In Wilmington, NC, last night, according to Ann McAdams and Jeremy Godwin of WWAY in Wilmington, a customer at Kohl's Frozen Custard found an unexpected extra treat in his pint of frozen chocolate custard: a severed human fingertip.
During a freak accident, an employee at the custard shop accidentally put his finger through the hole that dispenses frozen custard. The beaters inside the machine took off the tip of his finger, mixing it into the custard. Then, "through a series of unfortunate events," the finger wound up in Clarence Stowers' custard.
"I said 'Gosh this ice cream is good.' Then I said, 'Gosh, there's something hard in my ice cream," said Clarence, remembering the moments before he found the finger. Clarence said he wished he'd realized it was a finger before he tried to eat it. "I proceeded to put the object in my mouth. Got all the ice cream off of it, spit it in my hand, said 'God, this ain't no nut!' So I proceeded in here to the kitchen, rinsed it off with water, and realized it was a human finger, and I just started screaming," he said.Stowers said he is contacting a lawyer.
The incident follows a hoax in California in which a woman claimed to have found a human finger in Wendy's Chili at a restaurant in San Jose. Suspicion fell on the Las Vegas woman when no Wendy's employees with missing digits were to be found. Authorities charged the woman last month with attempted grand theft related to millions in dollars of financial losses Wendy's has suffered.
But there's a troubling precedent to Kohl's frozen custard con carne:
The same thing happened last summer at the same Kohl's on College Road. William Franklin had only been working three days when he lost the tip of his right index finger. The State Department of Labor inspected the machine last summer, and determined that it is not dangerous if used properly.
Article comments
1 - David Flanagan
I was thinking "Cannibal Custard" myself, but I like your title better. :-)
David
2 - DrPat
The title on my blog (less driven by Google needs) is Frozen Custard Gets the Finger: Man Finds Human Finger in Frosty Treat.
I almost went with my tag line instead: Buying Custard Con Carne at the Drive-Through.
3 - mpho
Hmmm, so the wendy's thing turned out to be a hoax, eh? Almost a shame isn't it? I hate to have lost my appetite for nothing. ;)
4 - Jason
I think Clarence Stowers is a piece of crap and is out to make a dollar. The sad part of this is that he had the chance to get that finger back to the person who lost it so that it could have been reattached and refused to do so. And do we honestly think he put it into his mouth?? I think perhaps there should be some sort of criminal charge against him for failing to help out a person who had an unfortunate accident. The real victim is the person who lost his finger.
5 - DrPat
No outrage, Jason, for the restaurant where twice now, young workers have lost fingertips in the same "freak" accident?
6 - bhw
Hey, the guy paid for whatever came in that cup of custard. Gift with purchase, and all that.
I honestly can't understand how a food service business could continue to sell food while a piece of someone's finger was still missing in their food preparation area. A guy chops off the tip of his finger and they keep selling ice cream even though the finger tip was lost? WTF?
7 - -E
Yeah no kidding, doesn't that seem like unsanitary practices? Is there slime in their ice machine too?
8 - Victor Plenty
No comment from the shop, 'cos this month, every year, is when they clean out the nacho cheese dip dispenser, whether it needs to be cleaned or not.
9 - BRICKLAYER
Mmmmm....fingers
10 - Mark Saleski
tastier than Cattle Decapitation?
11 - BRICKLAYER
No, but less filling, and fewer carbs!
Speaking of which, Mr. Saleski, I presume you have procured and proceeded to bang your head to the above mentioned?
12 - Mark Saleski
sorry Brick, it's too danged heavy. even for me.
13 - Keyunna Smith
I think that the people involved should all go to jail, because they knew what they were doing and suppose the man who's finger it was, had some kind of std and the guy who bit the finger contracted it. its just nasty and makes you think twice about ice cream and wendy's
14 - William Franklin
I am William Franklin and that restaurant went out of business because tbey deserved it. That machine was dangerous. I warned them.
The corruption machine in Wilmington (and North Carolina) made sure I was silenced. I had warned the Department of Labor and the corrupt sinister business owners about that machine, but they just fired me for filing workers comp.
Verdict: Wilmington is a crappy place to live and work!