Inside the squishy nightmare: Explosions, burns, and thousands of calls to poison control

Jim Franco/Albany Times Union via Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/BI Warning: Some of the images you may see are graphic. For questions or if you suspect a poisoning, contact Poison Help at PoisonHelp.org or call 1-800-222-1222. Katie Zerbst was doing laundry on a Sunday morning in June when she heard a "guttural" moan. "It was the sound that makes you just drop everything and run," the 45-year-old mother told Business Insider. Rushing into the kitchen, Zerbst found her 10-year-old daughter, Violet, covered in steaming hot, sparkly goo. Burns seared across her face, and skin from her top lip was flapping down into her mouth. Moments earlier, Violet had popped a squishy toy into the microwave for 30 seconds. She wanted to make the glittery cube more malleable so she could squish it more easily. When she pulled it out, it erupted like a volcano.