From exorcism ceremonies to spirit houses and amulets claiming to make wearers bullet-proof, Thailand is a culture soaked in superstition -- an obsession critics say is holding the nation back.
On a popular episode of "Humans defy ghosts" -- a weekly Thai TV programme that delves into the supernatural -- a two-year-old girl who survived three days next to the dead body of her mother was asked a series of questions by one of the show’s panellists.
"Who prepared your milk?" Kapol Thongplab enquired. "Who played with you? Who opened the door?"
"Mummy," the little girl replied, as genuinely convinced as her adult interlocutors that her mother’s ghost continued to sustain her in those harrowing days.
In Thailand, a show like this is more than just entertainment.
My X used to be scared shitless after her father died. She insisted he was present in our rented house in HH sometimes and kept changing the TV channels and drinking my Sangsom. I of course endured severe bollockings for laughing out loud
NO ONE, not even a ghost would dare to steal my booze
RICHARD OF LOXLEY
It’s none of my business what people say and think of me. I am what I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. It makes life so much easier.
My wife's village thrives on ghost stories. I often tell people they seem to practice Buddhism, with a lot of Voodoo thrown in.
I am not a believer, but all that I will say is that I've seen a few things that I cannot explain, and to say I found them a little scary is an understatement.
Basically:
- Was it supernatural? I don't know.
- Was it staged? Probably not.
- Can I explain what I've seen? No.
- Could others offer an explanation? No.
- Does it deter me from visiting? There are several reasons why I don't like visiting my wife's origins, but fear of the unknown is not one of them.
BB, I agree with all your points but I put it down to my being on a western thinking wavelength and all I've seen and experienced has been on an eastern thinking wavelength.
Despite my being here for some time now and having spent a lot of my time in Isaan villages I still have to correct myself as I find myself slipping into western thinking and western logic. My good friend, the late Ian Lewins, taught me from day one that when living here things are never quite what they seem. As many of you know, Ian had lived amongst Thais for over 30 years and knew their languages and culture better than any other farang I've met.
Try as hard as we can, we will never really know how that little box between their ears works
RICHARD OF LOXLEY
It’s none of my business what people say and think of me. I am what I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. It makes life so much easier.
I am not talking about stories, but what I've seen with my own eyes in both Thailand and the UK. Experts were called in the UK, and they could not explain anything.
Some years ago I became quite curious about this subject, and did some low-level research (i.e. a few Google searches...) on animistic beliefs in Thailand.
It's quite interesting, if anyone is genuinely interested.
Big Boy wrote:I am not talking about stories, but what I've seen with my own eyes in both Thailand and the UK. Experts were called in the UK, and they could not explain anything.
I was not talking about stories I was talking about things I've seen with my own eyes
RICHARD OF LOXLEY
It’s none of my business what people say and think of me. I am what I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. It makes life so much easier.
Big Boy wrote:Good, I'm not alone. We'll have to compare experiences when we meet next.
RICHARD OF LOXLEY
It’s none of my business what people say and think of me. I am what I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. It makes life so much easier.
I've spent a lot of time in my partners Issan village over the years and their fear of ghosts is funny, I used to sit out the back of the house reading by myself with a bottle of beer until the early hours of the morning sometimes and they used to be genuinely concerned for me, I just used to tell them it was no problem as there were no farang ghosts up there.
I started another thread about superstition, and the bizarreness if it, a while back.
I watched a Thai guy die in front of me due to a family's superstition. Convinced that conventional doctors couldn't do anything for 'the spirits inside of him', they opted for an old lady 'witch doctor' who seemed kind of ... out there, let's say.
but yes, that is the way my wife's village still works now.
