Kuman thong (กุมารทอง, "golden boy") is a figure of a child spirit in Thai folk religion, kept on a household shrine and cared for by its owner as if it were a child [1], [2]. A well-known literary source is the Thai epic Khun Chang Khun Phaen, in which the hero Khun Phaen makes the unborn child of his wife Bua Khli into a spirit son called Kuman Thong [1], [3], [4]. Later figures are made of earth, wood or metal, while cases involving human remains have reached the press as police matters [2], [19], [20].
Key facts
| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Name | กุมารทอง: Pali kumāra, "a young boy, son", plus Thai thong, "gold" | [8], [9], [1] |
| Literary source | Khun Chang Khun Phaen: Kuman Thong is the first child of Khun Phaen, by his wife Bua Khli (บัวคลี่) | [3], [1] |
| Standard text of the epic | Edited by Prince Damrong and printed in three volumes in 1917–1918; 43 chapters | [4] |
| Female counterpart | โหงพราย (hong phrai); English Wikipedia also gives the name Kuman Nee | [2], [17], [1] |
| Later materials | Earth, wood (including mayom wood) or metal, then consecrated (ปลุกเสก) | [2] |
| Luk thep doll craze | Life-like dolls that drew national attention between 2015 and 2017; Thai Smile airline memo dated 22 January 2016 | [10], [12] |
| A reported case | Bangkok, May 2012: a man arrested with six foetuses that had been roasted and covered in gold leaf | [18], [19] |
| Films | Bell Chamber (China, 2019), Kumanthong (Vietnam, 2019), Kuman Thong (Philippines, 2024) | [21], [23], [25] |
What does kuman thong mean?
The name has two parts. Kuman (กุมาร) comes from the Pali kumāra, which the Pali Text Society dictionary defines as "a young boy, son" [8]. Thong (ทอง) is the ordinary Thai word for gold [9]. English Wikipedia translates the full name as "Golden Little Boy" [1].
Thai Wikipedia explains the "golden" in the name by the old practice of coating the figure in lacquer and gold leaf (ลงรักปิดทอง) [2]. It adds that the earliest form was said to hold the spirit of a child who died in the womb (ตายทั้งกลม), and that the practice was later carried over to other materials [2]. Thai Wikipedia marks much of this section as needing further citations, so it is best read as a summary of the popular account [2].
English Wikipedia describes kuman thong as a household deity of Thai folk religion [1]. In Thai popular devotion the figure is treated as a child: owners set out food and water and call it to eat [2].
Kuman thong in Khun Chang Khun Phaen
Khun Chang Khun Phaen is a long Thai verse tale of love and war. English Wikipedia dates its origins to folk entertainment around the 17th century, passed on orally before it was written down [4]. The standard edition, edited by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, was printed in three volumes in 1917–1918 by the Wachirayan Library and has 43 chapters [4]. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit published the first complete English translation in 2010 [4].
In the tale, Kuman Thong is the son of Khun Phaen and Bua Khli, one of Khun Phaen's five wives and the daughter of Muen Han (หมื่นหาญ) and Si Chan [3]. Thai Wikipedia's character summary says Khun Phaen cut the child from Bua Khli before it was born and consecrated it as Kuman Thong [3]. In the story the spirit son appears when Khun Phaen gives him a task, or when Khun Phaen's son Phlai Ngam is in danger [3]. English Wikipedia's summary, based on the Baker–Phongpaichit translation, calls the spirit "Goldchild" and describes him as Khun Phaen's companion and adviser [1].
Two versions of the episode
The episode exists in more than one version. A 2016 University of Leeds doctoral thesis on the English translation notes that Damrong chose a violent account of Goldchild's creation for his standard edition, one that casts Khun Phaen in a poor light [6]. Baker and Pasuk's translation reinstated a less violent account [6].
The Weltmuseum Wien, which holds a kuman thong figure, summarises the older versions in this way: Khun Phaen seeks magical power from spirits at a cemetery, and is asked to raise a child from the wombs of two women who died while pregnant [5]. The museum concludes that Guman Thong is understood as the spirit of an unborn child [5].
The museum links the epic's central motifs to the reign of King Ramathibodi II (1491–1529) [5], and Prince Damrong believed the story was based on real events around 1500 [4].
A 2019 Thai study of a dance work about kuman thong treats the episode in Khun Chang Khun Phaen as the starting point of the figure in Thai literature [7].
