This is based on a real life story in Koosang Koosom Magazine, told by Dorkmai of Pichit written in Thai Language, translated by Ginger.
I’m from Phichit Province of Thailand, but I had to commute to study at Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University daily, including Saturday and Sunday and it was beginning to take its toll on me. I have a cousin that I often refer to him as my brother, who lives in Nakhon Sawan. He feels sorry for me that I had to get up at 4 in the morning, and had to commute by train from Phichit-Nakhon Sawan daily, since he has several houses in the area, and one happens to be vacant at the time, so he offered for me to stay in town. My brother is somewhat wealthy, therefore purchased several homes in the area as investments.
He lets me stay there but I had to help take care of the house and live with his children, but it’s seldom that my niece and nephew would come and stay. Since their parents live right in town, they’d often go and stay with their parents, so most of the time it’s just me by myself, I live there as if I were the owner of the house.
In the past, this parcel of land used to be an old pond, the original owner sold it to my brother dirt-cheap and that was one of the reasons that he purchased, hoping that he’d be able to sell it at a profit in the near future, which looks like it’s going to be that way. There’s an Asia Road that cut right near the land and the area is one of Nakhon Sawan fastest growing business areas, very close to town and the house is gorgeous, which doesn’t look scary at all, besides I get to live here free.
The house was a four-story brick building made of soft bricks with various colors, it’s absolutely beautiful. There were six bedrooms; each has its own bathroom, and four bathrooms besides the ones in the bedrooms, which was considered a big house for me. My brother told me that I could choose any bedroom that I like, so I chose the one on the third floor which was right next to my niece and nephew’s bedrooms, so I don’t feel so lonely knowing that they sometimes would come and stay with me.
Little did I know, not even fully settled in, it was a hair-raising experience on my first day.
At first I was a bit surprised that my brother kept insisting that I perform a ceremony of Sen Wai Jour Teen, asking the lord of the land and any restless ghosts and spirits in the vicinity for permission to live there, and also to help protect me, which I did as told and thought nothing of it. After the ceremony, my brother went back to town because he has a small business, and had to return to work, so I had to move the rest of my personal belonging in by myself, by the time I finished, I was tired, so I sat on the bed to catch my breath.
In a little bit, I heard someone knocking at the door…Nok! Nok! Nok!
I thought it was my niece that might have returned home early, she’s somewhat playful and thought she might play tricks on me by knocking at the door. I called back, “I know, what it is?”
Silent! Then I heard another knocks, but this time it was a lot louder than the first…NOK! NOK! NOK!
I was tired and upset, I wanted to know why in the world she kept knocking, and why not just come in, so I opened the door, but what I found was an empty hallway, that was dark and it was dead silent. I decided to walk around and check every room, on every floor to look for my niece, but no luck prevailed.
Came to find out, I was the only one in the house, all alone by myself. I felt a bit uncomfortable at the time, but I made myself go to sleep that night, it took a long time but I finally drifted into sleep.
One night, as I was about to enter the house through the front door, something made me look up, I saw a shadow of someone on the second floor, both hands touched the window pane and leaning forward, that person looked at me. At first I thought it was my niece, so I called to her, “Hmm, you finally decided to come home, wait there, Auntie will be right up.”
When I got up to the second floor, the rooms were empty, no trace of my niece, I once again found myself alone in this big house. I felt a bit uneasy, so I asked one of my friends at the university to stay with me, which she agreed. When she arrived, I didn’t want to take any chance, so I asked her to perform the ceremony of Sen Wai Jour Teen, which she gladly obliged.
First night, nothing happened, but the second night…the haunting started. I was so tired from the activities at the university and went right to bed, and got up early the next morning. When I got up, my friend was up and looked like she had been up all night. I asked of what had happened, and then she said that last night, as she was asleep, she felt someone grabbed her legs and dragged her off the bed. At first she thought it was me because the person was quiet big, very strong, so she leaned over to look but I was sound asleep, plus I was snoring, so she got up and went back to bed. Before she drifted off into sleep, she felt someone’s hands grabbed her legs and tried to drag her again, but didn’t succeed this time.
She didn’t know what to do, so she started her prayer while staying under her cover, she was so scared that she couldn’t go back to sleep. I told her not to worry, it’s probably nothing serious, might be Jour Teen (spirit of the land) that was teasing her, nothing to worry about. I begged her to stay, she must have felt sorry for me, so she decided to stay, but I could tell that she was scared, I was too. She often saw strange things, such as one time, the light went out for no apparent reason, and another time there was a rabbit running in our room but then disappeared all of a sudden.
There was one time, another friend of mine from the university, Ban, who came from Chiang Mai and couldn’t go back home because she missed her ride, it was late at night so she called me and asked if she could stay the night. I didn’t think that it’d be a problem, so I told her that it was okay.
