A YouTube science experiment went horribly wrong as a 15-year-old Ohio teen was electrocuted inside his family's garage while conducting the experiment he found on the video-sharing site.
When Erie County deputies arrived on the scene, Morgan R. Wojciechowski was found on the garage floor, not breathing.
The first response team performed a CPR to no avail. The teenager was pronounced dead at the Mercy Regional Medical Center.
The investigators found a metal box and an extension cord near the spot where Morgan lay. The team secured several items from the family's garage, including a microwave generator, jumper cables, sandals, work gloves, a pocketknife and a clothing hanger made of wire.
Morgan was trying to replicate the Jacob's Ladder experiment, wherein a 12,000-volt power source is attached to two copper wires in order to produce an "electrical arc." In the course of his experiment, Morgan was electrocuted.
The teen was a freshman at Vermilion High School. Philip M. Pempin, the Vermilion Schools superintendent, released a statement published on Facebook by the Vermilion Local Schools.
"On behalf of Vermilion Schools, we would like the greater community to know that we are brokenhearted to learn about the tragic loss to our school community ... Our thoughts and prayers are with Morgan's family, and we continue to be available for anything they need," said Pempin.
In related news, the growing popularity of social media has been linked to increased injuries and deaths. For instance, in 2015, a 17-year-old Russian teenager plunged to his death in an attempt to do a signature Instagram shot.
Andrey Retrovsky was hanging onto a rope from a building when the rope snapped. Retrovsky fell from a height of nine stories and died at the hospital two hours later from extensive injuries.
In September 2015, a 66-year-old Japanese tourist fell down the Royal Gate of Taj Mahal staircase while taking a selfie. However, the doctors who attended the victims said the tourist had a heart attack.
In some cases, the mere act of taking "selfies" proved fatal to some people. Also in September, a 19-year-old man from Texas was taking a selfie while holding a gun to his head when the firearm went off.
Photo: Tony Webster | Flickr
