A woman reacts after identifying a relative among the bodies of tsunami victims in Carita, Indonesia, Sunday, December 23, 2018. The tsunami occurred after the eruption of a volcano around Indonesia's Sunda Strait during a busy holiday weekend, sending water crashing ashore and sweeping away hotels, hundreds of houses and people attending a beach concert. (Photo by Fauzy Chaniago/AP Photo)

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.

Отава Ё – Яблочко (Otava Yo – Yablochko; Russian: Яблочко, “Little Apple”). Yablochko is a Russian folk song of chastushka style and dance, traditionally presented as sailors' dance. The choreographed version of the dance first appeared in the 1926 Reinhold Glière ballet The Red Poppy and from there is known in the West as the Russian Sailors Dance.

A woman takes part in a “Brave Run” competition in Minsk October 4, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Russian riot policemen beat young PREGNANT female anti-Putin activist during a protest rally against the Presidential inauguration of Vladimir Putin on May 6, 2012 in Moscow, Russia.

Men skin slaughtered sheep on the first day of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday in Wad Hamid, about 100 kilometres north of Sudan's capital, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

World's Greatest Swimming Pools: Four Seasons, Serengeti Pool, Tanzania. A show of elephants, buffalo and baboons awaits thanks to an active watering hole below the free-form infinity pool at this plush hideaway inside Serengeti National Park. Bonus: Because of infrared technology at the hole, guests can be notified on their bedroom TV when animals are approaching. When you've got word of wildlife on the horizon, catch them from your private terrace – or head back to the pool. (From $1,650). (Photo by Four Seasons)