Deadly Hot Peppers...!

I now many folks that can gobble down jalapenos and other peppers like they were candy. I, however, can't.

Here is a case where someone decided, for a challenge, to put that hotness to the test. I can only imagine what the man went through and I don't want to go through it myself. Like they say I wouldn't do that on a dare!

Death From Peppers

Ghost peppers are one of the hottest in the world, so hot that they can be used to make grenades and even guns that cause temporary blindness. They are off the charts on the hotness scale, zeroing in on over one million Scoville heat units. And yet, we still can’t help but eat them.

In 2016, one man from California learned the hard way why this pepper was named the way it was. Challenged to a contest, he was able to devour a hamburger topped with a ghost pepper puree. (Keep in mind that a single seed can cause a horrific burning sensation that lasts up to a whopping half hour).

After drinking six glasses of water, the man couldn’t stop vomiting and was rushed to the emergency room with severe chest and stomach pain. All that retching resulted in a collapsed lung and a 2.5-centimeter (1-in) hole torn in his esophagus.

Death from a pepper isn’t very heroic, but a torn esophagus is downright gruesome. Without treatment, death from infection is a certain outcome. Fortunately, the man was hospitalized for 23 days and sent home with a gastric tube. It’s safe to assume that he’ll keep a wide berth around peppers from now on.

Wonder how long it will take him to chow down on something hot again? I would hope he learned his lesson, but knowing how people are I'd be willing to bet it won't be long.

Coffee out on the patio again this morning.