Man experiences intense pain from nail that slid between his toes Boing Boing

There are some experiments in which subjects primed to expect pain experience pain when given an ambiguous stimulus (e.g., a rapidly vibrating emery board). But this is much cooler:

Man experiences intense pain from nail that slid between his toes Boing Boing: ""

Mind Hacks reports that a nail penetrated the shoe of a 29-year-old construction worker, causing great pain. But the hospital workers discovered that the nail had passed harmlessly between his toes.

A builder aged 29 came to the accident and emergency department having jumped down on to a 15 cm nail. As the smallest movement of the nail was painful he was sedated with fentanyl and midazolam. The nail was then pulled out from below. When his boot was removed a miraculous cure appeared to have taken place. Despite entering proximal to the steel toecap the nail had penetrated between the toes: the foot was entirely uninjured.

Mind Hacks says this is related to "somatisation disorder, where physical symptoms appear that aren't explained by tissue damage."

H/T: Saba