The Logbook: The story of the Thai Amulet Bubble

The death of a 103-year-old Thai policeman started one of the weirdest bubbles in history: magic amulets.

Phantarak Rajadej was a highly respected police chief in Nakhon Si Thammarat, a small city in southern Thailand with a population of slightly over 100,000. The story goes, that in 1987, Phantarak created the Jatukam Ramathep amulet – which depicted a figure representing a Hindu god – to help raise money for a city shrine. Many locals believed that Phantarak had magical powers, with some believing he practiced black magic.