
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27points
#6
I've seen bone cancer that spread to a young persons lung, which basically replaced the whole lung with bone. I had to saw the lung in half with a bone saw to get samples.
Another lady with cirrhosis died, and when she arrived she had a distended belly. We assumed it was due to ascites secondary to her cirrhosis, but when we opened her abdomen this thick, clear, gelatinous mucus poured out. We measured it at over 2 liters of this sticky gel. Turns our she had an undiagnosed mucinous tumor of her ovary, which had spread all throughout her abdomen. Icky.
notthesedays:
It never occurred to me that bone cancer mets would be bony! D'oh.
Another lady with cirrhosis died, and when she arrived she had a distended belly. We assumed it was due to ascites secondary to her cirrhosis, but when we opened her abdomen this thick, clear, gelatinous mucus poured out. We measured it at over 2 liters of this sticky gel. Turns our she had an undiagnosed mucinous tumor of her ovary, which had spread all throughout her abdomen. Icky.
notthesedays:
It never occurred to me that bone cancer mets would be bony! D'oh.
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26points
#7
Once had a guy burned to a crisp but his skeletal muscle was cooked to a perfect medium rare consistency..
Not only that, we found that he had ingested (may have been forced to swallow) erasers, crayons, staples, etc. ( adult victim).
Not only that, we found that he had ingested (may have been forced to swallow) erasers, crayons, staples, etc. ( adult victim).
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22points
#8
Undiagnosed widespread metastasized cancer in a college kid that had died in a bar fight gone bad. It's one of the small mysteries of my career thus far that has stuck with me. The primary mystery being how it could be that he wouldn't have noticed his condition or sought medical attention prior to his death. This was not some mere colon polyp, it was everywhere. I've had other instances before and since where you find the "second place" cause of death that didn't get to have its moment, certainly a lot of older people have a thing or two in the works, but that was definitely the strangest instance of that concept.
Starshapedsand:
I can speak a bit to that one:
When I was in college, it became apparent to me that I was very ill. I was also about to age off of my parents’ health insurance, and many of the likely causes of my symptoms were going to render me uninsurable once diagnosed. So I opted to be assessed for the few contenders that would be easy cures. When all of those tests were negative, I opted to ignore it.
After college, I was waiting for a full-time job with benefits to begin. It was obvious that I was very sick, but because I was still on my parents’ policy, I was determined to just keep going until my job could start. I learned that I could treat most symptoms with hard physical labor, so I divided my days between working fire/EMS responses, and the gym.
But two weeks before I was going to get that golden insurance of my own, I collapsed, vomiting blood. Woke up a couple weeks later, a couple states away, on a ventilator. Cause #4 on my list—brain cancer—was the winner, and I was very fortunate to have lived at all.
Worst part? Going back to the past, given those circumstances, I would’ve made the same decision to avoid getting diagnosed.
(Funny note: when you wake up in Neurointensive Care, they ask you why you’re there. Other sound contenders that I guessed included the time that a ceiling collapsed on me during a house fire, an impatient driver decided to plow through the scene of a wreck that I was cutting, a drunk redneck pulling out a gun... it was indeed all rather Final Destination.)
Starshapedsand:
I can speak a bit to that one:
When I was in college, it became apparent to me that I was very ill. I was also about to age off of my parents’ health insurance, and many of the likely causes of my symptoms were going to render me uninsurable once diagnosed. So I opted to be assessed for the few contenders that would be easy cures. When all of those tests were negative, I opted to ignore it.
After college, I was waiting for a full-time job with benefits to begin. It was obvious that I was very sick, but because I was still on my parents’ policy, I was determined to just keep going until my job could start. I learned that I could treat most symptoms with hard physical labor, so I divided my days between working fire/EMS responses, and the gym.
But two weeks before I was going to get that golden insurance of my own, I collapsed, vomiting blood. Woke up a couple weeks later, a couple states away, on a ventilator. Cause #4 on my list—brain cancer—was the winner, and I was very fortunate to have lived at all.
Worst part? Going back to the past, given those circumstances, I would’ve made the same decision to avoid getting diagnosed.
