Churchgoer rips out eyeballs

This is what happens when you take your fairytales seriously:

Churchgoer rips out eyeballs

October 4, 2011 - 11:56AM

An Italian man reportedly ripped out his own eyeballs during Sunday Mass at a church in Viareggio, near Pisa, northern Italy, according to British news reports.

Aldo Bianchini, 46, a Briton who had lived most of his life in Italy, according to the Daily Mail, reportedly stood up during the Mass at St Andrea's and used his bare hands to tear out his eyeballs. He then collapsed on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Bianchini's mother tried to help him as the priest called for help, The Sun reported.

He later told doctors - calmly and lucidly - that he was hearing voices, Fox News reported.

NBC Bay Area in the US translated comments the priest, Reverend Lorenzo Tanganelli, gave Italian newspaper Corriere Fiorentino.

"This man at the back of the nave started tearing at his face and I realised he was gouging out his eyes ... I called for assistance and the paramedics were quickly at the scene, and he was taken away and then I carried on celebrating Mass, but a lot of people had left because they were so shocked by what they had seen," Reverend Tanganelli told the paper.

Emergency responders picked up his eyeballs from the floor of the church, Fox reported, but surgeons were unable to save his sight.

The Sun quotes Dr Gino Barbacci as saying: "To do that requires superhuman strength."

NBC reminded readers that in the Bible's Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus says: "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

Viareggio, population 64,000, is a city in northern Tuscany, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/strangebuttrue/churchgoer-rips-out-eyeb...

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Comment by Lewal on October 4, 2011 at 2:46pm: HA! Fantastic! This man should be given a medal for his strength and dedication. This has been my message to Christians all along: If you're going to be silly and crazy and stupid, at least have the gall to do it all the way like Muslims so we can put you in insane asylums where you belong.

I want to have a statue erected of him tearing out his own eyes. This is just beautiful. My day has been absolutely made.

Comment by Tina Springer on October 4, 2011 at 2:53pm: Where is Calpurnpiso when you need him to explain things like this? :))

Comment by Albert Bakker on October 4, 2011 at 3:52pm: You might have a valid point there Dallas Gaytheist his insane act might have more to do with psychosis than piety, but it seems reasonable to suspect it isn't entirely divorced from some religious motive either.

Comment by Albert Bakker on October 4, 2011 at 4:24pm: Yes Dick Swaab, a Dutch neuroscientist wrote about it in his book "We Are Our Brain" And I picked up from several other sources. However I can't find anything pointing to Bianchini suffering from that particular ailment. He a fair share of other mental troubles though.

Comment by Albert Bakker on October 4, 2011 at 4:31pm: Alright yeah I didn't mean to imply, but I was curious myself.

(I don't know if it has been translated and released in English yet, but it is a page turner in Dutch at least.)

Comment by Dustin on October 5, 2011 at 12:24am: Holy shit, that must have hurt...

Comment by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on October 5, 2011 at 2:28am: I think he was looking at pretty girls, other that his wife, and he felt guilt - Catholics push sex is bad, and are violently misogynistic. and therefore get a really skewed perception of the normal healthy function of sex. Did anyone see the play Equus - boy takes out the eyes of a number of horses - similar premise - every religion, including buddhism, hates women. Needs to see a psychiatrist. That's my two cents worth.

Comment by Alex albisa on October 5, 2011 at 5:57pm: I have to agree with Dallas Gaytheist this sounds like mental illness even though religion is a form of mental illness this sounds much farther down the rabbit hole than believing in imaginary friends .

Comment by Lewal on October 5, 2011 at 7:17pm: Justice Cheerios people, who gives a flying flock if it's a "mental illness," the average person has like 15 mental illnesses, at least 3 serious, and, and... HE RIPPED OUT HIS OWN FUCKING EYES! Come on!

Needs to be locked up in the Badass Asylum, that's what he needs. You know what? This man raised the bar. You are officially no longer a man if you haven't ripped out your own eyes.

Here's an updated checklist of real men as of right after that guy ripped out his own eyes:
[ ] Bear Grylls
[ ] Chuck Norris
[ ] Superman
[ ] Jesus
[ ] The Beatles
[ ] You
[ ] Me
[X] That guy that ripped out his own eyes

Comment by matt.clerke on October 5, 2011 at 7:27pm: The Sun quotes Dr Gino Barbacci as saying: "To do that requires superhuman strength."

Really? apparently not, since a human has in fact done it.... infront of a church-full of witnesses I might add. Interesting story anyway though... what a nutter!