A Michigan man recently made an unusual purchase from Goodwill: human blood.
Logan Strohmeyer was browsing the shelves of the local thrift store when he came across a wooden box containing a series of glass slides. “I had a microscope as a kid and I’m a huge fan of old technology so when I saw it I saw an opportunity to bust out the old microscope,” Strohmeyer told Newsweek.
When he got home, however, he quickly realized the slides included one labeled “human blood, smear.” Strohmeyer didn’t know what to think. “I didn’t even notice it had blood in it until I got home to look at what was inside,” he said. “It definitely was a surprise!”
Selling whole human blood for transfusion is largely prohibited. The FDA regulates blood as a biological product and requires strict oversight.
They are unlikely to be overly concerned by a slide containing a trace amount of human blood but Strohmeyer was baffled as to how the blood wound up in the box. “At first I thought maybe it was a personal slide collection and maybe it was a blood sample someone took from themselves,” he said.
He turned to social media for answers, sharing several pictures of the slides to Reddit under the handle u/MavGoneMad. “Found a pack of microscope slides at goodwill and it has a sample of human blood in it,” he wrote. “Is this a biohazard?”
The decision to look to social media for answers is emblematic of a wider shift in how users interact with these online platforms. In 2025, a Pew Research Center study based on nationally representative data found 53 percent of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get news from social media.
Strohmeyer’s decision to turn to social media for answers was soon vindicated, however, when several Reddit users replied with answers as to how the blood slide ended up there. “This is a beginner microscope slide set, they’re super cheap and all these samples are pretty standard, I have the exact same set,” one user said. “I’m a biologist though.”
Even then, Strohmeyer still has unanswered questions about the blood slide. “Like whose blood is that?” he asked. “Is that even sanitary?” Strohmeyer’s post earned over 1,000 upvotes on Reddit, helped largely by the fact his thrift store discovery bore more than a passing resemblance to the box of slides that plays a pivotal role in the popular Showtime series Dexter.
On the show, vigilante/serial killer Dexter Morgan keeps a meticulous collection of blood slides, with one for each of his victims. Sadly, the reference was largely lost on Strohmeyer. “I’ve never actually watched that show,” he said. “I saw all the references to it so it must be good.”
Instead, his focus now is on taking a closer look at the slides himself. “I’m super excited to find my childhood microscope and take a look at all of it,” he said. “I plan on keeping them for personal use and study!”
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