Sadhu Dah joins us to talk about Guman Thong, Thailand’s Little Golden Boy.
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The Thai occult tradition of kuman thong originated in 19th century poet Sunthon Phu’s novel Khun Chang, Khun Phaen. In the story, Khun Phaen, a high-ranking soldier close to the king, earns the favor of a powerful sorcerer. The sorcerer takes such a liking to Khun Phaen that he offers his daughter in marriage. Unfortunately, some time after Khun Phaen learns of his wife’s pregnancy, Khun Phaen and his father-in-law begin arguing so much that the sorcerer plots to have Khun Phaen killed. Khun Phaen discovers that his wife has been commanded by her father to poison him, and in a vengeful rage, Khun Phaen cuts his own child out of his wife. With the bloody fetus in hand, Khun Phaen builds a fire at a temple, placing the body on a grill after wrapping it in pieces of sacred cloth covered in prayers. While Khun Phaen chants prayers, the roasting soon reduces the fetus to a dried-out husk, with only paper-thin skin stretched over a skeleton. At the end of the ritual, the violently aborted child had become a ghost with whom Khun Phaen can speak and communicate, a sort of guardian spirit for his father. Source: Black Magic Baby: The Macabre History of Kuman Thong
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