(Funny note: when you wake up in Neurointensive Care, they ask you why you’re there. Other sound contenders that I guessed included the time that a ceiling collapsed on me during a house fire, an impatient driver decided to plow through the scene of a wreck that I was cutting, a drunk redneck pulling out a gun... it was indeed all rather Final Destination.)
21points
#9
Not my personal story. But when I was in my intro to EMS class my teacher brought in a death investigator former autopsy Examiner to speak to our class. She told us while she worked as an autopsy examiner she got this women who at the time mysteriously suffocated after a car accident. Apparently this women was driving and while she was driving she grabbed her lighter from her purse and was holding it in her mouth while she fumbled threw her bag for her cigarettes. While doing this she got T-boned. The airbag went off and on the way to hospital they kept trying to put tubes down her throat to open her airway cause she was having trouble breathing. But no luck. She said when they cut open her throat during the autopsy they found her lighter jammed down there. Apparently when the airbag went off it got jammed down her throat and no one knew.
Martina313:
FUN FACT!
This is why they've added holes to the top of modern LEGO heads!
Martina313:
FUN FACT!
This is why they've added holes to the top of modern LEGO heads!
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21points
#10
As a student in Dental school gross anatomy lab.we were dissecting the throat.Upon entering the larynx we discovered a tooth the Pt. had swallowed. The tooth was lodged over epiglottis (throat) and we got to change the cause of death to choked on foreign substance. All cadavers we’re treated with the utmost respect.
BALLERinaLyfe:
My mom is a respiratory therapist and once while she was assisting with a bronchoscopy they found that the patient had aspirated a tooth. They ended up calling a cardiac surgeon (I guess that was who was there that could do it?) to get it out. Patient was fine.
BALLERinaLyfe:
My mom is a respiratory therapist and once while she was assisting with a bronchoscopy they found that the patient had aspirated a tooth. They ended up calling a cardiac surgeon (I guess that was who was there that could do it?) to get it out. Patient was fine.
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21points
#11
Not quite an incidental finding, and scene story rather than autopsy, but a situation that turned out to have a medical cause that didn’t seem to at first glance. At first it seemed like a self inflicted gsw: blood everywhere, discharged weapon by hand, older guy who lived alone in not great conditions, etc, but we couldn’t find a gsw, there were three bullet holes in the opposite wall, and as we looked around more and traced the blood we pieced together a crazy story. Turned out, this guy had a severe ulcer from lymphoma in his armpit that was so huge by that point it extended halfway down his upper arm. He somehow ripped it open on the bathroom door handle and it bled like crazy. His phone was all the way in the kitchen, but he kept the gun in his bedroom, so he grabbed it while presumably trying to get to his phone and made it out into the living room before falling from blood loss. He presumably shot the wall in the hopes that a neighbor would hear and call the police, but he bled out before they did. Pretty resourceful if you ask me, not many people would have been able to keep that level of a head while literally pouring blood out of their armpit.
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19points
#12
The unidentified man at the centre of the Tamam Shud case was found to have a spleen about three times the normal size.
two_one_fiver:
I've always wondered about this. An enlarged spleen is a typical presentation in the case of infection. Medical science wasn't as advanced and I haven't seen anything like a CBC to confirm.
two_one_fiver:
I've always wondered about this. An enlarged spleen is a typical presentation in the case of infection. Medical science wasn't as advanced and I haven't seen anything like a CBC to confirm.
19points
#13
When my mom took gross anatomy, her professor pointed out that the cadaver had a blood vessel that went through the tricep instead of around it like it was supposed to. The professor said that the students would probably never see that again because it is very rare.
kcnk2818:
That's so interesting! When I took gross anatomy we found a cadaver with 4 branches off the aortic arch instead of 3! Super cool to see small variations between bodies.
kcnk2818:
That's so interesting! When I took gross anatomy we found a cadaver with 4 branches off the aortic arch instead of 3! Super cool to see small variations between bodies.
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19points
#14
Not a Doctor or Autopsy Tech, but I am a Funeral Director / Embalmer.
