Man arrested for selling baby corpses as good luck charms

A most macabre case came to light today in Thailand after a man was arrested for trying to sell six Golden Baby Boys. In Thai it is called Kuman Thong (กุมารทอง) and is basically a good luck charm. You don’t hear about them so much these days as the method of making a Kuman Thong is pretty grisly. To make one, you need to surgically remove a dead baby from its mother’s womb. It is then taken to a cemetery for the proper ceremony. The baby is then roasted dry and painted with Ya Lak, which is a kind of lacquer. It is then covered in gold leaf. This is why it is called a Golden Child. It is believed to bring good luck and fortune to the owner if it is properly revered. In a Thai classic novel by Sunthon Phu, dating back to the early 19th Century, one of the characters Khun Phaen acquires an especially powerful spirit from the still-born foetus of his own son which helps to protect him. According to the man arrested in this case, he bought all six baby corpses for 200,000 Baht and was intending to sell them on Taiwanese websites.

UPDATE: According to a report by AFP, the man arrested, Chow Hok Kuen, is a British citizen of Taiwanese origin.

Main sources: @Reporter_Js1 and Wikipedia