Spirit blamed as Thai boy foams at mouth after drinking shrine alcohol

A 12 year old Thai boy began foaming at the mouth after drinking alcohol that was offered to a spirit at a shrine in his school in the Isaan province of Buriram. Locals believed he was possessed by the spirit as punishment for taking the alcohol.

The 12 year old boy was playing with his twin brother and their friends outside the Pu-Ta Shrine at their school yesterday, November 3. Their friends dared them to consume offerings left at the shrine, including fruit and desserts, and the twins agreed.

Their friends then encouraged them to drink from a glass bottle, claiming it was a soft drink. The twins agreed but quickly realised it was alcohol. One of the twins began foaming at the mouth while the other boy became drunk. Bystanders who witnessed the reaction rushed the twins to the hospital.

Locals told Channel 7 that the shrine is sacred as it was built more than 100 years ago. People in the area frequently pay their respects to the spirit believed to inhabit the shrine and regularly place offerings there.

Some residents believed the twins had not asked permission to consume the offerings, leading the spirit to punish one of them. One of the boys has since been released from hospital, while the other remains under close observation.

However, the deputy director of the Buriram Provincial Public Health Office, Jeerasak Thipsunthonchai, stated that the symptoms were due to the excessive amount of alcohol one of the twins consumed, which could have been fatal he drank more.

Jeerasak emphasised that the illness did not result from any supernatural cause. The other twin was later discharged, and both boys are now in stable condition, with blood tests showing no complications.

In a related incident, a 13 year old girl in the Isaan province of Nakhon Ratchasima was rushed to hospital in a critical condition in June after participating in an alcohol drinking challenge for 1,000 baht in cash. The girl drank a large amount of pure alcohol from a bottle before losing consciousness.

Fortunately, the girl survived the incident. The man who posted the alcohol challenge was summoned for questioning and claimed he did not expect her to drink so much.