History Main / YourHeadASplode

[[folder:Web Original]]

* [[https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3150591&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=4#post361904965 An early post]] in the Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos on ''Something Awful'' featured an investigation of a strange death associated with a photo of the Slender Man himself photographed with a tentacle ready to be wrapped around the victim's neck. A witness was quoted as describing the sound of "a watermelon *unable to understand subject*".

* To be blunt, in general, it is very possible to make people's heads explode in real life with the proper firearms, bullets, and training, exemplified by President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy when he was assassinated as seen in the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm.
* Heavy Machine Gun Cartridges are known for exploding heads, taking off limbs, and gruesomely deforming the human body and pretty much any other animal out there.
** .50 Browning Machine Gun [Primarily known as .50 BMG] can produce this result in a heartbeat, '''and then there's the fact that .50 BMG can do way more than what it was originally intended to do'''.
** Then there's the Russian 12.7X108mm HMG cartridge which is a little larger than .50 BMG.
** Let's not forget the ''huge'' 14.5x114mm [.57 Calibre] cartridge.
** There's a round ''even larger than that''. FN was planning on designing a ''15.5X106MM Anti-Material Heavy Machine Gun'' to literally replace the already existing AM HMGs that use the current .50 BMG cartridges. Imagine a US AM HMG round larger than the already massive Soviet 12.7x108 and 14.5x114mm cartridges being used by what would have been one of the most powerful Anti-Material Heavy Machine Guns for the United States. It makes you wonder ''what the actual fuck FN was thinking when planning on building this machine gun, then cancelling it for unknown reasons''. Maybe it was best the BRG-15 not be a thing.
** If you want to tear through a tank, the British Anti-Tank rifle or Lahti L-39 would do ''the fucking job''. The Boys AT rifle used .55 Boys while the Lahti used ''20mm''.
** Most Miniguns can definitely produce these results depending on what they're being fed with. Also, the CIWS turrets are capable of this as well.

* The ''Website/DarwinAwards'' cites a TruthInTelevision case in Konotop, Ukraine, in which a chemistry student who had a habit of chewing gum until the flavour ran out, then continuing to flavour it by dipping the gum in citric acid powder apparently dipped his gum in a similar-looking, but explosive compound in powdered form.
** A similar death occurs in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'', though his jaw falls off rather than his head exploding.

* Subverted by the real-life ailment Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS), as it's a type of auditory hallucination that only ''sounds'' like one's head is exploding.
** Although sometimes, it doesn't even go that far. EHS covers any kind of one-off auditory hallucination, whether it's a loud bang or the sound of a kitten meowing. One of the most common forms is hearing your name being called when nobody's actually doing so.
* Rumors going around the Internet that a chess player's head asploded due to too much thinking (and a made up medicinal condition "Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis") are, not surprising, [[http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/chess.asp pure fake.]]
* Explosive ammo can easily cause this effect, such as the ones used by [[ThoseWackyNazis the Germans]] and the Soviets during UsefulNotes/WorldWar2.

* Flashbangs are well known for causing this, should they be close enough to your head.
* An Anvil falling on your head will pretty much result in this trope. A typical anvil weighs between ''75 and 300 pounds''.

[[TropeNamers The name originated from the]] IntentionalEngrishForFunny used in the ''Strong Bad Email'' episode [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.html "video games"]] and subsequent game ''[=StrongBadZone=]'' on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', wherein the head of the person playing the game is presumed ''not'' to have actually asploded, although there have been no studies done on the matter so far as we are aware.

This is a death trope, meaning there is bound to be unmarked spoilers ahead.

* To be blunt, in general, it is very possible to make people's heads explode in real life with the proper firearms, bullets, and training, exemplified by President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy when he was assassinated.

* [[YourHeadASplode/LiveActionFilms Films - Live-Action]]

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'':

** Creator/{{Scott Adams|Cartoonist}} loves this trope, especially pairing this with the Cleanup in Aisle Three gag.

* Happens in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', to a random RedShirt.
-->'''Guy''': Uh-oh... suddenly this meeting and all these strange words [[GoMadFromTheRevelation make sense]].\\

** Creator/ScottAdams loves this trope, especially pairing this with the Cleanup in Aisle Three gag.

* In a moment of extreme kvltness, Music/{{Mayhem}}'s vocalist Per Yngwe Ohlin aka Dead shot himself in the head with a shotgun. The band used this image on an ''album cover''.

* President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy when he was assassinated. To be blunt, in general, it is very possible to make people's heads explode in real life with the proper firearms, bullets, and training.

** Let's not forget the huge 14.5x114mm [.57 Calibre] cartridge. Good God that round is ''HUGE''.

** If you want to tear through a tank, the British Anti-Tank rifle or Lahti L-39 would do ''the fucking job''. The Boys AT rifle used .55 Boys while the Lahti used ''20mm''. It makes you not even want to know what actually happened to the tank crews that ended up encountering those monstrous rifles...

** There's an infamous image of an Iraqi insurgent with his head asploded by a .50 cal sniper rifle.
* The infamous suicide video of R. Budd Dwyer (Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who got caught with his hand in the till, holds a press conference to presumably announce he is resigning his job. He does, by shooting himself in the head on live TV) shows what really happens when one fires a bullet into one's mouth. Do not go looking for it unless you want to have that image stick with you forever...
** It should be noted though that this is not always the result of "[[AteHisGun eating a gun]]". For example, the infamous "Bjork Stalker", according to the FBI, had intended to cover a sign situated behind his head with blood and gore by shooting himself in the mouth. But the cartridge he used was too low powered and didn't exit his head (as a result, the suicide video - and yes, it is online if you really want to see it - is actually bloodless, though he still ''audibly'' bled out off-camera).
** Even worse is the fact that Specialists have to come and clean up the remains of someone who blew their brains out. Nine times out of ten, most suicides that involve the use of firearms don't involve exploding heads, ''it's far more gruesome than you think''.

* Happened to a man in Malaysia. He was checking a powerful home-made cannon (the manufacture of such cannons is illegal, but the law is seldom enforced) that he thought didn't quite go off; it did, and it went right to his face. This happened right in front of his family.
** Sadly, this is common occurrence around the ''Eid Al Fitr'' celebrations in Malaysia. The firing of such home-made "bamboo cannons" during the holiday is a tradition, even if it’s illegal. Some daredevil bloke in some random hamlet will try to make one and set it off anyway. Usually, there's at least one report of some unfortunate bloke getting some random body part blown off every year, and probably set a random house on fire while at it.

* Explosive ammo used by [[ThoseWackyNazis the Germans]] and Russians during UsefulNotes/WorldWar2. A German sniper reported this effect, twice, from headshots and [[https://www.full30.com/video/82efb579fd3c93d177205966ef3d3c9d judging by these guys' tests]] the reported effect is disturbingly authentic.
* In a moment of extreme kvltness Music/{{Mayhem}}'s vocalist Per Yngwe Ohlin aka Dead, lived up (or rather the opposite) to his stage name by administering self-head asplosion via a shotgun.

* Flashbangs are well known for causing this, should they be close enough to your ''head''.
** This had happened to a 19 month old baby during a Georgia raid in 2014. A S.W.A.T Team threw a flashbang through a door that happened to have a ''19 month old baby in the room'' and to make matters worse, the flashbang landed next to ''his head and exploded it.'' This is literally a WhatTheHellHero moment AT ITS WORST!