Coaches of the North-East Express passenger train that derailed late Wednesday near Raghunathpur railroad station in Buxar district of Bihar state, India, Thursday, October 12, 2023. The train was on its way to Assam state from New Delhi. (Photo by Aftab Alam Siddiqui/AP Photo)

A woman holds newly designed Indonesia Rupiah banknotes after exchanging her old bills at a Bank Indonesia mobile bank in Jakarta, Indonesia December 19, 2016. (Photo by Fatima El-Kareem/Reuters)

Bulgarian Pomak (Bulgarian speaking Muslims) bride Selve Kiselova , 21, has gelina make-up applied to her face ahead of her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, on December 29, 2024. The people of this Bulgarian mountain village are famous for performing their unique wedding ceremonies in winter time only. Muslim bulgarians are descendants of Christian bulgarians who were forcibly converted to Islam by the Turks, during the 14th, 16th and the 18th century. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP 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.