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Update
on 12 Jul 2004
Thai Belief in Magic, Spirits and Ghost
Thai Buddhism is impregnated by ghosts stories coming from Buddhist legends. But it is also impregnated by ghosts stories coming from old religions present before Buddhism in Thailand. There is a belief into two kinds of Thai ghosts and spirits :
Thai people are really afraid of ghosts ("PHI"
- ผี). No joke should be said about them
otherwise they might come. Anyway numerous Thai magazines about ghosts and
spirits are available in Thai bookshops.
Phra Inn Sihuhata
Phra Inn Sihuhata, In Thai’s mythology, Phra Inn Sihuhata is a mythical, auspicious creature in ancient northern Thailand that signify good fortunes. It has 4 ears and 5 eyes on its head, the body resembling that of a rat and with Tail of a Cow. The Thai’s believed that Phra Inn Sihuhata possessed mystical power capable of turning charcoal to gold. To empower the Phra Inn Sihuhata, one may offer charcoal to enhance its effectiveness. Phra Inn Sihuhata has been regarded as an auspicious creature by the northern Thai that possessed the divine power capable of drawing wealth from the Earth.
The fierce outlook of the Phra Inn Sihuhata also suggests that the creature is very aggressive in the accumulation of wealth. As a wealth enhancement, one may placed a Phra Inn Sihuhata at the main door, wealth sector or the cashier to increase business flow and personal luck.
One of the picture on Magical Iron Body Protection against injury.
Thais call it "Tatkrut Konggapan" Magical Drawing that's against injury.
The monk in the picture is the only monk in Thailand who really knows Konggapan Magic in Thailand now.
Every Tatkrut that he make must go through Knife contact ceremony. That means who ever wish to own Luangphor's Tatkrut must hold the Tatkrut that make by Luangphor with both hand, chanting magical words in mind and Knife slashing at back with strength to proof that the magical power is in it. Miracle proof that there is no injury causes on the body after the Testing.
This is Part of the magical contact / research in Thailand try by myself in year June 2001.
(Live Video taken by Frankie, Antares Buddha Centre)
*Please keep in mind, this Tatkrut won't help wearer in bad Purpose such as; Fighting, robbery & ect. Cause Buddhist belief in Karma, What you plant is what you have.
It only help peoples to have protection against sudden accident.
Ritual in Thailand
House Exorcism (Tum-krao-ban) 
Kaan Tham Phum 
Kaan Tham Phum is a ritual held on auspicious occasions
such as a wedding, an ordination or a house-warming ceremony. Some
households may hold this ritual annually. The ritual is commonly organized
on a Saturday or a Tuesday.
In the ritual, special offerings are made to all kinds of gods and angels after participants pay homage to the triple gems in Buddhism and their ancestors. Then sacred water is prepared, which is believed to give blessings to participants and protect them from evil. At the end of the ritual, " offering tickets" made of a kind of large leaves found in the woods are left in places situated in eight directions. These places have been prepared beforehand.
Karn Bucha Thian
Lam Phi Fa
However, if the illness is serious, Phi Fa will be invited to treat the patient. The musician will play his wind instrument called kaen while the kru-ba dances to invite Phi Fa, while walking around the offering. So do the assistants to the kru-ba. Upon the descent of Phi Fa, everyone will unconsciously shake and lose their consciousness. Phi Fa will give them the idea of how to treat the patient and then leave for heaven. This ritual is there fore called Lam Phi Fa.
Liang phi
Liang phi is a ritual whereby food is offered to the spirits of the dead at the hing phi puh yah or hoh phi. People in the north believe that after the death of the grandparents, their spirits will return to protect their children and grandchildren. Thus, in every house there is a hing puh yah or mantle for grandparents. It is believed that this ritual brings happiness to the family.
Phi Pu Ta Ceremony 
Pi Tee Khor Kama Wua-kwai
Piti Buot Ton Mai 
Prapaynee Buang Suang Pantai Norasingh
ศาลพระภุมูมิ or "SAN PHRA PHUM" means "the house of spirits".
