People clean up mud after flood waters receded on September 20, 2011 in Quxian County, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

Businesswoman with skirt caught in underwear. Image shot 2008, exact date unknown. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

American singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, actress and model Tinashe is seen on July 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

A visitor feeds a food pellet to a giraffe in the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya January 15, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

An angler fishes on the opening day of the salmon fishing season on the River Tay at Kenmore in Scotland, Britain January 16, 2017. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

American actress Vanessa Hudgens attends Beyoncé's “Renaissance” concert in Los Angeles on September 4, 2023. (Photo by vanessahudgens/Instagram)

An Iraqi army cadet participates in “the leap of faith”, from a bridge as part of their training, in Baghdad, Iraq on December 15, 2023. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/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.