Whether it was pure accident, injury, or recreational activity that went wrong, the individuals in these funny X-ray images are some seriously unfortunate (and probably, uncomfortable) souls.
Each photo paints an impressive picture of what the human body can withstand. And, some photos raise serious questions about just how these items got where they did!
Ah, to be a fly on the hospital wall for that conversation...
With roughly 152.8 million procedures carried out in the USA each year, X-rays top the most common diagnostic tests list. Generally, they are used to diagnose broken bones, fractures and check out your vital organs. But, those are not so amusing to look at, and we bet most of them are nowhere near as interesting as the ones you are about to see.
Most of these 15 folks have quite a story to tell to explain how they ended up in hospital. Their funny X-ray images are sure to have raised eyebrows, dropped jaws, and both shocked and confused medical professionals everywhere.
See for yourself the extreme circumstances that these people have got themselves into.
1. Vibrator And Salad Tongs
What you are looking at here is not a live surgical removal of the vibrator that has been lost up the backside of this hapless fellow. Those metal tongs are, in fact, salad tongs that the man used to try and remove the vibrator himself.
Of course, the salad tongs ended up wedged deep inside his rectum, too. The lesson learned here, kids? Next time, head straight to the ER. At-home surgical procedures are unlikely to go well, especially when performed on oneself.
2. The Bottle And The Wire
Funny X-ray images don't often come more weird and laughable than this.
It sounds like the title of a strange fairytale (or a hipster bar), but it is even weirder than you imagined.
A Chinese man went to the ER complaining of stomach ache, apparently with no idea what could have caused it. Concerned doctors ordered an X-ray and were baffled to see an entire bottle and a long piece of wire inside the man.
At that point, the game was clearly up. The man admitted that he managed to get the bottle stuck after inserting it into his rectum and had then used the wire to try and hook it out as an afterthought.
3. Bag O'Nails
This person managed to swallow, quite literally, a bag of nails. By some miracle, they managed to pass every one of them without causing any serious damage to their internal organs. No surgery was needed.
4. A Knife To The Skull
This shocking image comes from a boy attacked in a failed robbery when he was just 16 years old. The incident occurred outside a bus stop, and the perpetrator stabbed two others in his crazed attempt to steal their mobile phones.
Thankfully, all three kids survived, recovered, and went on to live their lives.
5. Use Your Cutlery
Upon first glance, you might be tempted to think this woman swallowed some sort of sea creature, but the truth is even odder. This bizarre item in our list of funny X-ray images is of a Dutchwoman named Margaret Daalman, who consumed 78 forks and spoons.
The 52-year-old arrived at a hospital in Rotterdam, Netherlands, over 40 years ago, complaining of a stomachache. After doctors performed a diagnostic X-ray, it was clear to see why. Ms. Daalman underwent surgery to remove the cutlery from her body and went on to make a successful recovery.
The psychiatric disorder that drove Ms. Daalman to ingest the objects is commonly known as pica and is akin to self-harm. Sufferers have been known to eat all sorts of non-food substances, although the amount that Ms. Dalmaan consumed was, at the time, unprecedented.
6. Drill Bit
If you find this one difficult to look at, you are not alone! This horrific injury is the result of a construction accident. Ron Hunt, a worker at the site, fell from his ladder and landed with his head on his drill bit. As you can see from the image, the drill piece entered through his eye socket and came straight out of the back of his head.
Instead of cutting it out, the surgeon actually unscrewed the drill bit from Mr. Hunt's head. Incredibly, the 1.5 inches wide and 18 inches long bit pushed his brain to the side rather than pierced it, so Mr. Hunt survived this ordeal without any effect on his speech or motor skills.
7. Hand Grenade
Reportedly, this suicide-mission terrorist actually swallowed a live hand grenade before realizing that he had forgotten to pull the pin. Thankfully, the pin remained in place, and this picture can take its place on our list of funny X-ray images.
8. Swallowed Wedding Ring
Love can make you do crazy things, and the man behind number 8 in our list of funny X-ray images is no exception. A couple from New Mexico celebrated their almost engagement with a trip to the emergency room after the proposal didn't go quite as planned. The man, wanting to surprise his girlfriend, slipped the ring into a milkshake she was drinking.
Instead of feeling the ring in her mouth, she slurped it right up and swallowed it whole. Not the most romantic of stories, but still a fun one to tell to the grandkids one day!
9. Completely Nuts
This man appears to have had a bit of an "accident" as he has mistaken mechanical nuts for the edible type.
Luckily for him, they passed through his body with no greater consequence than if they were, in fact, cashews, and he can take a proud place in our collection of funny X-ray images.
10. Christmas Candy
It seems that our friend in this funny X-ray image was perhaps feeling a little too festive. He managed to get this candy cane so firmly wedged up between his buttocks that medical intervention was required to remove it.
11. To Infinity And Beyond!
We are keeping it Disney with the next picture in our sequence of funny X-ray images.
Somehow, Buzz Lightyear has found his way into this guy's body. It is less of an intergalactic and more of an intracolonic exploration.
12. Tape Casette
Taking it old-school, this person inserted a tape cassette into their rectum. The reports do not include whether the tape still played after removal, but we can only hope that it was not a mixtape intended as a gift.
13. I-Scream Spoon
The 22-year-old student, Zhang Weiwei, was eating ice cream and walking along the hallway to her university dorm room when she was suddenly pushed from behind. This caused her to shout out, and simultaneously, she dropped the spoon, which slid down her throat.
Ms. Weiwei did not initially feel unwell, so she intended to wait overnight before going to the hospital. When she checked online, she discovered how dangerous her situation could be and went directly to the emergency room.
Surgeons successfully removed the five-and-a-half-inch spoon using a long wire device in a procedure that took only 10 minutes.
14. Spongebob Squarepants
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Apparently, not Spongebob. He now resides in the body of this 16-month-old boy who swallowed him whole.
15. Eiffel Tower
Sports can be risky and often come with their fair share of injuries. But the last thing that this female jogger expected when out for her morning run was to end up in hospital with an Eiffel Tower lodged in her hand.
The incident occurred when the jogger tripped and fell, landing on her souvenir keyring with her hand. The miniature tour d'Eiffel had to be surgically removed, but luckily the lady was left with nothing more than a few stitches (and maybe a slightly bruised ego).