Every Thai house has a house of spirits. The spirit house size is related to the owner's house. The biggest it is, the biggest the spirit house shall be. Every morning the owner of the house shall feed the spirits. It was mandatory to install a spirit house when building a new house. In fact the house is made for the spirit of the land. It calms the spirit and assure good blessings for the owner of the house.
Everywhere in Thailand, spirit houses can be seen. Food, drinks and also little figurines representing servants, dancers, elephants, cars are given to the spirit of the land. The dancers shall entertain him. The elephant shall transport him.
ผีต้นไม้ or "PHI TON MAI" means "ghosts that reside in tree".
Everywhere in Thailand, some trees are wrapped with a cloth. Especially in temples but also in forests. It means that a spirit inhabits the tree. Of course the tree shall not be cut without warning the spirit in order to let him find another tree. There is often a certain spirit associated to a certain type of tree such as banana tree spirits and so on...
นางไม้ or "NANG MAI" is a female spirit inhabiting a tree.
To protect forests against logging, some monks ordain trees and wrapped them up with a thin orange cloth. Trees were then sacred. For Buddhist people it was now impossible to harm the trees. Alas sometimes officials used another monks to defrock the trees.
หมอผี or "MO PHI" are the spirits doctors.
In Thailand many spirit doctors help people to get chance, to gain the heart of a desired mate, to get rid of ghosts, to reveal future, to get rid of curses. These spirit doctors can be ordinary persons who have spirit power ("PALANG CHIT" - ปลั่งจิต) or also monks. But monk hierarchy does not tolerate those monks.
The annual biggest concentration of spirit doctors happens each September in Phuket and South of Thailand during the Vegetarian festival. Many men pierce their body with sharp objects or walk on fire. They feel no pain and show the power of the spirit that inhabits their body. This festival is linked to Chinese religion and beliefs.
A monk or astrologer may suggest that misfortune or suffering can be terminated by taking a new name.
นางกวัก or "NANG KWAK" is a spirit.
The "NANG KWAK" is a spirit supposed to bring money in the household. Its statue represents a woman in Thai traditional clothes, sitting on her knees with the right hand up and the hand making the gesture to bring money to her-self. Thai people like to have this statue in their home or their shop.
In July 2001 a woman who claims her son has been reincarnated as a lizard can keep it until she performs religious rites to send his spirit away. She claims the monitor lizard followed her home after her son was cremated one month ago. It's illegal to keep the reptile in captivity, but officials have agreed to let her keep it until she's performed the rites. Crowds have visited her home, believing the lizard is lucky. Some have rubbed its skin hoping to see winning lottery numbers. The reptile is being fed on yogurt and milk - favorites of the dead boy. The lizard is said to be in a poor condition and growing weaker. It will be taken to a wildlife sanctuary once the rites have been performed.
กุมารทอง or "KUMAN THONG" is a baby spirit.
The first story related to "KUMAN THONG" was found in the Thai book "KHUN PAEN AND KHUN CHANG" (คุณแปนคุณชาง). The way to get a "KUMAN THONG" is quite horrible: one must get a dead fetus and burn it in order to obtain a small body. Then dark incantations are cast to insert black magic inside. The "KUMAN THONG" spirit is supposed to warn and protect his owner in case of danger. The owner must also feed and protect it.
Nowadays "KUMAN THONG" are made of wood. It often represents a little child with a hair top cut. If the owner doesn't take care of his "KUMAN THONG", power disappears from the statue.
A few years ago a monk addicted to black magic made a "KUMAN THONG" with a dead fetus. He was disrobed.
ผีปอบ or "PHI POP" is an evil spirit.
These ghosts are powerful and fearful. If they succeed to possess someone, they eat his intestines. One solution to get rid of them is to call a "doctor" dancer. This spirit doctor chases the "PHI POP" by making a whirlpool dance. When watching the dance, the "PHI POP" entered a whirlpool and is chased from the body.