In school we went to a cadaver lab that has about 8 bodies, all preserved and pre-dissected in various ways (one was dissected right down the middle, a table of just a bunch of limbs, etc)
There was one decedent who had Situs Inversus, which means that their inside structure in their torso and abdomen are on the opposite side of the normal positioning. This was discovered in this persons life because they went in for an appendectomy and the doctors started looking around on the right side and couldn’t find anything, looked on the left side and there was the appendix. It’s a genetic mutation, and most people who have it don’t actually know they have it as it wouldn’t pose any health issues.
lilpastababy:
A kid came in for a cough at the urgent care I work at and they did a chest X-ray and discovered that he had this. Everyone was freaking out lol
In school we went to a cadaver lab that has about 8 bodies, all preserved and pre-dissected in various ways (one was dissected right down the middle, a table of just a bunch of limbs, etc)
There was one decedent who had Situs Inversus, which means that their inside structure in their torso and abdomen are on the opposite side of the normal positioning. This was discovered in this persons life because they went in for an appendectomy and the doctors started looking around on the right side and couldn’t find anything, looked on the left side and there was the appendix. It’s a genetic mutation, and most people who have it don’t actually know they have it as it wouldn’t pose any health issues.
lilpastababy:
A kid came in for a cough at the urgent care I work at and they did a chest X-ray and discovered that he had this. Everyone was freaking out lol
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18points
#15
Current pathology fellow, board certified (not in forensics though). Participated in ~80 autopsies.
Weirdest/scariest case: housefire, one body recovered after 1+ hour of burning. Body completely char-broiled, rigid, limbs curled up against the torso. We xrayed the chest, abdomen, and head to see if there is anything of interest before dissection. Metal fragments in the chest. Hmm. Do the autopsy. The internal organs are largely intact despite the significant heat damage to the skin and soft tissue (this is not unexpected, I learn). There is a large (>1L) hematoma in the chest. There is about a 2cm jagged opening in the posterior wall of the right ventricle and in the anterior left lateral wall of the right ventricle. Metal fragments embedded in the left lung. Tracing backwards from the heart, a path is found through the posterior thorax with an possible entrance wound in the upper back. Yikes, he was shot? Detectives arrive to morgue. Say they've got the homeowner/roommate in custody. They're interrogating him right now. He owns a gun. He's been having frequent noisy arguments with the dead guy/tenant that have been observed by neighbors and reported to the police. He was away from home when the fire was happening, claims no knowledge of any of this, has no idea what happened to either his house or the dead guy. Detectives high-five each other when we tell them he's been shot and it's definitely homicide. We find out later after they fully interrogate the homeowner, he confesses to shooting the roommate in the back while he is sleeping and then torching his own house to try to hide the evidence (!) The roommate was actually his tenent and he wouldn't move out, so he k****d him (!!!) Scary stuff.
hungry4pie:
"Looks like the landlord *puts on glasses * evicted the tenant"
YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
Weirdest/scariest case: housefire, one body recovered after 1+ hour of burning. Body completely char-broiled, rigid, limbs curled up against the torso. We xrayed the chest, abdomen, and head to see if there is anything of interest before dissection. Metal fragments in the chest. Hmm. Do the autopsy. The internal organs are largely intact despite the significant heat damage to the skin and soft tissue (this is not unexpected, I learn). There is a large (>1L) hematoma in the chest. There is about a 2cm jagged opening in the posterior wall of the right ventricle and in the anterior left lateral wall of the right ventricle. Metal fragments embedded in the left lung. Tracing backwards from the heart, a path is found through the posterior thorax with an possible entrance wound in the upper back. Yikes, he was shot? Detectives arrive to morgue. Say they've got the homeowner/roommate in custody. They're interrogating him right now. He owns a gun. He's been having frequent noisy arguments with the dead guy/tenant that have been observed by neighbors and reported to the police. He was away from home when the fire was happening, claims no knowledge of any of this, has no idea what happened to either his house or the dead guy. Detectives high-five each other when we tell them he's been shot and it's definitely homicide. We find out later after they fully interrogate the homeowner, he confesses to shooting the roommate in the back while he is sleeping and then torching his own house to try to hide the evidence (!) The roommate was actually his tenent and he wouldn't move out, so he k****d him (!!!) Scary stuff.
hungry4pie:
"Looks like the landlord *puts on glasses * evicted the tenant"
YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
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18points
#16
Once, I sent a cow for autopsy after it died suddenly. The report came back that there was a wire in its heart (not hugely uncommon, they work through from the digestive tract), but also that this cow had a deflated football in its stomach which had been there for some time and did not appear to hinder digestion.
