Uncle Horn Head

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- A man who ordered a pint of frozen chocolate custard in a dessert shop got a nasty surprise inside -- a piece of severed finger lost by an employee in an accident.

Unlike a recent incident at a Wendy's restaurant in California, no questions of truth have been raised about the finger found in a package from Kohl's Frozen Custard.

State officials went to the shop Monday, and the owner confirmed one of his employees lost part of a finger in an accident with a food-processing machine.

Wilmington television station WWAY reported that Clarence Stowers found the finger in custard he purchased Sunday night.

Stowers told the station: ''I thought it was candy because they put candy in your ice cream ... to make it a treat.''

Stowers said he spit the object out, but still couldn't identify it. So he rinsed it off with water -- and ''just started screaming.'' He said he planned to contact a lawyer.