Origin of "PHI POP" came from an old legend. Once upon ago a Prince fond of magic found the way to enter inside alive bodies and to take control over them. Once the prince said magic words and entered into the body of an animal. His servant listening to those words repeated them, entered to the body of the Prince and of course became the Prince. The Prince entering the body of a bird rushed to tell the truth to his wife. This one destroyed the servant's body and challenged the false Prince to enter the body on an animal, then the real Prince re-entered in his body but the servant was not able to re-enter his body. Since this time his spirit goes from one body to the other eating its intestines.
ผีอำ or "PHI AM" is a spirit.
The spirit "PHI AM" sleeps on the chest. When somebody has difficulty to breathe, Thai people say that a "PHI AM" spirit sleeps on his chest.
ผีกระสือ or "PHI KRASEU" is a evil spirit.
The spirit "PHI KRASEU" is often represented as a woman head with intestines.
ผีตายโหง or "PHI TAI HONG" are the most fearful ghost.
These spirits died of violent death ( murder, crash car and so on...). The velocity of their death surprised them. The most powerful of all is "PHI TAI HONG TONG KLOM" (ผีตายโหงทองกลม), spirit of a pregnant woman. This ghost is more powerful because it has the power of two people.
Thai people are really afraid of these ghosts. Even today the belief is still strong in Thai society. Some ghosts stories are often based on women already pregnant and abandoned by their husband or boyfriend. After committing suicide, the ghosts of these women could be seen wandering and looking after their mate.
Thai temples are places related to Thai Buddhism. Monks are living there. Those places are sacred. Temples also contain cemeteries. Bones are enshrined in small pagoda.
Everywhere in Thailand, shops sell spirit houses and shrines to embed ancestors' ashes.
At night Thai temples become "evil" places. Monks sleep in their houses. Ghosts and spirits are reputed to wander around cemetery in temples. Some spirit doctors use the oil of buried corpse, called "NAM MAN PRAI" ( น้ำมันพราย ), to make love filters, which are told to be the best.
Still today every person who died must be cremated and not buried. When the body is cremated, the soul goes away and waits until next reincarnation. If buried, it stays on earth as a spirit and it harms everybody. In 1998, a big cremation was organized to burn many dead people. Nobody has claimed the corpses. The Poh Tek Teung Foundation and Ruam Katanyu Foundation staff are known as "body snatchers" working in great anticipation of collecting some dead corpses.
Huge statues of giants called "YAK" (ยักษ์) stand in front of temples. They intend to frighten the spirits and protect the Buddha statues from the spirits. The most famous "YAK" in Thailand are located in the Royal temple "WAT PHRA KAEW" (วัดพระแก้ว) in Bangkok. This temple contains the famous Emerald Buddha statue made of jade. It is said that the jade is coming from a mountain where "YAK" are supposed to have been living long ago. It is a rare case where the "YAK" are facing the temple inner.
Buddha holy amulets is a lucrative business in Thailand. Made of stone, pottery or metal, temples use them to remind followers of the Buddha's teachings and to commemorate deceased monks. Sales eventually became a key source of income. There are specialized markets to buy them. Prices can be very high (up to one million Baht) for high sacred amulets. Chinese, Hong Kong and Singapore people are also interested in amulets business but Thailand still remains the best place for that kind of business. There are even persons collecting them. This kind of worship for amulets ("PHRA KREUANG" - พร�เคื่รอง) started at RAMA IV reign.
Most Thai people believe that wearing around the neck a Buddha holy amulet protect them from anything. There are even some policemen that don't wear any bullet-proof jacket or some drivers that don't use their seat-belt while driving because they are protected by the magic of the amulet against bullets or accidents.
Some people also wear several holy amulets to have more protection. Some also wear amulets in shape of male sex in order to improve their virility. Many magazines about holy amulets are sold in Thai book shops.
