Man Has Hand Cut Off, Turns It Into Christmas Decoration

After a life-altering snowboarding accident caused him to lose his right hand, 25-year-old Kaleb Ritter did something unusual—he turned his amputated hand into a Christmas decoration.

Ritter’s accident happened on January 16, 2021, during a visit to an Idaho ski resort. “We were going quite fast when we collided, and I suffered some very serious trauma,” he told Newsweek.

The collision resulted in multiple injuries, including a broken neck, concussion, and paralysis in his right arm. Ritter, who lives in Washington State, experienced spinal cord damage, leading to nerve root avulsions that cause weakness, loss of sensation and paralysis.

Over the course of the following year, Ritter underwent two surgeries, with the final operation in August 2022 culminating in the amputation of his right hand. “I chose to cut off my own right hand because my arm and hand was useless,” he said.

Before the amputation took place, Ritter expressed a desire to preserve his hand. “I told the doctors I wanted to be buried whole for religious reasons and they said that I could get my hand cremated,” he said.

But wanting to keep his hand whole, Ritter contacted the funeral home set to cremate the hand, and they agreed that he could keep it instead.

Turning to a unique idea, Ritter contacted Skulls Unlimited in Oklahoma, a family-owned company which provides legally and ethically sourced bone specimens and high-quality replicas for educational, medical and research purposes. He asked them to help preserve and articulate his hand.

“It cost $1,500 to get my hand articulated,” he revealed.

Articulation involved meticulously cleaning and preserving the skeletal structure of the hand. Once clean, each bone would be carefully reconnected using wires, rods or other material to recreate the natural positioning of the hand.

“After the articulation, I got to thinking,” he said. “There are several things I wanna do with my hand.”

The first? Ritter wanted to make a display box for his hand so it could be used as a decoration.

With the help of family members, Ritter crafted a fiberglass box to encase his articulated hand. “It was much more difficult to make the box than anticipated,” he admitted. “But with lots of patience and a hand from my grandpa and mom, we were able to make it happen.”

The final creation is a surreal sight—a hand suspended within the box, seemingly floating mid-air, illuminated by red fairy lights. “I put two hooks on the outside and a chain to hang it from things like a Christmas tree or around my neck,” Ritter said.

Recently, Ritter shared the story behind his hand on Reddit’s r/pics subreddit where it has over 13,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments.

“That is the neatest thing I’ve ever seen,” said one commenter.

While another wrote: “Holy s***! This is hand down the most bada** post I’ve seen here. I’m stumped.”

Elsewhere online, Ritter shares more content about his hand and everyday life on his Instagram, TikTok and YouTube channels under the username @ChiefOnePaw.