Pinning his hopes on golden implants

Ratchaburi: Like many people, 67-year-old Preecha Iamkum puts faith in a supernatural power to protect him from harm. What makes Preecha different is the way he invokes this protection: by having three-centimeter-long gold pins fully inserted into his body. Preecha first places the custom-made pins, which are made of an 80% gold alloy, in a bowl of sesame oil and then chants a secret incantation that will charge them with protective powers. When the pins are ready for implantation, he explains, they float to the surface. He cannot insert the pins himself, he says; that must be done by another person who also has supernatural powers. He also has to take precautions not to do anything that will disgust the pins and cause them to desert him. “I can’t touch a dog, or speak in a dirty place such as a bathroom. If I do, the pins will fall out,” he says. Preecha says that he now has about 1,000 gold pins in his body. The most he has ever had inserted in one sitting is 109 pins. When Preecha’s odd practice came to the attention of Mithi Lee Lab, a Thai TV show that documents tales of unexplained phenomena, the TV crew took Preecha to be X-rayed to check his claim. The X-rays showed that he did indeed have close to 1,000 pins in his body. Most of the pins, they noted, had been inserted into his torso, rather than his arms and legs. They also noted that the pins were not planted vertically into his body, but had been inserted sideways, just under the skin. The pins protect him from harm, Preecha says. “Whenever I’m about to be hurt, my whole body tingles with pain, especially where I’m about to be hurt. It’s as if the pins move to create a shield so nothing can cut me,” says Preecha.