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The ghost pepper is one of the world’s hottest peppers, with a Scoville rating of more than a million. So it might follow that you shouldn’t ingest it in more than tiny quantities. And yet, the Journal of Emergency Medicine reports on the unusual case of a man who tore a hole in his esophagus after eating an incredibly hot ghost pepper. The 47-year-old American ate a burger topped with a “ghost pepper puree” as part of an eating contest. YouTube is rife with video of people eating these things, so you can probably guess how this one went: The...

The incident happened during the lunch period, and the district was still working to determine how many students were involved and where the hot peppers came from, said Superintendent Brad Ritchey of Milton-Union Exempted Village Schools. Police and emergency crews were called to the school on Milton-Potsdam Road. The investigation revealed all involved students “took these peppers voluntarily,” according to police. In total, five students were taken to local hospitals and approximately 40 students — ages 11 to 14 — had ingested the peppers. “The response of emergency services was amazing; deputies and help from surrounding paramedics … we really...

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Last week in Copenhagen, 1,000 people gathered in a public square to participate in a collective act that some might call idiotic and others brave. Together, bound in solidarity, they each ate one ghost chili pepper — one of the spiciest chili peppers on Earth. Also called the "bhut jolokia," the ghost pepper grows in the Indian states of Assam and Nagland and, from 2007 till it was dethroned in 2012 by the Trinidad moruga scorpion, it was certified as the hottest pepper in the world by Guinness World Records. It measures...