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kestrel9 ago

Article about the case and info regarding the 'kuman thong' (กุมารทอง, Thai for “golden boy”)

28-year-old Chow Hok Kuen soon admitted to buying the small bodies for a touch more than $6,000, intending to resell them in Taiwan as good luck charms for at least six times the purchase price. There was only a brief media buzz about this grisly find, but these kuman thong (กุมารทอง, Thai for “golden boy”) have a strange and persistent history in Thailand.

Nice shoutout the author made there for the maggot Satanists, '6 fetuses, $6,000, sold for min 6x as much! /s

The folklore story is grisly. Here's a recap version: Kuman Thong were famously mentioned in The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen folklore, set in the late 1500s. In the story, Khun Phaen made an amulet out of his child’s foetus by performing a black magic ritual. The unborn child then became a ghost called Kuman Thong, or “golden boy”. The folklore said Khun Phaen used the Kuman Thong for his protection on the battlefield. link

But now it's a profitable occult practice.

Despite the fictional origins, belief in kuman thong took root in southern Thailand, with widespread belief that these protective ghost children could warn against any dangers that threatened a household. Ancient manuscripts detailed additional steps on how to make kuman thong, such as requiring the ritual to be completed before dawn in a cemetery and painting the dry-roasted baby with lacquer before applying gold leaf.

While there are Thai laws against using human-derived products for consecrating kuman thong, occasional stories of more “authentic” charms (like the 2012 discovery) still arise, giving glimpses into the extent of the underground markets for these disturbing artifacts. In another high-profile case in 1995, a Buddhist novice named Samanen Han Raksachit was arrested after a video surfaced of him piercing, bleeding, roasting, chanting, and collecting the meaty drippings of a baby at Wat Nong Rakam in Saraburi province. He had been selling the fatty liquid as ya sane (“lust medicine”) to monastery visitors.

Other reported cases of kuman thong:

  • People buying fetal corpses from illegal abortion clinics.

In June 2010, 14 dead babies were uncovered in an abandoned rural home in Ubon Ratchathani province, and a former nurse was charged with illicitly selling the corpses for $30. Later that year in November, 348 aborted fetuses were found wrapped in putrid plastic bags at a Buddhist monastery at Wat Phai Ngoen, in the heart of Bangkok. They had been bought from five different illegal abortion clinics with the goal of sale to magicians and amulet dealers. Once the news broke, hundreds of people swarmed the monastery to chant for the deceased fetuses, and some even asked whether the corpses would be made available for ritual use.

think- ago

Thank you so much! :-)

@letsothis3: please see info above.

kestrel9 ago

You're welcome!