Cinnamon Challenge

Before TikTok had a safety team, before YouTube had content warnings, there was just a tablespoon, some ground cinnamon, and the unshakeable human conviction that this time would be different.

The Cinnamon Challenge began its quiet existence in 2001, when blogger Jason Kottke documented the first known attempt at what would become an internet rite of passage. The premise was elegantly stupid: swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon in sixty seconds without water. The catch? Cinnamon's hydrophobic properties make this physiologically impossible. The powder coats your mouth, triggers your gag reflex, and exits in a dramatic brown cloud that resembles a dragon with respiratory issues.

The challenge lurked in forum obscurity until YouTube gave it a stage. By late 2011, Anna Diaz's attempt had racked up millions of views, and suddenly every teenager with a spice rack and a webcam needed to prove something. The cinnamon clouds bloomed across the internet like orange mushroom caps of poor judgment. A Michigan principal got suspended for letting students attempt it on school grounds. The content basically wrote itself.

Then came the buzzkills in lab coats. A 2013 University of Miami study revealed that inhaling cinnamon powder could cause pulmonary fibrosis—permanent lung damage for a fleeting viral moment. The medical establishment's collective "we told you so" echoed across emergency rooms nationwide.

The Cinnamon Challenge coughed its last breath into a brown paper towel, leaving behind a legacy of ruined countertops and a generation that learned the hard way: some things aren't meant to be swallowed.