Early the next morning, Ban told me that she couldn’t sleep last night because she felt that someone was staring at her from outside the window, that person watched her all night. I told her that it’s impossible because there’s no balcony at the window, and we were on the third floor, who could have stood on air? She insisted that she saw, it was a man, dark shadow, stood outside the window last night.
I knew that Ban was telling the truth, but I kept denying and told her that it’s all up in her head, that she was just seeing things. I’m not sure if I were just saying this to assure her or myself that there were no ghosts in the house. I can’t tell you of who or what it was that we saw, or how it all happened, possibly because the house was made of soft brick, which might create some sort of strange energy because some of the bricks were very old, hundreds or thousands years old, and no telling what were in there, if there were any haunting spirits and such. Another thought that came to mind was that the house was built over an old pond that might be haunted.
What do you think it was? I’m no longer living in that house; I couldn’t take all the strange things that were happening, and this might be one of the reasons as to why the house was vacant, and my niece and nephew never stayed there. I moved to another house that’s right in town.
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August 20, 2007 at 7:42 pm
amphone
sao maung Pricit adee Sharavanh, tur louk krai kun lao ja mae jun sai song,
lur mee suer chart ta yart Thapowthong…..
In our earlier trivia, I mention this Song.
Now you probably know the story of Sharavanh and Kraithong.
August 20, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Ginger
I’m not sure if it’s the same story as this one, by Thanong Khanthong
“Kraithong” is a story of legendary times about a battle of crocodiles for power in deep waters in Phichit, which now lies in the northern part of Thailand. In the long history of crocodiles, Chalawan, who resided in the Emerald Cave, emerged as one of the greatest crocodiles of all.
After practising asceticism for several hundred years, Chalawan had developed magical powers so that he could turn himself into a human being any time he wanted to. Rather than going after the female crocodiles under the water, Chalawan had an appetite for girls in the human world.
You cannot really blame Chalawan. Every time he swam in the river, he saw young, very innocent and very beautiful girls of Phichit, dressed in traditional sarongs which were loosely wrapped around their breasts. In the old days, the Siamese girls did not have underwear. So from beneath, Chalawan saw it all!
That was the start of all the troubles and complications, as the affairs of crocodiles and human beings became inevitably intertwined.
One day Chalawan went out to enjoy his usual sightseeing. Lurking below the deep but crystal-clear water, he saw Taphaothong, a daughter of a millionaire in Phichit, who was bathing happily in the river with her friends. Chalawan immediately fell in love with her. He snatched Taphaothong in his jaws, without harming her with his razor-sharp teeth, and brought her down to his Emerald Cave.
Once inside the Emerald Cave, Chalawan turned himself into a handsome man. Chalawan was already married to Vimala, another crocodile. Still, the presence of the beautiful Taphaothong added further prestige to his harem.
The millionaire sent for help, promising to give another of his daughters, Taphaokaew, to anyone who could save the life of Taphaothong and bring her back.
Only a crocodile charmer by the name of Kraithong could perform this task. Armed with his spear, he dove down into the river and entered the Emerald Cave. Kraithong fought a bloody dual against Chalawan before conquering him. Then he took Vimala as his wife. Peace was finally restored to the water world.
But in the human world, things were not that peaceful. After conquering Chalawan, Kraithong brought Taphaothong back to the millionaire and got Taphaokaew as a reward. Soon after that, our hero also received Taphaothong as a bonus. One day, he missed Vimala so much that he dove into the river to reclaim her. Vimala agreed to follow Kraithong to the human world.
You can imagine what happened afterwards - three wives living in the same house! Kraithong might fight a whole army of crocodiles, but he could never win over three wives at one time.
August 20, 2007 at 11:38 pm
amphone
Yes, its the same story. I got headach watching them fighting for the wives. Chalawan is pretty greedy. It was kind na sad when Chalawan die. In the story, both are heroes.
Its pretty interesting classic. You know, legend and myth always have some truths to it.
Places of myth and legend.
Nonghan, jung vat Beungkarn is another mystycal land. Its so creepy looking at that swamp. It makes me think about the story of Tao Pa Deng and nang Idon; and how pa ya nak took the whole village out just because people were hungry and ate his son.
You are very good with the Chalawan story. How did you get the source so fast?
August 20, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Ginger
It was from The Nation, you could read the rest of the story here. You might like this story, The Mystery Of The Six Senses At Kam Chanode; it’s the land of Phaya Nark (Naga.)
August 21, 2007 at 7:16 pm
amphone
Yeah, Kam Chanode. aI will read it. Thanks.
August 22, 2007 at 8:22 am
Ginger
Hi Amphone, I see that you’ve not read The Mystery of The Six Senses At Kam Chanode yet, but we can talk about that later. What do you think of this ghost story?
