Empedocles was an ancient Greek philosopher and self-proclaimed mystic who genuinely believed he was an immortal god, a theory he famously tested by dramatically throwing himself into an active volcano.

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Empedocles was an ancient Greek philosopher and self-proclaimed mystic who genuinely believed he was an immortal god, a theory he famously tested by dramatically throwing himself into an active volcano. He spent his life wandering Sicily in purple robes and golden sandals, aggressively bragging to anyone who would listen that he possessed the magical power to cure diseases and control the local weather. Legend claims he leaped into the boiling lava of Mount Etna to prove he would simply vanish into the heavens, assuming his followers would forever worship him as an enlightened, ascended divine being. Unfortunately for his legacy, the volcano violently spat one of his perfectly preserved golden sandals back out onto the edge of the crater, completely exposing his grand mystical ascension as an elaborate suicide. It remains the ultimate historical lesson in why you should never try to validate your fake spiritual superpowers by picking a fight with an incredibly angry pool of molten rock