Thailand Tourists Get ‘Massaged’ by Three-Ton Elephants

MattiaATH/iStock/Thinkstock(CHIANG MAI, Thailand) — Intense fear isn’t an emotion typically associated with a massage. But then again, the masseuse isn’t typically a three-ton elephant.

Tourists in Thailand — a destination perhaps better known for illicit massages than animal ones — can get the kinks worked out at an elephant camp in Chiang Mai. A mahout — or elephant handler — leads the elephant to the tourist and stands by.

The masseurs weigh thousands of pounds and use their feet and trunks to administer the pampering to visitors who lie on the ground, face down, with a towel on their backs.

The towel is not likely to offer much protection in the event the elephant decides to crush the guest; presumably it’s there to keep clothes clean.

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