A 68-year-old Taoist medium died during a ritual in Kuala Sanglang, Malaysia, in October 2017, after being boiled alive in a giant metal wok in front of his followers. Lim Ba, known as The Black Dog, was performing a 'human steaming' stunt as part of a Nine Emperor Gods festival ceremony when he suffered a heart attack and second-degree burns.
Ritual details and prior performances
Lim, a husband and father, had performed the stunt for over 10 years as of 2017, according to his family. The ritual involved him sitting on a wooden platform inside a giant metal wok, covered by a large steel lid, to be 'steamed.' Vegetables, buns, sweet corn, and rice were also 'cooked' alongside him, and he stayed in the pot for up to 75 minutes.
His family reportedly warned him against carrying out the ceremony that year, as he had undergone heart surgery the year before. Despite their pleas, Lim chose to go through with it.
Fatal moments during the ceremony
A few minutes into the stunt, those present started hearing knocking noises from inside the steam cover. Lim's son, Lim Kang Huai, told local news that the knocks seemed irregular and different from the ones his father usually made when it was time to remove the cover.
Police chief Mohd Ismail Ibrahim described how the crowd saw the lid moving, and 'as soon as it was opened, they found the victim unconscious.' The man began convulsing as people removed him from the heat, but it was already too late. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene.
Family reaction and broader practice
Kang Huai, who said his father was on medication for hypertension at the time of his death, told local news agency Bernama: 'My father went through a heart operation last year. I didn't think this ceremony would be his last.'
In orthodox Taoism, religious leaders perform 'endurance' stunts, focusing on quiet internal alchemy (neidan), breathwork (qigong), and seated meditation. Extreme rituals like Lim's are rare but developed in popular Southeast Asian Chinese folk Taoism, especially during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Such rituals sometimes involve walking on glass shards, piercing skin, and walking barefoot across hot coals, during which practitioners enter trance-like states to absorb negative energy and purify the community.
