WI: A highly unlikely but possible anomaly occurs on television or during huge speech

The situation: Somebody important is being filmed live, and/or giving a speech in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people.

A highly unlikely, but within the realm of possibility, physical anomaly like spontaneous human combustion, or quantum tunneling a minuscule but visible distance, occurs to said person.

During what OTL speech or event could this have the biggest effect?

This may seem ASB, but the whole point is that it's theoretically possible. And it's only one highly unlikely event, not a whole series of them.
 
Last edited:
What about something happening to the pope? Would throw up questions of divine intervention or demonic interference that would affect all catholics. In fact, possibly all judaic religeons.
 

Delta Force

Banned
What if Kruschev gets his hand stuck in the table during his UN speech (Philadelphia Experiment style)? Physical objects are mostly empty space, so it is possible, although my physics teacher said if would take trillions of years of people doing nothing but tapping tables for that to happen.
 
What about something happening to the pope? Would throw up questions of divine intervention or demonic interference that would affect all catholics. In fact, possibly all judaic religeons.
Well, only if it happened right after he was elected.

But if he spontaneously combusted right after election...
 

Rex Mundi

Banned
It really depends on the context, I think. We might be able to predict some of the aftermath, but for the sake of discussion we would have to decide on a specific physical anomaly and a specific person before we could discuss further implications.

Very generally, the scientific community would have a heyday while billions of people might interpret the event as miraculous or magical in some way.

Edit: Speaking of the papacy, the spontaneous combustion of the Pope after an announcement of the decisions made in Vatican II would be really interesting.
 
George Bush @ his morning after acceptance speech in 2002? Ayatolla Khomeni back in 1979? Any random actor at the Oscar awards? Jerry lewis back when he was doing the MD thing? David Letterman on the Late Show...
 
I don't think the examples are good. First, spontaneous human combustion is not a thing. It's a hoax.
Second, a quantum tunneling of such magnitude is so enormously unlikely that basically anything else is likelier, even the spontaneous human combustion.

Much more likelier (and funnier) are events of "something falls on their head", like a chunk of ice on an open area, a lightning with clear skies... or an airplane. Or a frog or a good sized fish.
All of these are extremely unlikely, but they can and do happen.

And nothing says "god hates you" like being throttled with a lightning on a clear sky.
 
And nothing says "god hates you" like being throttled with a lightning on a clear sky.

So, maybe the Pope raises the chalice during the consecration of the eucharist, while saying mass on the Papal altar in St. Peter's Square in front of a really big crowd, gets hit by lightening and people take from that, "God is pissed?" I actually kind of like that.
 
Last edited:
I don't think the examples are good. First, spontaneous human combustion is not a thing. It's a hoax.
Second, a quantum tunneling of such magnitude is so enormously unlikely that basically anything else is likelier, even the spontaneous human combustion.

Much more likelier (and funnier) are events of "something falls on their head", like a chunk of ice on an open area, a lightning with clear skies... or an airplane. Or a frog or a good sized fish.
All of these are extremely unlikely, but they can and do happen.

And nothing says "god hates you" like being throttled with a lightning on a clear sky.
Most cases and explanation of spontaneous human combustion are hoaxes, but the phenomenon itself is possible (and as you say, more likely than large scale quantum tunneling) even though it's highly unlikely.

So, maybe the Pope raises the chalice during the consecration of the eucharist, while saying mass on the Papal altar in St. Peter's Square in front of a really big crowd and people take from that, "God is pissed?" I actually kind of like that.
Being struck by lightning during a clear sky would be even more symbolic than spontaneously combusting.
 
If this were to happen to someone important, the CIA did it, the NSA did it, MI6 did it, any goverment could have done it! Or even God did it. No way this could have been natural!
If God gets the blame, and depending who it happened to, the churches would be packed.
If the former the amount conspiracy theories put forward would still be talked about for the next 500 years.
 
I've always wondered what would happen if a famous person just lost it on camera. It amuses me to imagine the scenarios.
 
I've always wondered what would happen if a famous person just lost it on camera. It amuses me to imagine the scenarios.

It's a bit off topic but, remembering the anti labour 'demon eyes' posters during the 1997 election I always liked the idea of Blair emerging victorious from Downing Street to greet the press with red glowing eyes and a malicious smile as he slowly tears up the election manifesto.

An on screen breakdown where a politician slowly winds himself up into an insanely racist rant would be the funniest thing ever. Especially if it was a leading right winger following say the election of the current US prez.
 
Getting back to the pope, (I'm a roman catholic incidentally so don't think I'm being bigoted, just that irreverence on this scale is too juicy to resist), what if while making a speech on tv an evil looking apparition appears, grinning at his shoulder and apparently whispering in the pope's ear. Perhaps not everyone can see it at the time. I predict a riot on a Cecil B De Mille scale.
 
Oh, Oh! I've got it! Stigmata!

Instead of the pope though how about a televised execution and the victim suddenly begins to bleed from hands, feet, forehead and side. Do they still throw the switch?

What about a perceived to be bad guy/enemy leader making a speech of some kind and then....the sign.
 
Top