I just came across this story. it’s both really really sad and really really amusing to me at the same time.

A 62-year-old man went into the emergency room of Cholet General Hospital in western France in 2002. He had a history of major psychiatric illness, was suffering from stomach pain, and could not eat or move his bowels. His family warned doctors that he sometimes swallowed coins, and a few had been removed from his stomach in past hospital visits.

The doctors were awed when they took an X-ray. They discovered an enormous opaque mass in his stomach that turned out to weigh 12 pounds – as much as some bowling balls. It was so heavy it had forced his stomach down between his hips.

He had swallowed around 350 coins – $650 worth – along with assorted necklaces and needles.