Ali Khan Samsudin

Biography

The scorpion record is listed in the 1998 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. The enclosure in which Ali Khan Samsudin spent three weeks was made of glass, so spectators could watch him from outside. The number of animals in it is given differently: most often six thousand, by other accounts simply “several thousand”.

He was born in 1958. The sources give his birthday differently, 11 April or 3 January, so only the year is reliable here. He lived and worked in Malaysia, and by profession he was a snake charmer, that is, he performed with snakes in public. He gave shows both for pay and for charity. His first fame came in the early 1990s. He then settled in a small room with four hundred cobras. The conditions were strict: twelve hours a day, forty days in a row. After that the nickname “Snake King” stuck to him, and it is the name by which he was known in Malaysia. A second feat of the same kind came a few years later. He spent 21 days in a glass enclosure with six thousand scorpions and earned a second title, “Scorpion King”. By some accounts this happened in 1997; the entry did appear in the Guinness edition for 1998. I think the exact date of the stunt is hard to check, since the accounts differ.

Over the years of performing he was bitten by snakes many times. The figure of 99 bites is also given, and for a long time they left no effect on his health. The figure cannot be confirmed from documents.

He had a protégée, Nur Malena Hassan. She followed her mentor’s path and set records of her own, and she came to be known as the “Scorpion Queen”.

Ali Khan Samsudin died on 1 December 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, after a king cobra bit him during a performance. By some accounts he died at once, by others a few days later. He was 48. He was survived by two wives and five children.