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Hollywood often portrays forensic science in a fascinating light. Many people have likely aspired to work in a lab and analyze delicate evidence after watching an episode or two of CSI.
But it can be a different story once you’ve done the actual work. You will likely have noteworthy answers to Reddit questions like this: “What was the most shocking thing discovered in your lab?”
As usual, those who’ve had firsthand experience, or know someone who has, delivered some of the most shocking responses. Prepare to read stories about babies testing positive for illegal substances, toys lodged inside internal organs, and oddly shaped kidneys.
Enjoy scrolling, but perhaps having a meal while doing so isn’t a good idea.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
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.
Kid was biologically theirs, but just looked totally different.
#2
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 [ended] 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 wasn't even close.
Poor guy has no idea his late father was never his biological father at all. And the hospital has no right or obligation to inform him.
#3
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. He 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 a field.
Only reason she was found was because her decomposing flesh caused the plants right hear her body to be oddly large and lush for a dry forgotten field.
Earthquake903 1 month ago (edited)
Scumbag boyfriend. Eta: Sorry if this comment isn't venomous enough for some of you. Judging by the comments below, there are many dissatisfied comment readers. But I've gone figuratively nuclear in my comments on bad people before, like Dennis Rader, and I got mocked for it. So, it appears some comment readers just can't be satisfied.
#4
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.
#5
I only just started here so what’s shocking to me is probably super minor but i had a decedent that died and was found with multiple bottles of isopropyl alcohol around her with straws in them. She literally was sipping isopropyl alcohol through straws. It obviously [ended] her, but i cannot get past the thought of that. How serious of an addiction do you have that doing something like that makes sense? Just the thought of doing that makes my stomach turn.
linda collins 1 month ago
Nurse here. It is quite common for patients with a drink problem to drink the alcohol spray or gel while they are in hospital.
#6
My friend's wife works in one. Getting blood samples from babies that tested positive for [illegal substances] 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 back flow into the water fountain drain, and management didn't really care.
#7
I was working in the lab late one night, well one thing led to another and we
DID THE MASH WE DID THE MONSTER MASH.
#8
Years ago when I was working as a DNA analyst, our lab received a limp caesar salad from a local restaurant, take out box and all. Apparently, the guy who ordered the salad said that it was served with blood in it. The restaurant owner said not possible and that the customer must have bled in it so that he wouldn't have to pay. The customer then decided to promptly bring his salad to our lab along with his DNA sample to prove that it wasn't his. Turns out that it was and he unknowingly bled into his salad somehow.
Oh, there was also that one time a dad sent in a bunch of his daughter's soiled feminine hygiene products in to the lab to test for semen.
Most shocking thing though was the time a bunch of DNA samples came. To make a long story short: one large vehicle, lots of [illegal substances], two strung out horny couples, one condom being passed back and forth (yes...flipped inside out), and two pregnant couples uncertain about the paternity of each baby.
Beak Hookage 1 month ago (edited)
Fathers obsessing over their daughter's sexual activities are some of the biggest sick creeps on earth. I mean really.
#9
Not a scientist, but my last job involved scientific testing equipment and sending results to the legal team of the company. Using an XRF gun I found that almost 50 percent of this large companies inventory contains above the legally allowed amount of lead, and various other harmful chemicals. (At a company whose product most people will touch on a daily basis). The legal team sure had their work cut out for them.
#10
I was working as a scanning electron microscope technician for the R&D branch of a private company when the head scientist gave me a unknown sample to cut up and investigate. There were a bunch of layers of paint on it and he wanted to know what elements were present. Most of the layers showed up as normal elements (O, Al, Cr, etc) but one layer had a peak at Pr (Praseodymium) which is so rare that I forgot that it was even an element. I thought I was going crazy but my engineer double-checked it and it was definitely there. Turns out that Praseodymium is used in certain military grade paints.
CF 1 month ago
From wiki: "Praseodymium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pr and the atomic number 59. It is the third member of the lanthanide series and is considered one of the rare-earth metals. It is a soft, silvery, malleable and ductile metal, valued for its magnetic, electrical, chemical, and optical properties. It is too reactive to be found in native form, and pure praseodymium metal slowly develops a green oxide coating when exposed to air."..Some uses include "yellow-orange "Praseodymium Yellow" stain for ceramics, which is a solid solution in the zircon lattice. This stain has no hint of green in it; by contrast, at sufficiently high loadings, praseodymium glass is distinctly green rather than pure yellow." Can also be used to make powerful magnets and certain types of welder's goggles.
#11
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.
#12
Horseshoe kidney. There were several autopsies going at once and when it was discovered every doctor dropped what they were doing and cake over to look. So I’d suspect the odds are higher than 1:500.
#14
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. He assumed that they must have swallowed it while they were underwater.
Bewitched One 1 month ago
Also, things swallowed don’t normally end up in the lungs. Inhaled things, on the other hand…
#15
My ex worked in a genetics lab.
It wasn't unusual to receive a severed new-born baby's hand to sample for genetic testing in the case of miscarriage or early-life deaths.
MellonCollie 1 month ago
Damn, can't they just take a tissue sample and leave limbs attached???
#16
My friends ma used to work in forensics and we got told a bunch of stories, the most memorable being of when they found the dead body of a girl hacked into bits inside a bin bag.
They at first thought some sicko had [ended] her and cut her up, yknow like sickos do. But after further investigation they discovered something in her lady parts along with a giant hole. Some sciencing later and the something was an acrylic nail.
Turns out she and her girlfriend were doing it when her gf's nail snapped and ripped her open from the inside and she bled out. The girlfriend, in a moment of panic, chopped her up and tried to dispose of the body.
Edit: For all of you saying this is fake, I don't know if it is or not. Like I said I got told this by my friends ma, and she wasn't homophobic or anything. It does seem a little implausible but human beings are wack creatures so who knows.
Tempest 1 month ago (edited)
Well their first thought was still correct. The girlfriend decided to chop up the lady and discard her rather than call authorities and give her a proper burial. Someone who can do that is a definite sicko! While it’s pretty impossible for an acrylic nail inflicted wound to end a life like this (just like OP mentions that they don’t know the veracity of the story), it was still an accident according to the story, so why try to cover it up and get in worse legal trouble?
#17
I was working in a lab for a while. Nothing too exciting until we found that one of our coworkers got fired for having d***s, a gun, and other such things in their office. I know it isn't quite what the thread wanted but that was by far the most shocking discovery.
frank behnsen 1 month ago
That person had ducks in the office? Cool. I wonder what those “other such things” were. “[Crime] weapons”? *Gasp*
#18
The [crime] weapon in my trainees bottom left desk drawer.
Bewitched One 1 month ago (edited)
“The [crime] (of “unaliving”) weapon in my trainees bottom desk drawer.” Original post comment also says “previous comments say they drive truck though and are not a detective”
What do you think ?
Nicky 1 month ago
Please vet posts for scientific accuracy so people will understand that homozygous recessive genes and traits cannot produce heterozygous dominant genes and traits. Two people with dark skin, hair, and eyes can have a kid with homozygous recessive genes and traits (light skin, eyes, and hair) but not the other way around. This was a scientifically inaccurate posting that spreads misinformation.
Nicky 1 month ago
Please vet posts for scientific accuracy so people will understand that homozygous recessive genes and traits cannot produce heterozygous dominant genes and traits. Two people with dark skin, hair, and eyes can have a kid with homozygous recessive genes and traits (light skin, eyes, and hair) but not the other way around. This was a scientifically inaccurate posting that spreads misinformation.
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