Doctors discover something unusual in 24-year-old man’s rectum; it's more than 100 years old

A 24-year-old man in France was rushed to the hospital after doctors discovered something unusual. An 8-inch-long object was found in his rectum. The origin of the same goes back to the early 20th century. It was a World War I–era artillery shell.

The reason for the incident remains unclear. How the artillery ended up there is still a mystery. Authorities are investigating the circumstances.

The 37mm brass-and-copper shell was used by the Imperial German Army in the final stages of World War I. Such shells were mass-produced and widely used against British and French forces on the Western Front.

Many were date-stamped. Even today, similar unexploded shells are often found during the annual “Iron Harvest” across Europe. They are especially found on farmland and construction sites.

The incident triggered a major emergency response at a hospital in Toulouse. There were fears that the device could explode.

During surgery, medical staff found the shell, believed to date back to 1918. Alarmed doctors alerted authorities, leading to the evacuation of parts of the hospital.

Police, firefighters and bomb disposal experts were immediately called to the scene. However, everything ended safely.

Staff and patients were evacuated from Rangueil Hospital after doctors found the old artillery shell. Police set up a security cordon around the emergency area while bomb experts examined the device.

Emergency teams later confirmed that the device was safely defused and posed no immediate danger. According to local reports, the man is now recovering after surgery.

The man is expected to be questioned by police this week. Prosecutors are considering action for illegal handling of category A munitions.

Authorities may charge him under France’s strict weapons laws for possessing an explosive device.

“He was in a state of extreme discomfort, having inserted a large object up his rectum. Emergency surgery was carried out, and the object was found to be an artillery shell dating back to the First World War,” a police source told The Sun.

“Worse still, it had not exploded, and so bomb disposal experts had to be called to defuse the shell, with the fire brigade standing by,” the source added.

According to a local newspaper, the Toulouse staff are “accustomed to treating victims injured during sexual games”.

Message in a bottle

Messages written by two Australian soldiers in 1916 were discovered in October 2025. Local resident Deb Brown and her family. Found them more than a century later on Australia’s south-western coast.

"We do a lot of cleaning up on our beaches, and so we would never go past a piece of rubbish. So this little bottle was lying there waiting to be picked up," Brown told the Associated Press.

The notes were placed inside a bottle just days after the men had set out on their sea journey to fight in World War I. The letters were hopeful and cheerful.

One soldier, Private Malcolm Neville, wrote to his mother. He said that the food was good, and the men were happy. He was later killed in action in France at the age of 28, according to the BBC.

The second soldier, Private William Harley, survived the war and returned home. Their families were given the letters.