The tale of See Uey Sae Ung, the cannibal
Think of a man so frightening that he became a legend of folklore, a boogeyman by bedside tales in Bangkok. Back in the 1960s in Thailand, many parents sat down with their children and warned them firmly: “Don’t stay out after dark, or the ghost of See Uey will eat you.”
When the Japanese invaded the island of Hainan in 1939, Chinese soldier See Uey Sae Ung, aka Si Oui, fought back. It was through the transgressions of war that many believed that Si Oui underwent the transformation from human to monster.
Professor Somchai Pholeamke, the former head of Siriraj Hosptial’s Forensics Department in Bangkok, said, “His military commanders told the troops to eat the livers of the enemy soldiers to take on their strength and power.” And so, like a good soldier, Si Oui went on to devour the organs of his enemies.
Why livers? Throughout time, civilisations believed that the liver was the center of life of the body, being praised for its regenerative effects. On the battlefield, ripping out the liver of your enemy not only dehumanised them, but eating it would, to some effect, give you power.
In 1944, Si Oui moved to Thailand where he worked in poverty as a rickshaw driver. It is believed that he suffocated and then ate the hearts and livers of over a half dozen male children.
In 1958, Si Oui was burning the evidence of a body, but was caught by the young boy’s father during the act. Before he was hanged, but after he was arrested, Si Oui traumatised Thailand with his chilling confessions of how he would stab children in the throat, slit open their chests, and eat their hearts and livers.
Si Oui became frequently spoke of in Thai culture, and generations of parents told their children that if they didn’t behave, the ghost of Si Oui would come and hunt them down.
In somewhat of an odd twist, Si Oui became immortalised; his corpse is preserved in formaldehyde and still can be seen today in the Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok.
Think of a man so frightening that he became a legend of folklore, a boogeyman by bedside tales in Bangkok. Back in the 1960s in Thailand, many parents sat down with their children and warned them firmly: “Don’t stay out after dark, or the ghost of See Uey will eat you.” When the Japanese invaded the island of Hainan in 1939, Chinese soldier See Uey Sae Ung, aka Si Oui, fought back. It was through the transgressions of war that many believed that Si Oui underwent the transformation from human to monster. Professor Somchai Pholeamke, the former head of Siriraj...
Think of a man so frightening that he became a legend of folklore, a boogeyman by bedside tales in Bangkok. Back in the 1960s in Thailand, many parents sat down with their children and warned them firmly: “Don’t stay out after dark, or the ghost of See Uey will eat you.”
When the Japanese invaded the island of Hainan in 1939, Chinese soldier See Uey Sae Ung, aka Si Oui, fought back. It was through the transgressions of war that many believed that Si Oui underwent the transformation from human to monster.
Professor Somchai Pholeamke, the former head of Siriraj Hosptial’s Forensics Department in Bangkok, said, “His military commanders told the troops to eat the livers of the enemy soldiers to take on their strength and power.” And so, like a good soldier, Si Oui went on to devour the organs of his enemies.
Why livers? Throughout time, civilisations believed that the liver was the center of life of the body, being praised for its regenerative effects. On the battlefield, ripping out the liver of your enemy not only dehumanised them, but eating it would, to some effect, give you power.
In 1944, Si Oui moved to Thailand where he worked in poverty as a rickshaw driver. It is believed that he suffocated and then ate the hearts and livers of over a half dozen male children.
In 1958, Si Oui was burning the evidence of a body, but was caught by the young boy’s father during the act. Before he was hanged, but after he was arrested, Si Oui traumatised Thailand with his chilling confessions of how he would stab children in the throat, slit open their chests, and eat their hearts and livers.
Si Oui became frequently spoke of in Thai culture, and generations of parents told their children that if they didn’t behave, the ghost of Si Oui would come and hunt them down.
In somewhat of an odd twist, Si Oui became immortalised; his corpse is preserved in formaldehyde and still can be seen today in the Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine in Bangkok.
