Haunted Thailand — A Brief Introduction

Ghosts, spirits, myths and demons in the Land of Smiles

Working as a freelance journalist in Thailand, I have covered a vast array of topics but few were as interesting to research as an article I wrote called ‘Ghosts and Spirits of Thailand’. My editor renamed it ‘Haunted Thailand’ which I will be the first to admit is a much snappier title. I had been commissioned to write an 800-word piece on the more popular ghosts and/or hauntings in the country but after a brief bit of investigation, I realised that would not be enough. The subject was fascinating. I spent so much time looking into the spirits, demons, vengeful ghosts, stories of haunted houses (and even airports), that I almost missed my deadline.

That deadline has long since passed and as the article was in print, it has also long since been forgotten. But it was a piece I remember well and it sparked in interest in Thai ghosts, spirits and folklore. Real-life hauntings, possessions and ghostly goings on are still a huge part of Thai culture and so I thought I would share my interest in it with this ebook. This is not meant to be a scholarly work, it is purely attempting to be interesting. My sources have been newspapers, articles, essays, a variety of websites, Thai friends and other random bits of information from helpful sources such as the Siam Society. Spellings will vary as will some of the stories but I have tried my best to collate the information I have.

Before we get to the floating heads, giant cursed skinny apparitions, entities with bizarre foot-sweat diets and more, a brief introduction to Thai beliefs is probably in order. Just to set the scene.

Thailand’s religious makeup

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country with roughly 95% identifying as Buddhists. The next largest faith is Islam at just over 4%, who are largely located in the south. Hindus come in with an official figure of about 0.03% but the faith is more closely intertwined with Thai beliefs than that figure would suggest. More on this in a minute.

So while Buddhism is the main faith, Thais also strongly believe in Animism or spirit worship. And when I say strongly, that is possibly an understatement. Thais believe ghosts or spirits, which are known as ‘pii’, (remember that as you will be hearing it a lot,) are absolutely everywhere. If you look up any of these stories, please note that another common spelling is ‘phi’ — still pronounced with a hard ‘P’.

Spirit houses

A good example of how the belief in spirits exists alongside Buddhism is the ‘spirit house’. Also known as a ‘pii house’. All houses, offices, malls, hotels and so on, have a ‘spirit house’ nearby and they are essentially there to protect those nearby from malevolent (sometimes downright evil) spirits or pii. These houses are a common feature across Southeast Asia regardless of religion.

To an outsider, these pii houses will look a bit like a small, highly elaborate Thai-style houses (if in Thailand, obviously,) on some kind of a pedestal. There will likely be a variety of adornments and offerings that range from pleasing flower arrangements, candles, miniature models of animals and people, to consumables such as fruit, cake, and strawberry Fanta. This latter red liquid is frequently alleged to be a symbolic representation of the blood sacrifice that used to occur in times long past. Something that is a tad incongruous with Buddhist beliefs but as they say in Thailand, ‘mai bpen rai’ (‘doesn’t matter/ don’t worry’).

Shrines and other faiths

As mentioned previously, although the Hindu faith comes in at 0.03% of the population, if you wander around it may seem a tad more ubiquitous. Between where I live in fairly central Bangkok and my local pub, I walk past two human-sized shrines to Ganesh. Additionally, around Bangkok, I regularly walk by Shiva, Brahma, Indra and Vishnu. This is down to when the Khmer Empire, from the region now known as Cambodia, was in charge of Thailand and were, at the time, Hindu.

There is also a large Thai Chinese population that follows Chinese folklore and the religious philosophy of Taoism.

Always happy to pay religious respect, there are shrines to lots more — I, for example, have been to two penis shrines for some reason. There are also shrines to a variety of pii, such as Mae Naak, of whom we shall hear next.

I mention all of this as a very brief insight into the Thai open-mindedness to belief in spirits, faiths, pii, demons and deities. This is reflected in many aspects of their culture, combined with their love of a good story. Their justified obsession with food is also quite apparent, with Thai ghosts having some rather peculiar cravings. There are a lot of other-worldly pii wondering about, some good, some bad and some deliciously grisly. If you look at the horror section of a Thai DVD shop there is likely to be one genre — ghosts.

Author’s note:

The above is an introduction to my book: Haunted Thailand: Ghosts and Spirits in the Land of Smiles. (That is a non-affiliate link to US Amazon.) I have full copyrights.

I have published one of the stories in it already.

It’s a tale of love, death, ghosts and revenge that has been made into numerous TV shows and movies here in sunny Thailand.

I will post more from this book, and from my other work, here in the future. I hope you enjoy it.