5 Machines That Rose Up Against Humans

Kitchen appliances kill more people than any military weapon, even when they don't malfunction. Deep fryers alone kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, not by scalding them with boiling oil but by clogging their arteries. But these are slow deaths. If we’re talking about wiping people out in one blow, few food-preparation devices have higher body counts than one popcorn machine at an Indiana fair in 1963.

It was Halloween night. Thousands of people showed up to the state fairgrounds, watching ice skaters put on a medley called "Mardi Gras." Kind of an unfitting theme for an October celebration, but the really scary stuff was brewing over in the concessions area, in an enclosed area no one was monitoring, where a propane tank sprang a leak.

Then, with just three minutes left in the show, the heating element from an electric popcorn machine lit this gas. A fireball exploded up through the stands, sending flames 40 feet high. Body parts rained down. Some were immediately covered by chunks of falling concrete.

William H. Bass Photo Company

The explosion killed 74 people (some accounts say more) and injured hundreds. Do you know why, even though your microwave has a button labeled "popcorn," every bag of popcorn says not to use it? It's because that button cedes control to popcorn machinery. And popcorn machinery seeks to kill all humans.

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