What a kuman thong figure looks like and how it is kept
Most figures show a small boy. Thai Wikipedia describes the usual form as a child with a topknot (จุก) wearing a chong kraben (โจงกระเบน) wrapped lower garment [2]. Later figures are made from earth, from wood such as mayom (ไม้มะยม) or rak son, or from metal, and are then consecrated in a ritual called pluk sek (ปลุกเสก) [2].
The Weltmuseum Wien's figure, inventory number 186473, came into the collection in 2007 through the collector Reinhard Maurer [5]. It was part of a complete altar belonging to a spiritual healer in Chaiyaphum province in north-east Thailand, who called the altar the "Tamnag", "palace of the spirits" [5].
The way owners keep the figure is reported as belief. Thai Wikipedia records offerings of food and water, and notes that devotees today often offer red soft drinks (น้ำแดง) [2]. The 2019 Thai study names a bed, red drinks and children's toys as symbols tied to the kuman thong belief in Thai society [7]. In Thai popular devotion the figure is associated with guarding the household and giving warnings, as Thai Wikipedia reports [2].
Related figure: hong phrai
- Hong phrai (โหงพราย). Thai Wikipedia uses this name for a female spirit raised in the same way [2]. A 2016 Voice of America report likewise gives kuman thong for male figures and hong phrai for female ones [17]. English Wikipedia gives the female name as Kuman Nee [1].
How Buddhism and Thai officials view kuman thong
English Wikipedia states that mainstream Buddhism does not recognise the practice, though it is popular in Thailand [1]. Thai commentators make a similar point about newer forms. In 2016 the folklore scholar Sukanya Suchaiya told Thai PBS that the luk thep trend was "not religion but saiyasat with marketing" (ไสยศาสตร์ที่มีการตลาด) [13].
The National Office of Buddhism took a narrower view of the monks' role. In 2016 it said the pluk sek blessing given to dolls was no different from blessings given to other objects, such as cars [16]. Thai mental health officials urged people to follow mainstream religious values [17]. Nattasuda Taephant of Chulalongkorn University said the fad was rather harmless if the dolls helped owners feel better, but that believing one could talk to a doll would be a concern for mental health [17].
The luk thep doll craze of 2015–2016
Luk thep (ลูกเทพ) means "child angels" [16]. The name refers to life-like "reborn" baby dolls, usually vinyl, which are blessed by a monk and then cared for like a child [11], [16]. A 2019 study in the Kasetsart University humanities journal says the dolls captured national attention between 2015 and 2017, and that social media turned the interest into a nationwide craze within a few months [10].
Thai press traced the trend to 2015 [11], [13]. Manager Online reported in January 2016 that it spread from a shop and Facebook page called Baan Luk Thep, and through celebrity clients who posted pictures of their dolls on Instagram [11]. Anadolu Agency wrote that it started in early 2015, when a Thai fortune-teller is reported to have asked a Buddhist monk to bless his doll [14].
Prices in the press varied:
| Item (2016 press reports) | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Used dolls, after restyling (bought used for 100–200 baht) | about 600–700 baht | [11] |
| Chinese-made dolls, average | about 3,000–4,000 baht; 10,000 baht or more with a blessing | [11] |
| Doll prices quoted by the BBC | from 1,500 baht to tens of thousands of baht | [16] |
| Top price quoted by Anadolu Agency | up to 21,500 baht (about US$600) | [14] |
Airlines, regulators and police
On 23 January 2016 Thai PBS reported an internal Thai Smile memo dated 22 January 2016 [12]. The airline said more than 40 passengers had brought luk thep dolls on board over the previous two to three months [12]. Under the memo, a doll without its own ticket travelled as hand baggage. A doll with a purchased seat was recorded on the owner's booking and belted in for take-off and landing [12]. Fortune, citing Bloomberg, added that ticketed dolls could not sit in exit rows [15].
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand then intervened. Its spokesman was quoted in the Bangkok Post, as reported by the BBC, as saying that under international aviation rules passengers are people, so airlines could not sell tickets for dolls [16]. Owners could still buy a second seat in their own name [16].
Police raised other concerns. In January 2016 a doll holding about 200 yaba methamphetamine pills was found at Chiang Mai airport [16], [17]. In Bangkok, police arrested three vendors suspected of avoiding import taxes and seized more than 100 dolls, most of them imported from China [17]. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged Thais not to get carried away with the trend [16].