Thai men believe in the power of tattoos. In old times tattoos ("SAK" - สัก) protected the skin against sharp knifes. The only way to kill the person was to hit the body strongly in order that internal bleeding caused the death.
Thai people believe it is possible to change the destiny, to escape the fate, to lessen the sufferings by magical interventions such as tattoos, amulets.
The "YAN" (ยันต์) is a drawing representing religious mystical symbols to protect the area from ghosts and bad spirits. This symbol can be seen in many locations such as cars, taxis, temples, doors of houses and so on....
เวรกรรม or "WEN KAM" is the result of the past bad actions.
Bad actions and rewards of these bad actions take an important place in Buddhism and in Thai behavior. When somebody dies, if he behaved in a bad way, he is sent to hell in order to be tortured. After a while, he shall have a new rebirth. This life will be hard and tough. He has to pay for his past bad actions. Only when he died, he will have consumed his bad actions.
Some Thai magazine narrate "WEN KAM" stories. The slogan is "No need to wait for next life in order to know more about the result of past bad actions".
Thai people often say "WEN KAM" (เวรกรรม) when they have bad luck. It means that their bad luck is linked to their past behaviour in their previous life. Thai people often make offerings to temples and monks in order to gain merit and lessen their past bad actions.
Pak Ou is a cavern on the Mekong shore near Luang Prabang in Laos. There are thousands of Buddha statues inside. Of course touching or even worst taking them is forbidden. Nodody dares stealing them. It is said that people did steal a few statues. Back home they did feel very bad. No medicine could heal them. It is only when they gave back the statues that their decease disappeared.
It is said that during the first days of ordination, young monks, while meditating, are assaulted by ghosts in order to afraid them and to force them to defrock.
People living close to Mekong river, especially in "ISAN" area have a strong belief in the "PHAJANAK" (พยานาค). Thai and Lao people avoid swimming in Mekong river due to the "PHAJANAK" threat. The "PHAJANAK" is a snake, which is living in the Mekong river. It grabs the legs of people swimming and bring them under water to be used like servants. Some villagers have seen a "PHAJANAK" coming from the Mekong rolling around a tree.
In 1973 a strange fish was caught by American volunteers in Mekong river. It was 23 feet long. The reality is mixing up with old tales.
In 2001 the mayor of Bangkok has come up with a new weapon to fight corruption -- a curse. Desperate to stamp out malpractice in the Thai capital, city chief sent a handwritten letter to all 50 municipal offices saying any local officials taking bribes would suffer terrible misfortune and calamity. The letter was designed to stamp out extortion by city officials of local street vendors, who have traditionally had to pay bribes to get permission to sell their wares.
Garlands ("DOOK MALAI" - ดอกมาลัย) are supposed to bring luck. Garlands can be found everywhere in Thailand. Every driver has got a garlang in his car in order to avoid misfortune.
Thai people are very superstitious. Odd number are supposed to be lucky numbers. Lottery tickets with odd numbers are likely appreciated. The number "9" is supposed to bring good luck. In Thai language number "nine" is closed to the word "rice" and to the word "to enter". So it is an important word of luck, food, improvement. For Buddhist ceremonies such as wedding or new shop settlement, nine monks are always invited. The number "9" is an auspicious number. The number "3" is also an important number because three multiplies three is nine. So in old times there were ceremonies for new born babies on the third day and third month of life.
ข้าว or "KHAO" means "rice". เก้า or "KAO" means "nine". เข้า or "KHAO" means "to enter".
A famous shrine in Bangkok (ศาลแม่นาคพระโขนง) is located near Sukhumvit Road, Soi 101. It is containing the grave of the dreadful ghost "PHI PHRA KHANONG" (ผีพระโขนง). This ghost has frightened Thai people since almost a century.
