World record hopeful’s a real charmer

PATTAYA, Thailand – A Thai snake charmer kissed 19 highly poisonous king cobras in an attempt to set a world record Saturday.

One by one, the cobras were released onto a stage as the snake charmer, Khum Chaibuddee, kissed each beast and then moved on to the next.

Four additional snake charmers flanked the stage at the corners, and a medical team waited on the sidelines with serum in case one of the snakes snapped, said a statement from Thailand’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, which organized the event.

The museum’s manager, Somporn Naksuetrong, said Ripley’s planned to submit the attempt to the Guinness Book of World Records to overtake a previous record set in 1999 when Gordon Cates, of Alachua, Florida, kissed 11 venomous snakes in 1999.

Khum, a part-time snake charmer for more than 12 years, urged children and onlookers not to try the feat on their own.