17points
#17
He was full of colors.
An uncle told me he had performed one on a kid that would huff spray paint: his windpipe and lungs looked like they were tie-dyed.
An uncle told me he had performed one on a kid that would huff spray paint: his windpipe and lungs looked like they were tie-dyed.
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17points
#18
Maybe not so relevant, but when they made a full body x-ray of my grandmoms identical twin sister, not only did it turn out all her organs were mirrored (her heart was on the right side etc) but she also had 4 kidneys... woman was 60+ at the time and they never knew before.
It's especially weird because my grandmom just had 2 kidneys and they're identical twins.
It's especially weird because my grandmom just had 2 kidneys and they're identical twins.
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17points
#19
Med student here.
The cadaver we were dissecting lacked a muscle called the palmaris longus.
For those not familiar, it's the most superficial muscle of the forearm (you can see it as cord like structure in your wrist that rises when you try to make a claw with your hand). On dissecting the other limb, we discovered that the agenesis was bilateral.
Where I'm from, the first part we dissect is the upper limb. So usually during this stage students are pretty inexperienced and haven't yet been exposed to a lot of variations in the body. So discovering this was quite fascinating!
Later on, when we reached the thorax, we also found that he had 3 lobes in his left lung and 2 in his right (usually the opposite is found).
Kethraes:
I've been sitting here like an idiot making tiger claws and dragon claws for like forever and I can't see it.
The cadaver we were dissecting lacked a muscle called the palmaris longus.
For those not familiar, it's the most superficial muscle of the forearm (you can see it as cord like structure in your wrist that rises when you try to make a claw with your hand). On dissecting the other limb, we discovered that the agenesis was bilateral.
Where I'm from, the first part we dissect is the upper limb. So usually during this stage students are pretty inexperienced and haven't yet been exposed to a lot of variations in the body. So discovering this was quite fascinating!
Later on, when we reached the thorax, we also found that he had 3 lobes in his left lung and 2 in his right (usually the opposite is found).
Kethraes:
I've been sitting here like an idiot making tiger claws and dragon claws for like forever and I can't see it.
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15points
#20
Autopsy tech:
We had a guy a few months ago that was putting off going to the hospital. Died in the car on a road trip. Anyway, his right lung and liver were decomposing. He had this really nasty pus in his right shoulder too. We were calling him zombie guy.
Had a guy who was speeding on his motorcycle, bounced off a semi and slammed into a stop sign. Internal decapitation. That was pretty cool.
My friend had two cases in a row that had auxiliary spleens. Someone tell me the odds. I can’t math.
8Ariadnesthread8:
I'm assuming internal decapitation means that your skin is still connecting your head to your neck even though everything inside is disconnected? I'm too scared to Google it.
OP:
Yeah. Your spine has disconnected around the neck area. Skin around the neck looks normal but it looks suspiciously fluidy.
We had a guy a few months ago that was putting off going to the hospital. Died in the car on a road trip. Anyway, his right lung and liver were decomposing. He had this really nasty pus in his right shoulder too. We were calling him zombie guy.
Had a guy who was speeding on his motorcycle, bounced off a semi and slammed into a stop sign. Internal decapitation. That was pretty cool.
My friend had two cases in a row that had auxiliary spleens. Someone tell me the odds. I can’t math.
8Ariadnesthread8:
I'm assuming internal decapitation means that your skin is still connecting your head to your neck even though everything inside is disconnected? I'm too scared to Google it.
OP:
Yeah. Your spine has disconnected around the neck area. Skin around the neck looks normal but it looks suspiciously fluidy.
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15points