28 of the Wildest Things Seen by People Working in Forensics

‘A candle in an old man’s bladder’
28 of the Wildest Things Seen by People Working in Forensics

forensic scientist’s job is one that actually seems more interesting in real life than on television. In fact, a lot of the televised exaggerations can be done away with, given that we have such fascinating true stories that range from as mysterious as “a candle in an old man’s bladder,” to as simple as “bloody computer full of bullet holes.” 

The forensics workers of Reddit have logged on and recalled some of the strangest things they’ve seen on the job, and I have to warn you, some of these are insanely dark. I mean, who knew the sight of a Hot Wheels car could be so ominous?

4NZIKThrowaway 8y ago Forensic chemist here, who occasionally gets called out to crime scenes just to consult on evidence collection. On the first one I ever went on, a father had shot his adult son and put the body in a deep freeze that was in his bedroom. There were a ton of cops and other people from our lab there, but when the coroner asked for help removing the body from the freezer, I volunteered quickly, as I had never been that close to a dead body (other than funerals) and was curious. As I helped the coroner lift
MyOwnHurricane 8y ago A friend is a psychologist whose previous life was in crime scene photography. She went to the scene of a suicide in a garage. This guy had a project car that he had worked on his whole life, when he decided to end it all he wanted to go with the car, so he shut the garage and turned on the engine and waited. To top if off, he had taken a bunch of pain and sleeping pills. When my friend got there it was a good while after his death, EMTs and other specialists were there
Spanny1998 8y ago This is a story from my fake uncle, a forensic officer who has leading a team of juniors in a suicide case. The victim of the suicide had filled a water pressure based fire extinguisher with explosive material (he didn't go into detail) and hugged it like a teddy bear. Naturally when he went off and out with a bang he went all over the roof, walls and floor. My uncle proceeded to find a foot with all the tendons hanging out and paraded it in front of the juniors and pulled all the tendons making the
freebase42 8y ago Father-in-law is a cop. Years ago, he got called to a scene of a suicide by hanging. The body had been there for a while. Apparently the deceased had managed to do quite a bit a of damage to his neck vertebrae, because his spine had snapped and his neck stretched down several feet from the noose. The cops at the scene took pictures of giraffe neck and passed them around the department. Somehow, my wife saw the pictures when she was at the tender age of 12, which screwed her up good enough to be a
sagegreenpaint78 . 4y ago Candle in an old mans bladder. Share 492 ...
TollinginPolitics 4y ago Not super shocking compared to others but the first time you see a computer covered in blood full of bullet holes it is moment you do not forget. 448 Share ...
Pizza-pasta-deadpool 4y ago This is my grandfathers story. While he was working in Forensics he had to take a body found at a bottom of a lake. After checking it out he apparently found that there was a hot wheels car lodged in the left lung. Не assumed that they must have swallowed it while they were underwater. Share 10 ...
Kiddley 8y ago A friend of mine is a forensic scientist and her department dealt with burglary cases only. Usually generating pretty uninteresting stuff to tell people. But her only good story is that once she got a pair of gloves found at the crime scene, she went to examie them and felt that there was something hard inside. She turned the gloves up to get it out, and out falls a thumb, ripped off at the first joint. Apparently this particular burglar was holding up a safe while his mate went underneath it, dropped the safe on his hands,
denovome 8y ago I worked in a morgue for a while. Lots of weird things. One case in particular stands out. A man was found dead in a food truck. Не looked pretty normal from the outside. After we took off his clothes things started looking a bit odd. Не was wearing women's underwear that had holes cut in them for his penis. Не probably had on around twenty pairs of the underwear. Не also had a penis pump on his penis with a few condoms on. I don't remember what the cause of death was.. Wonder what his family
 4y ago In doing my MSc in forensic pathology and anthropology, there is a final practical exam component. The examiner hauled in a large cardboard box. The type/size you would store documents in. When dumped on the table, it looked like a broken plant pot. No piece was bigger than 1.5 inches diameter. Не then goes could you find all the pieces of example of bone and reconstruct it please? Turns out it was a ~16 year old girl whose boyfriend had caved her head in with a stone and cut her into tiny bits before burying her in
 4y ago My friend's wife works in one. Getting blood samples from babies that tested positive for coke and meth was apparently fairly common, but the most recent shocking discovery was that the building's plumbing was done in such a way that chemical disposal could backflow into the water fountain drain, and management didn't really care. 1.9K Share ...
 4y ago So, not forensics (entirely), and not me. I had a professor in college that was pursuing her doctorate while working at the Mayo Clinic. Year after year, a man came in to be tested for a disorder/disease that killed his father at that very hospital. Year after year, he tested negative. But every year, he got tested in an effort to stay ahead of it. Because, genetics. One year, he tested negative as usual, but the staff had an idea. They cracked open the archives, dug his father's file out & put it next to his. DNA
