In what will hopefully be the only story of its kind this year, a bomb squad was apparently called to a French hospital after an 88-year-old man was discovered to have placed an ancient artillery shell up his backside “for pleasure,” according to Insider. The unnamed senior citizen is expected to make a full recovery and no one else in the hospital was harmed in the incident, although the hospital was briefly evacuated.
According to the International Business Times, which (perhaps fairly) described the man as a “pervert,” the shell in question was about 8 inches in length and 2 inches in diameter. When the man presented to the hospital and explained his… condition, the doctors were understandably concerned and called a bomb squad. Both the adult and pediatric emergency departments were evacuated and all incoming emergencies were diverted to other hospitals for a time.
However, the bomb squad told the doctors that there was “little risk” of the shell actually exploding, and that it was likely a collectors’ item used by the French military. Doctors were accordingly able to remove the object by surgically opening his abdomen.
One of the doctors involved in the surgery told French publication Var-Martin, “An apple, a mango, or even a can of shaving foam, we are used to finding unusual objects inserted where they shouldn’t be. But a shell? Never!”
It was not immediately clear where the man obtained the shell in question, although they are now commonly used as collectors’ objects. The unnamed man is described as now being in “good health.”