Last Week In Reality: Mar 20-26

April 3rd, 2008

20 THU

In Angthong, an 11-year-old feeds exclusively on instant noodles and processed snacks, to the dismay of his family. Teewee Chomngam, the boy’s father, turns to local media for help after all his attempts to convert his son Theerawat to a normal diet failed. For as long as anyone can remember, the taste of anything other than junk food makes him vomit. The boy is unable to eat outside of his home, forcing him to return from school each day at lunchtime. The boy will soon have to enter high school, which is too far from his home to accommodate his unusual eating habits.

21 FRI

In Nakorn Srithammarat, a woman appears at her own funeral. Duangkae Sudchoo disappeared from home last year. Local police recently asked her brother and mother to identify the body of a thickset woman with a scar on her right wrist, matching Duangkae’s description. The family identifies the victim as their own and proceeds to give her a proper funeral. On the third day of the ceremony, Duangkae arrives at the temple, throwing the ceremony into chaos as monks and guests flee from what they believed to be a ghostly apparition. Duangkae succeeds in convincing those present that she is alive and well.

25 TUE

In Chiang Mai, a teenager is suspected of sun-drying a baby’s body. Nen Air 2, as villagers call the 18-year-old novice, crafts amulets and charms and tattoos magical symbols. When police find a dead baby left to dry in the sun on a plate, the head of the temple accuses Nen Air 2, who had received many warnings for his black magic. Legend has it that the gruesome act is for conjuring a kumarnthong, a child spirit with magical powers. By the time police search the temple, the novice had already fled. It is not yet known if the young man killed the baby or stole its corpse from a tomb.

26 WED

In Prachaub Kirikhan, an eight-legged pig is born. Toy Poonpraset, 55, is the owner of a sow that gives birth to a litter of piglets. One piglet, though, looks very extraordinary. It has one head, but two bodies with a total of eight legs and two tails. The freak dies one hour after its birth. The owner plans to keep the body in a jar for locals and students to admire and study the mutant pig. As always with unnatural events, villagers try to divine lottery numbers based on the fantastic animal.