The 5 scariest things docs have seen in the ER

Halloween may be synonymous with ghosts, goblins, and jump-scares—but in the emergency department, it often brings something more mundane but just as alarming: preventable injuries and medical mishaps.

As the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) reminds us, the real horrors of the night are pumpkins carved the wrong way, costumes that impede vision, and trick-or-treaters darting across dark roadways. ^[]

“Halloween tends to be a busy night for emergency physicians,” said Christopher S. Kang, MD, president of the ACEP. ^[]

For doctors—especially those of us still clocking shifts in the ER—Halloween isn’t just a night for public health warnings. It’s a reminder that our patients arrive with the strangest stories: sharp-object lacerations, allergic reactions to “novel” candies, and falls from elaborate decorations.

That said, here are some of the scariest cases doctors have actually seen come into the ER.

'A slasher movie come to life'

Reddit user @sdcox, a nurse, recalled a story from a fellow nurse about a particularly frightening event: "It was a full moon, of course, and she was working intake. A very country, beardy man walks in 'with both his hands up under his beard.' He walks up to the desk, fully ambulatory, and says in a whisper 'help, I cut myself.' She notices he has quite a bit of blood on him, so she perks up and says ok sir, where is your injury....and he takes his hands away to lift his beard and shows her a huge gash along his throat, which starts squirting blood! He quickly claps his hands back over the gash and squeezes it closed," she wrote.

A fatal self-decapitation attempt

The burn case that still haunts the trauma bay

"A 2-year-old baby that the 'boyfriend' forgot in the hot tub for 15 minutes. The baby was screaming, but the boyfriend was too busy being on the phone. Meanwhile, the mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner.

The result? 3rd degree burns that were bigger than the baby. I can still see those huge bubbles in front of me. I can't imagine what the pain must have been. Scarred for life, literally," said Reddit user @PULVERSCHNEE.

He called 911—with half his skull missing

"Guy attempts suicide and shoots himself in the face (gun barrel in mouth). Initially fails his attempt and has enough brains left in his head to call 911.

Eventually his failed attempt turned into an unfortunate success and I bagged that body and took him to the morgue about an hour after arrival," said Reddit user @__fake_account__, a former patient transport in a trauma center in downtown Los Angeles.

Feet that crumbled to dust

"Agoraphobic man came in and hadn't taken his socks off in two years. Feet were gangrenous. X-ray showed little bone left. I removed his socks and what little of his feet were left crumbled into my hands," said a Reddit user whose account is now deleted in r/AskReddit.