Man went to hospital with World War I shell stuck up bum and caused absolute chaos

An 88-year-old man in France showed up at a hospital with a shell in his bum from WWI - and management called for an evacuation.

According to a report from the French news site Var-matin, the incident with the older man occurred on Saturday (17 December) evening in the Sainte-Musse emergency room in Toulon.

"An apple, a mango or even a can of shaving foam... We are used to finding unusual objects inserted where they shouldn't be. But a shell? Never!" one of the hospital staff members told the outlet.

At first, management at the hotel launched the partial evacuation of the hospital, particularly at the pediatric part, receiving help from firefighters and security.

The gynecology and maternity units still operated usually, for the most part, Var-matin reported.

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Also, with the diversion of "a few hours," the hospital had new patients sent to other hospitals because of the "bomb alert."

The outlet also said that another member of staff at the hospital said they treated the older man who ensured them that the shell wasn't active.

"They reassured us by telling us that it was a collector's shell from the First World War, offered to the Poilus," a doctor told the outlet.

From there, doctors made the diagnosis and ultimately ruled out any instance of a possible explosion.

The shell, which was "five or six centimeters in diameter and 20 centimeters long," was removed from the elderly man's abdomen through abdominal surgery.

The man is also now said to be "in good health."

Fortunately, everything else played out well for the rest of the hospital.

On Monday morning (19 December), hospital management thanked staff members via email for their efforts in the moment.

This isn’t the first time war memorabilia ended up being in an unusual place.

In 2021, an anonymous patient in Gloucestershire “slipped and fell” on a 17cm by 6cm World War II projectile.

With fears of detonation, the bomb squad was called to the A&E department of the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for assistance.

A Gloucestershire Constabulary representative told Indy100 that they responded to a report that “a patient had presented with a munition in his rectum.”

“The item had been removed prior to police arrival and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) were contacted,” they added.

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