Dark times for black dogs

SRISAKET: Black dogs in Nongsimai Village 2 were slaughtered recently after a local shaman convinced villagers that soaking string in the blood of a black dog and wrapping it around their homes would offer protection from the dreaded phi porp – a female ghost that kills married men and eats their innards. After two village men died in mysterious circumstances, village women were convinced seven more men would die before the phi porp was satisfied. Duang Sosrisook, better known as Por Jump, told the villagers that a length of sacred string (sai sin) soaked in the blood of a black dog and then wrapped around the home would ward off the intestine-gobbling apparition. Before long, local supplies of sai sin were sold out and villagers were driving to markets as far as 10 kilometers away to stock up, probably looking for black dogs along the way. Village women also hung carved images of penises from their front doors in the hope that this would also help keep the hungry demon at bay.