Last century, when Bangkok was still called the "Venice of the Far East", a woman called "MAE NAK" (แม่นาค) was married to a soldier. After a while her husband has to go to a remote place. Alas she was already pregnant.
While her husband was away, she died with the baby still inside her body. So as Thai people believe, a woman who died with her baby creates a powerful spirit called "PHI TAI HONG THONG KLOM" (ผีตายโหงทองกลม). She started to frighten all her neighborhood, killed some people and sucked their blood and so everybody was afraid of her. But she still loved her husband deeply.
Her husband didn't know anything about his wife's death. So when he came back home his wife was waiting for him. Many persons did warn him that his wife was dead and that he was living with a ghost but he did not believe them. One day when "MAE NAK" was preparing the dinner and her husband bathing himself in the bathroom, a lemon fell from her hand. As the house was a Thai traditional house, it was built on piles and so the lemon fell on the ground 2 meters lower than the house's floor. So the ghost "MAE NAK" made her arm longer in order to get it. But her husband saw that and understood that his wife was a ghost and managed to flee from the house.
Thanks to a monk, the spirit was imprisoned in a bottle and thrown in the river. The monk covered the bottle with a cloth. On this cloth was written Pali language in order to disable the spirit from going outside the bottle. But the legend is not over. Two fishermen trying to catch some fish got the bottle and freed "MAE NAK".
But the husband of "MAE NAK" was living with another woman. The ghost of "MAE NAK" managed to find them and killed her husband's new girlfriend.
Finally "MAE NAK" accepted to stop killing because a monk promised her that in a next life she would live again with her husband. Nowadays Thai people still believe in the story of "MAE NAK PHRA KHANONG". Thai people don't like to speak about ghosts, they are afraid to meet them in their dreams while sleeping.
Today the grave of "MAE NAK PHRA KHANONG" can be found in a shrine in Bangkok. This shrine is famous because "MAE NAK" is supposed to help people playing lottery. Thai people are looking for lucky numbers in trees' bark.
"MAE NAK" is the short name for "MAE NAK PHRA KHANONG". "MAE" (แม่) means mother but now many people are calling her "YA NAK". "YA" (ย่า) means grant mother. Indeed the story happened one century ago.
Many donations are made : toys, flowers, beautiful dresses, children clothes, food for her or her child. During all the day, a TV is on. "MAE NAK" likes the Thai movie "MON RAK LUUK THUNG" (มนต์รักลูกทุ่ง).
Thai mothers always warn their daughters to come home after school. If not "MAE NAK" might catch them ! The shrine where "MAE NAK PHRA KHANONG" ashes remain is located near Sukhumvit road, soi 101. This shrine is now famous. Due to the several Thai TV series and the movie, the shrine is overcrowded.
Inside the shrine there is a statue of "MAE NAK" covered with gold leaves.
The Thai movie "NANG NAK" released in 1999 is the year biggest success in Thai cinema. It is the story of "MAE NAK PHRA KHANONG".
(Article taken from Thai World View - religion)
Spirit Houses San Phra Phum
Many Thais believe that when a Thai family builds a new house, there is always the possibility that it has disturbed the spirits who live on the property. In order to protect their new home from retaliatory harm or mischief, some Thai families put up a little model house on a pole for the spirits to live in. The spirit house must be located somewhere on the grounds where the shadow of the human house will never fall on it. Offering of incense, fruit, flowers and rice will be placed here, because the spirits must be kept happy at all costs. Amazingly enough, though they look like houses and are temptingly stocked with food, the spirit houses are almost never occupied by birds. Perhaps even the birds respect these invisible being. Some tourists may see at a curtain curves of the road, a small spirit house built there by hopeful drivers. Their theory is that if the spirits who haunt the place are given a home they will not spitefully endanger the drivers who must pass this way. Some spirit houses on to road were built to pacify the tormented spirits of people who have died violent deaths in crashes at that site.
(Information from: "Thai Studies Through Games" Book 2 by Assist. Prof. Wadee Kheourai.)
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