© Giovanni V, flickr



An English expatriate in Viareggio (northern Italy) has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital after ripping out his own eyes with his naked hands during a church service.The 46-year-old, a long-term resident in the Tuscan municipality, began screaming and banging his head against the floor during mass, explains his elderly mother, who was with him at the time.He claimed he heard voices telling him to tear his eyes out.The man was rushed to nearby Versilia hospital for an emergency operation, but surgeons were unable to save his sight, meaning he will now be blind for life.Doctor Gino Barbacci, who treated him, said the man did not complain or show any signal of physical pain, and answered correctly when asked his name.."In the 26 years I have been practising, I have never seen anything like it," confessed Dr Barbacci.Yet he appeared to be a completely normal person."He would have needed absolutely super-human strength to pull his own eyes out with his hands.""He got up and started banging his head against the floor, he was covered in blood - I did not know what was happening, he didn't say anything," explained the man's mother when interviewed.Medics say he had been in treatment for a psychiatric illness, but had not wanted to take the pills prescribed to him.