Hollywood often makes forensic science look exciting. After watching a few episodes of CSI, many people probably dream of working in a lab and examining evidence.
But it can be a different story after you put in the real work. You’ll probably have interesting responses to Reddit queries such as these: “What was the most startling finding in your laboratory?”
As usual, the most startling answers came from people who had personal experience or knew someone who had. Get ready to read about toys stuck within internal organs, children testing positive for drugs, and kidneys with strange shapes.
I love to scroll, but maybe it’s not a good idea to eat while doing so.
#1
Resource: Getty Images.
That he was the father.
I work as a clinic bookkeeper/billing man, and we tested a baby to determine whether he was the father.
Both parents had blonde hair, the wife had blue eyes, and they both had very fair skin.
The child was black. When he was previously judged, there was no condition present—he was just black.
The father asked for a paternity test because having a black child with two white parents raised some questions.
Turns out the mom had a black grandpa that didn’t show up in their skin and that she didn’t know about.
Although physically identical, the child was not at all like them.
#2
Thus, neither I nor forensics (in its entirety). In college, I had a professor who worked at the Mayo Clinic and was getting her doctorate.
At that particular hospital, year after year, a man would come in to get tested for a disorder or disease that had [ended] his father’s life. He tested negative year after year. But in an attempt to stay ahead of it, he was tested annually. Due to genetics.
One year, he tested negative as usual, but the staff sensed something was wrong. They pulled out the archives, found his father’s file, and compared it to his. The DNA didn’t match at all.
The poor man is completely unaware that his dead father was never his real father. Furthermore, the hospital has no obligation or right to notify him.
#3
My MSc in forensic pathology and anthropology requires a final practical exam. The examiner dragged a big cardboard box inside. The kind/dimensions in which you would keep papers.
It settled a cracked plant pot when it was thrown on the table. The diameter of any item was no more than 1.5 inches. “Could you locate every fragment of *an example of bone* and rebuild it, please?” he asks.
The girl was about sixteen. Her lover had buried her in a field after smashing her head with a stone and chopping her into pieces.
The only reason she was discovered was because the plants growing directly next to her body were strangely huge and lush for a dry, neglected field due to her decaying flesh.
#4
Candle in an old man’s bladder.
#5
It won’t shock you, compared to other situations. But you’ll never forget the first time you saw a computer steeped in blood and cut by bullets.
#6
A private company employed me as a scanning electron microscope technician. The chief scientist gave me an unknown sample to analyze. He was curious about the components hidden beneath the several coats of paint. The elements in the majority of the layers appeared as typical ones (O, Al, Cr, etc.), but one layer included a peak at Pr (praseodymium), which is so unfamiliar that I almost forgot it was an element at all. After my engineer double-checked everything, I realized that I wasn’t seeing things. It turns out that some military-grade paints contain praseodymium.
#7
When I went to an autopsy, the person being examined had one big kidney that covered his entire body rather than two, one on each side.
#8
Resource: Yandex
Since I’ve just recently joined, my shock at this is probably quite small, but I had a dead relative who was discovered to have several isopropyl alcohol bottles with straws in them when she passed away. She was drinking isopropyl alcohol with straws. Though it was clearly [the end] for her, the concept still bothers me. To what extent is your addiction so severe that taking such action makes sense? My stomach turns at the notion of doing it.
#9
Resource: Yandex
kidney in a horseshoe. When it was revealed that multiple autopsies were underway simultaneously, all of the doctors stopped what they were doing to take a look. Thus, I believe there are greater chances than 1:500.
#10
Resource: Yandex
One is where my friend’s wife works. It seems that plan blood from newborns who tested positive for [illegal substances] was a justly common practice; however, the most shocking finding of late was that the building’s plumbing was designed in a way that allowed chemical disposal to backflow into the water fountain drain, and the management was oblivious to this fact.
#11
I’m not a scientist, but in my previous position, I used equipment for scientific testing and sent the results to the company’s legal department. With the use of an XRF gun, I discovered that about half of the stock of this sizable company has more lead than is permitted by law in addition to other dangerous substances. (At a business whose goods the majority of people use daily.) The legal team had a challenging task ahead of them.
#12
Resource: Yandex
When I worked as a DNA analyst years ago, a neighborhood restaurant sent a limp Caesar salad to our lab, complete with a takeout box. It seems that the man who placed the salad order complained about it having blood in it. The restaurant’s owner said it was not feasible. He suggested the client must have bled in it to avoid paying.
To demonstrate that the salad wasn’t his, the client made the quick decision to bring his salad and a sample of his DNA to our lab. It turns out that he inadvertently, unintentionally, bled into his salad.
Oh, and there was that one time a father brought a stack of his daughter’s soiled sanitary napkins to the lab for a semen test.
The most amazing thing though was when several DNA samples arrived. To cut a long tale short, there was one big car, a lot of [illegal substances], two lustful couples, one condom being handed back and forth—yes, flipped inside out—and two expecting couples who weren’t sure who the father of each child was.
#13
One late night while I was working in the scientific lab, something went wrong, and WE MADE THE MONSTER MASH; WE DID THE MASH.
#14
Resource: Yandex
My ex-employer was a genetics lab.
Receiving a severed hand from a newborn for genetic testing in cases of miscarriage or early-life fatalities was not out of the ordinary.
#15
Resource: Yandex
The bottom left desk drawer of my trainee contained the [crime] weapon.
#16
Resource: Yandex
I spent some time working in a lab. Not too thrilling until we learned that one of our colleagues was sacked for allegedly possessing a gun, d***s, and other such items in their workplace. That was by far the most shocking discovery—I realize it’s not exactly what the thread was hoping for.
#17
If you’re not in forensics, you might find this interesting. One of the most common items found in the bodies of deceased people in forests is bear semen.
#18
Resource: Yandex
Edit: I’m unsure about this, despite what others say. My friend’s mother, not homophobic, told me. It sounds unlikely, but who knows? We’re unpredictable.
Initially, they believed that a sicko had sliced her up and ended her, as sickos tend to do. However, upon closer examination, they found a massive hole and something in her privates. After further scanning, the object turned out to be an acrylic nail.
When her girlfriend’s nail broke and she bled out, it turned out that she was doing it with her partner. In a hurry, the girlfriend tried to dispose of the body by cutting it up.
Edit: I’m not sure if this is true or not, even with what everyone is saying. Like I said earlier, my friend’s mom told me this, and she wasn’t homophobic at all. It might seem a bit unlikely, but who knows? We’re all a little unpredictable.
This article was originally published on BoredPanda.
