Kayla Amara sprays down their home as the Hughes Fire burns in Castaic, California, U.S. January 22, 2025. (Photo by Joel Angel Juarez/Reuters)

A policeman stands by a burning car, set alight during a communist march in the East End of London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1936

Flames engulf a structure as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, U.S. January 7, 2025. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/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.

Actors Ma Sichun (L) and Zhou Dongyu pose backstage after both won the Best Leading Actress award for their movie “Soul Mate” at the 53rd Golden Horse Film Awards in Taipei, Taiwan November 26, 2016. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

A thirty-year-old Dutch demonstrator displays a sign that reads: “Glad to be Gay” during a gay people march in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, July 28, 1979 which ended a week long homosexual meeting. Hundreds of homosexual converged for a week of movies, theater, rock concerts and workshops on gay rights. (Photo by Rolf Boehm/AP Photo)

His own space suit, with oxygen tank, doesn't make Barney the monkey any happier as he and actor Adam West view the situation in their space capsule in Hollywood on January 24, 1964. Barney, a South American woolly monkey, is blasted into space with West, as an astronaut, in a new movie, “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”. (Photo by AP Photo)

In this Saturday, February 16, 2019 photo, carnival revelers dressed as characters from the movie “La Casa de Papel” pose for a picture during the “Desliga da Justica” block party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Desliga” means in Portuguese to turn something off, and this street party is a parody of the Justice League. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)