 4y ago That he WAS the father. I'm a bookkeeper/billing guy at a clinic and we tested a baby to see if he was the father. Mom and dad were both blonde hair, wife had blue eyes, both looked super white. Kid was REALLY black. Was tested earlier and he didn't have a condition, he was just black. The dad wanted a paternity test cause when you have two white parents and a black kid, raises some questions. Turns out the mom had a black grandfather that didn't show up in their skin and that she didn't know about.
 4y ago I attended an autopsy where the subject being examined had one large kidney that extended to both sides of his body instead of having 2, one on each side of his body 260 Share ...
Drylemming 8y ago . Edited 8y ago Not me but my professor. This young kid (teens- ish) was playing with a loaded gun and accidentally shot himself in the face. Не then tried to write help me on the wall with his blood. So sad. We saw the scene photos for class.
Sillyblowfish 4y ago I do fire investigation and one that stuck with me was a likely mentally disturbed girl started speaking to god at the dinner table and then that night lit her room on fire with her in it. I think about that one a lot Share 10K ...
sanjog86 8y ago After completing my medical graduation I was posted as a junior resident in the department of forensic medicine. 40 plus female who had suffered burn injury died due to over hydration with IV fluid. When her chest was opened believe me the smell hits your frontal cortex like no other smell. It was messy, very very messy. 262 Share ...
Loverboy21 . 8y ago . Edited 8y ago Self inflicted GSW, pistol in each hand, one entrance wound one exit wound. Two spent shell casings, neighbors report two shots fired. No bullet holes in ceiling, walls, furniture, windows, nothing. Sat at the scene for an hour with ME and two officers searching everything, but the bullets never turned up. Still scratching my head.
Szwejkowski 8y ago Attended a lecture by a pathologist once who asked us what household item someone had managed to kill themselves with - a toothbrush, a rubber band or a matchstick? Не went on to tell us that a man had killed himself accidentally while trying to clean his ear out with a matchstick. Punctured a blood vessel, painted a wall with his own blood, passed out and bled out on the sofa. 2.1K Share ...
Gravity-Chap 8y ago Prof showed a case where a guy committed suicide by holding two forks on a table then proceeded to head bang towards it. Stuck both his eyes in. 4.2K Share ...
PlatinumJester 8y ago . Edited 8y ago I'm not a forensic scientist but did forensic anthropology as part of my degree. When handling a ribcage a ton of flakes came off and ended up being lodged in my mouth, nose and eyes thanks to a friend.
krispykremedonuts 8y ago My cousin in a coroner and the worst was he came to get a body in a trailer, during the summer. Man had been dead at least a week and had burst. Не said the smell was the worst of his life. Не and the other guy were up to their ankles in fluids, and had to throw out his clothes and shoes. His boss felt so bad that he bought them each a new pair of like $300 shoes. 684 Share ...
DeadGuy940 8y ago Not a crime scene guy - used to be a first responder. Guy was sitting at a table, slumped over, with every single knife from a very nice knife set sticking out of his back, arranged just the way the were in the knife block. Wife was standing there, still yelling at him for dying too soon. Share 912 ...
shapeintheclouds 8y ago Retired Undertaker here. Duck Hunter in gear found dead on front porch. Looked like shotgun went off and hit him, close range in the chest. Got him back to funeral home for autopsy (small town). Не had been stabbed about 30 times. 343 Share ...
OmegaZodiac 8y ago Made an account & quit lurking just for this thread. Crime scene tech here. This one stands out as I was still training at the time. Suicide by gunshot. Guy went to an indoor range & rented a monster of a revolver (a Judge if iirc). This thing could shoot 410 shot shells. The force basically blew the top of his head off. What remained of the skin from the top of his head was flapped into the skull cavity & his eyes looked like they were bulging out. Blood & brains up to 10 ft away.
Level21 . 8y ago . Edited 8y ago 31 EMT here. We.had a guy who was naked, bloodied, and tortured. Then left outside in -10 degree weather until he froze. We found him literally frozen maybe a day after the fact. Now... my question is: How the hell do you move a 230LB popsicle without breaking it?
CaptainPondo 8y ago Worked at an MEs for a bit, had a couple pass away from a 2 person plane crash. When the autopsy began it smelled a bit like burnt BBQ and the people in the body bags weren't in your typical dead lying flat position. They were kind of stuck in a fetal position-ish. Opened up the bag and I saw weird bumps on each of their heads. Asked the ME what was up with the bumps. I guess at high temps the brain expands and needs somewhere to go, at some point it just kinda pops out
GoogleWasMyldea49 . 4y ago A mildly over weight man had a heart attack and died on his waterbed, it broke and the sun heated the water (this is Arizona by the way) and cooked him like a fucking stew 3.2K Share ...

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article
Forgot Password?