holy teapot batman

How much do I love Blottered? It's the best, really.

Without it I might have missed the Malaysian teapot cult story. You heard me.

Malaysian authorities on Wednesday arrested 58 followers of a bizarre cult built around a giant teapot, two days after the sect’s headquarters was torched.

The official Bernama news agency said those arrested were aged between 20 and 60 years and included a New Zealand woman.

Cult leader, Ayah Pin, was not among those arrested and was believed to have gone into hiding after about 30-35 assailants armed with machetes and Molotov cocktails attacked the commune on Monday, torching a car and the roof of a building and scorching the giant teapot itself.

Tell us more about this Ayah Pin, you say?

The sect, which believes the teapot has healing properties, is in Malaysia’s northeast, a devoutly Muslim area that has suddenly lost patience with the cult, headed by the man who says he is God and owner of everything, his “Sky Kingdom.”

More from the BBC, including a photo of Mr. Sky Kingdom*. (Not to mention the one above.)

Another reason to love Blottered? This post, about a ring slightly lesser than the One Ring to Rule Them All.

*Some say inscrutable, I say stony-faced.