Thailand’s famed “Scorpion Queen” has come out of retirement for a series of shows this month at Pattaya’ Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum.
Kanchana Ketkaew, who set a Guinness World Record by living with 5,000 black scorpions for 33 days in 2009, will immerse herself in 100 scorpions several times a day Thursday through Tuesday at Royal Garden Plaza.
With the 2009 stunt, during which she was stung 13 times, the Scorpion Queen beat her own record set in 2002, when she spent 32 days with 3,400 scorpions. She is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for keeping a scorpion in her mouth for two minutes and three seconds.
The glass room in which she stayed with the 5,000 scorpions at Royal Garden was 2×4 meters in size. The rules said she could not leave the room for more than 15 minutes every eight hours.
Waranyu Tipyamontri, general manager of Ripley’s World Pattaya, said June 3 that Kanchana retired from show business six years ago, although she was seen at a Ripley’s “human wonders” event in 2012.
She is back this summer to pump up low-season tourism. She will perform weekdays, except for Wednesdays, at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., and on weekends at 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