How luk thep differ from kuman thong
The Thai Smile memo itself drew the line: a luk thep is consecrated and taken along on trips and to make merit, unlike an ordinary kuman figure kept on a shrine [12]. Thai Wikipedia describes the same difference, a doll carried as a companion rather than a figure kept at an altar [2]. In the same Thai PBS report, Sukanya Suchaiya said kuman thong came earlier and was popular within a specific group [13].
Sellers drew a sharper distinction. A Baan Luk Thep owner told Manager Online that a kuman is a ghost that must be given offerings, while a luk thep holds no child spirit [11]. He added that people had linked the two so often that they had become hard to tell apart [11]. Voice of America also set the dolls against an older practice involving the remains of stillborn babies, which it said has mostly stopped [17].
Cases involving human remains and the law
One case was reported in May 2012. According to AFP, Bangkok police arrested a 28-year-old British citizen of Taiwanese origin in the city's Chinatown [18], [19]. The report said six human foetuses that had been roasted and covered in gold leaf were seized, packed in luggage [19]. According to the AFP report, police said he had bought them from a Taiwanese man in Thailand for 200,000 baht (about US$6,500 in 2012) and planned to sell them to clients in Taiwan for up to six times that amount [19].
Reports differ on the details. AFP said he faced one year in prison and a 2,000-baht fine for possession of the foetuses, and that their origin was unclear [19]. HuffPost, citing other outlets, reported charges of hiding and covering dead bodies, said police had acted on a tip about a website selling black-magic services, and gave the ages of the remains as two to seven months [20]. English Wikipedia, citing CNN and other outlets, describes the man as of Hong Kong origin, places the arrest in a Bangkok hotel room, and says police reported he meant to sell the remains in Taiwan for about US$6,300 each [1]. HuffPost described the practice as a black-magic ritual called kuman thong, while the AFP report spoke only of a black-magic ritual [19], [20].
Voice of America reported in 2016 that the older practice involving remains has mostly stopped [17].
Kuman thong in Vietnam and Taiwan
On the question "kuman thong là gì" (what is kuman thong), the Vietnamese newspaper PLO described Kumanthong in 2021 as a guardian spirit from Thai folk belief, also called quỷ linh nhi [28]. After Cần Thơ police found 71 suspected Kumanthong dolls at a rented home and business premises, the article listed Vietnamese penalties, including fines for using superstition-related activity for profit and for sharing content that promotes superstition online [28].
In February 2021 a Vietnamese YouTuber posted a TikTok clip that VietTimes said resembled a Kumanthong practice [26]. In a follow-up part of the video she said the doll was an ordinary doll, not a "ghost doll" [27]. On 16 March 2021 the inspectorate of Bình Dương's Department of Information and Communications fined her 7.5 million đồng for sharing content that promoted superstition [27]. The fine was issued under point b, clause 1, Article 101 of Decree 15/2020/NĐ-CP [27].
In Chinese the figure is written 古曼童. In August 2026 Taiwan's Liberty Times reported concern among parents and commentators about school students buying items sold online as 古曼童 [29]. One commentator it quoted likened the practice to yang xiao gui (養小鬼), "raising little ghosts" [29]. The paper also mentioned a New Taipei case in which police arrested an internet personality who, investigators said, used kuman thong and ghost-themed content to approach girls [29].
Kuman thong in film and television
- Bell Chamber (China, 2019). Directed by Liu Ning, it opened in China on 9 August 2019 [22]. Box Office Mojo describes it as based on a Thai ghost story of Kuman Thong and lists a worldwide gross of US$605,757 (as shown on 21 October 2026) [21].
- Kumanthong (Vietnam, 2019). Premiered in Vietnam as Thiết Sơn Tâm Linh on 8 October 2019, it was later screened in Malaysia, and its producers said it would be shown in Cambodia under the name Kumanthong [23]. The Thai daily Naewna reviewed it in January 2020 under the Thai title กุมารทอง ราคะ เฮี้ยน [24]. The reviewer contrasted the Thai kuman thong, tied to an unborn child, with the film's Vietnamese version, tied to murdered women [24].
- Kuman Thong (Philippines, 2024). Also titled Kuman Thong: Black Magic Baby, this horror drama was directed by Xian Lim and shot in Bangkok and Ayutthaya [25]. It was released in the Philippines on 3 July 2024 [25].
English Wikipedia also lists the Thai series Khemjira (2025), in which two actors play twin kuman thong boys [1].
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