Five Hearts Found in Downtown Chicago Are Not Human, Say Authorities

Five hearts have been found in an alley dumpster behind the 100 block of East Benton Place in Chicago, Ill., on April 19, 2019. Screenshot/Google Maps

Five organs found on the streets of Chicago do not belong to humans, Illinois authorities said on April 19.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed five hearts recovered the same day at 9:30 a.m. local time from a downtown dumpster did not come from humans.

Chicago Police Department said a maintenance person called 911 to report the chilling discovery in an alley behind a building near the Chicago Theater, on the 100 block of East Benton Place within the Loop neighborhood.

CBS Chicago reported officials from the medical examiner’s office placed the five items into a larger bag.

A police spokesperson initially told ABC 7 WLS and the Chicago Sun-Times the organs might have come from humans but later that same day the medical examiner’s office ruled out the source of the organs being human or even primate.

The medical examiner’s office arrived on the scene and the hearts were examined and found to be non-human, a spokesperson said.

The medical examiner’s office only examines human tissue and no further testing will be conducted on the hearts, the spokesperson added.

“They are real hearts,’’ the spokesperson told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s an animal.’’

It is still unclear exactly what animal the organs originally came from but that did not stop concerned citizens from speculating.

Police detectives are continuing to investigate where the organs came from.