Among Grandpa’s things, we came across this weird, small item. For some reason, it was carefully wrapped in several layers of fabric.

It turns out that back in the day, people would swallow this item, wait for it to come out “naturally,” wash it – and then someone else would swallow it again. 

We were absolutely stunned when we found out why our ancestors used to do this. 

I share the full story in the first comment 

While sorting through Grandpa’s old belongings at the summer house – among his proud collection of snuffboxes, medals, and mysterious metal trinkets – we stumbled upon something especially odd. Small, dark, unremarkable-looking, but wrapped in layer after layer of cloth.

What was it? A piece of jewelry? A part from some old machine?

We started googling. And when we finally found out what it was, our jaws dropped.

It turned out to be an “everlasting pill” – an artifact from another era. A small tablet made of antimony, which people used as a serious method of cleansing their bodies.

They would swallow it. Then… wait. Once it passed “naturally,” they would retrieve it, wash it, and reuse it. Again. And again.

So that’s where eternity was hiding!

Families would buy just one – to be shared by everyone. It was passed down through generations, like a family heirloom.

And somehow, no one seemed to wonder how many intestines it had passed through over the centuries.

Now, it’s in our possession – a family relic that may have visited the darkest and least accessible corners of our ancestors. Honestly? It’s scary to even touch it without gloves, let alone try disinfecting it.

I still don’t understand how they cleaned it. Did they boil it? Scrub it with sand? Or just “wipe it off and pass it on”?

Have you ever seen anything like this? Or maybe… touched one?..