A 24-year-old man from France was taken to hospital after doctors discovered something unusual. An 8 inch long object was found in his anus. The origin of the same goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. It was a World War I 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 grenade was used by the Imperial German Army in the closing stages of WW1. Such shells were mass-produced and widely used against British and French forces on the Western Front.
Many were dated. Even today, similar unexploded shells are often found during the annual “Iron Harvest” across Europe. They occur mainly on agricultural land and on construction sites.
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The incident prompted a large-scale emergency response at a hospital in Toulouse. There were fears that the device could explode.
During the operation, medical staff found a shell that is believed to date back to 1918. The alarmed doctors alerted the 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 an old artillery shell. Police set up a security cordon around the emergency area while bomb experts examined the device.
Rescue teams later confirmed that the device was safely disposed of and posed no immediate danger. According to local reports, the man is now recovering after surgery.
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The man is due to be questioned by police this week. Prosecutors are considering a lawsuit for illegal handling of Category A ammunition.
Authorities may charge him with possession of an explosive device under France’s strict weapons laws.
“He was in a state of extreme discomfort when he inserted a large object into his anus. An emergency operation was carried out and it was found to be an artillery shell from the First World War,” a police source told The Sun.
“Worse still, it didn’t explode, so bomb disposal experts had to be called in to defuse the missile, with the fire brigade on standby,” the source added.
According to a local newspaper, Toulouse staff are “accustomed to treating victims injured during sex games”.
A message in a bottle
Messages written by two Australian soldiers in 1916 were discovered in October 2025. Local resident Deb Brown and her family. He found them more than a century later on the southwest coast of Australia.
“We clean up a lot on our beaches, so we would never walk past the trash. So this little bottle was just sitting there waiting to be picked up,” Brown told the Associated Press.
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The notes were placed in the bottle just days after the men embarked on a sea voyage to fight in the First World War. The letters were hopeful and cheerful.
One soldier, Private Malcolm Neville, wrote to his mother. He said the food was good and the men were happy. He was later killed in France at the age of 28, according to the BBC.
The other soldier, Private William Harley, survived the war and returned home. The letters were given to their families.