A mahout splashes water on his elephant in the river Sabarmati on a hot summer day in Ahmedabad, India, May 20, 2015. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

A Dandy Dinnmont Terrier is displayed at the World Dog Show in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, June 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A gibbon drinks from a soft drink bottle, given by a tourist, at a zoo in Kunming, Yunnan province, June 18, 2015. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

A reveller smiles as she walks in the rain at Worthy Farm in Somerset during the Glastonbury Festival in Britain, June 28, 2015. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

People are reflected on a soap bubble lying on a road during the evening in New Delhi, India, June 23, 2015. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

People take photos with the skyline of the central business district in Singapore on September 10, 2015. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

If we were to burn NH4Cr2O7 with HgSCN in the Dark Ages in Europe and show it to anyone, it is us who would be burning next on a fiery cross of Inquisition. And it’s no wonder, since this experiment produces a truly marvelous result. At first, as you ignite the mixture of NH4Cr2O7 and HgSCN, all you can see is that it is slowly burning with a reddish flame. After a while, however, a crater is formed in the middle of the burning pile, and then, suddenly, tentacle-like appendages start sprouting from the burning mixture. And you can almost hear the scream of the mad occultist – “Come forth, Kraken! Come forth!” But of course, this is simply a chemical reaction that is called the "Pharoah's Serpent". It was also often sold in firework stores until people realized that it was toxic.

The world's longest moustache (belonging to one Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajasthan, India) measures a staggering 11.5 feet, or nearly 4 metres.