A spatula can go there?! The weirdest x-rays are often the most gruesome ones. Squeamish friends, you've been warned.
X-ray technology has without a doubt prolonged and saved countless human lives. But for those of us with a little more misanthropy coursing through our veins, x-rays also provide us with visions of painful human injuries, some of which are so off-the-wall crazy that they will leave you scratching your head and wondering just what kind of idiot would ever find herself in the position where a spatula would be lodged in her throat.
Here are some of the weirder x-rays that have been uncovered from around the world. From what information is available, all of these people survived:
A Chinese woman was cooking in her kitchen, when she suddenly found herself unable to breathe. It wasn’t because she had a spatula crammed down her throat–yet. She’d do that herself in a panic when she couldn’t clear her airway by any conventional means. The woman’s four year old daughter managed to get her help; doctors removed the spatula but failed to find the source of her original breathing problem. Image: Rex Features.
Ever swallow a toothbrush on a dare? Me neither. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
What about a toothbrush, two forks, and a ball-point pen? These made it all the way to the intestines. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
Kindness will get you…nowhere. Jonas Acevedo Monroy, from the city of Chihuahua, Mexico would likely attest to this after he showed up in the ER following one vicious attack. A witness recalled that Monroy, nicknamed “The Gentleman” for his polite demeanor, was spotted at a local bar by a jealous rival who then tried to start a fight. Monroy attempted to subdue the man by offering to buy him a drink, after which point the attacker plunged a pair of scissors into his skull. Monroy survived the incident. Image: CEN/Europics.
A knife through the heart looks pretty gruesome, even in an x-ray. But China’s Luo Yong is still alive today after this heart-wrenching injury. Image: Rex Features.
Welder Ha Wei was on a ladder repairing a rain canopy when witnesses saw him fall off and hit the ground. He appeared to be OK when he rose–except for the fact that a welding rod had entered his head and gone all the way through his brain. Luckily, no major veins were damaged and Ha Wei lived to weld another day. Image: China News/Rex Features.
James Valentine was simply pruning some trees when his chainsaw kicked back and…well, you can imagine where it went from there. Image: AP/Allegheny Health Network.
Surgeons removed this knife from a 10-year-old Afghani boy’s skull. Image: MoD/PA.
An 18-month-old girl was brought to the doctor after it was discovered that she was excreting…nails…from her stomach. The anomaly continued at the hospital. A few days later, a nurse said she’d found a package of identical nails in the patient’s bed. The girl’s mother insisted that she did not feed the nails to her child, and that no one had the chance to do so. Image: Quirky China News/Rex Features.
Little is known about this incident, other than quite obvious fact that this poor man has met the business end of a crowbar. Image: Cultura/Rex Features.
After a fall which left this man thoroughly impaled from anus to chest by a standing bar, co-workers quickly sawed the bar free from the concrete and took the man to the hospital, where he miraculously recovered from his injuries. Image: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features.
Imagine a stray dog steals your bacon. You’d likely be mad–but mad enough to throw a pair of fire tongs into the street? You should only get THAT mad if you are the innocent bystander who caught the fire tongs–with your head. Image: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features.
This 69-year-old man showed up at the hospital rather nonchalantly, insisting that he hammered these nails into his skull himself, and to not bother calling the police. Despite the claim, the doctors believed that someone else did this to him. The nails were removed without incident. Image: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features.
A Chinese woman with chronic rhinitis was suffering from headaches and breathing issues. An exploratory x-ray revealed a bullet lodged in her head by her nostril. She then remembered back 48 years ago to when she was 14, and walking along a path. The woman felt a stinging pain in her temple and started to bleed. She thought she’d been hit by a pebble; so her family cleaned her up and threw a bandage on it. Apparently she was shot. Image: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features.
This historical x-ray shows the foot of a soldier that served in the Boer War (1899-1902). The bullet lodged between the toes appears to have caused no real damage, as it’s thought the upper part of the toes were actually damaged from marching in tight Army boots. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
Lose your keys? They’re always in the last place you look; in this case, the stomach of your 7-year-old son. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
More fun things lodged in an intestine, including a razor blade. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
If it’s not one thing, it’s an open safety pin in your esophagus. Am I right? Image: SPL/Barcroft.
Fork meets foot. Watch your step! Image: SPL/Barcroft.
A dementia patient that didn’t stop at the blades, and swallowed the whole razor, too. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
Don’t bring your fingers to a knife fight. Image: SPL/Barcroft.