August 22, 2007 at 11:04 pm
amphone
Ginger, I rented a documentary on Kam Chanode before. I have a very vivid memory of it. I will read it when there is more time to relax to it.
Yeah, the ghost story is great. Very true indeed. The story has all the ingredients to scare me away for good the first sight of the house and first encounter with strange sound or shadow. Truth though, if I was actually in the situation, I can deal with it better somehow. Reading this story gave me goose bumps.
Although the story is credibly scary, the woman from Pricit indicated no sign of fear. May be she did got spooked and decided to live elsewhere. She indicated that “strange” things kept happening. She even offered scientific explainations to strange things that keep happen. If I was her, when my friend said she was yanked off her bed, that would have been it. I am gone.
I ran into similar story that was depicted by the Thai movie makers a while back ( I couldn’t tell you who, don’t remember). At the end of the movie, they offered a reason why the house was haunted, the house don’t exist there anymore. The person who got haunted was living with the ghost of an old lady who was waiting for her children to come back to retrieve her.
I think ghost stories are so scary Ginger, do you get scary by reading them?
August 23, 2007 at 11:10 am
Ginger
>>>I think ghost stories are so scary Ginger, do you get scary by reading them?
You’re not the first person to ask me this, I’m not scared of ghost story, there’s no reason to, and it’s mostly your imagination that is playing tricks on you. If you’d ask me if I’m afraid of ghost, the answer is no, I don’t think I am, might be because I’ve never actually seen one before, I don’t know how I’d react to things until it happens. Sometimes it’s amusing to read some of these ghost stories, and I often translate them at night, that’s the only free time that I have, it’s real quiet, but not scary.
I’m more afraid of people than of ghost.
August 23, 2007 at 10:55 pm
amphone
Hmm. I would natural think that you might get scared reading ghost story late late at night. I guess we (me, myself, and I) all should be. So you must one of theose people who just don’t believe in ghost.
Ghosts or ghost stories are suppose to scare you. You would never know until you face the real situation. Your mind can keep telling you but you will be scare eventually.
Take me for an instant, at the age of 11 I was so scare of ghosts because the people around talked about them all the time. I guess the setting was perfect…..small town, remote, in a temple, all way dark at night, not much lighting in a small town somewhere in Thailand.
Here’s how the story goes. I was a novice monk. I was put up in a small town in Thailand until my mom or dad will come and fletch me. I was alone at night most of the time. My uncle who is a monk there was never around. My grandmother was the only one who come to check on me every now and then. Usually when my uncle come back from whereever he has gone. He was one of the most prominent monk in the region. I was put up there for no other reason other than to let me learn something until we are shipped out to the US.
My duty as a novice monkey would includes all the chores sunk ka lee or mae ci ddn’t perform and one of them is to get up late at night to beat on the drum on a van sinh (buddhist holy day). The temple courtyard is creepy as it can be. I have to walked pass the tree where pi pai dwell. I was so scare each time I passed it that foresaken tree. I never see the ghost but it was enough to frighnten me. Now going up the drum tower is another story. Step step I climb is a nightmare. I always imagine some ghost will pull my leg. I was horrifed.
Things went on this way for nine months. Sure I was scare shitless but what can I do. My parents can help me. I want to run to my grandmother but I was too much of a man to run in my robe and cry. I spent most of the evening alone because my uncle always gone. The other junior monks, they didn’t care about me. No comfort or refuge from the ghost from them. One night I got in a fight with othe novice monks because they called me bad name (Lao this Lao that), I went as far from them as possible. I went up to my uncle’s kuti (monk residential) and crashed there. Already scared of getting beat (physically) by those rebel novice monks, I have to face another fear of sleeping in the big kuti alone. I went through hell that night. I could’t find refuge anywhere in that kuti. No way hose. I slept on the floor becuase I could get to the suppy closet. It was locked. The floor had holes like most Lao or Thai houses are. I thought for sure that would be the night when all my hair will stand up and turn grey. I went all night terrify of every move every sound that was made. When I open my eyes all I see is darkness is all around. The big tree where the pi pai live is no too far and visible. For sure I thought that pi pai will get me. I couldn’t sleep that night. I was so late, just when I started to dosed off, a heard a figure coming up the stairs. Half as sleep, my eyes widen …..Oh shit….I started to pray any na mo tat sa….that I know. I figure made its way up the kuti and toward me.. Before I started to scream. My uncle said, “Nhone leow boh?”
After nine month there, my mother came and got me. Despite my uncle’s request to stay behind and serve Buddha and my grandmother’s request to come out monkhood and take care of her because she is gettng old., I have to tell them I have to go with my mom. My mom wouldn’t let me stay any way. I don’t know why my parents just left me there. I was scared.
I love my grandmother and think a world or her. Throughout my youthful life in the US. I made a promise to go back to visit her before she die. I even spoke with her a few time over the phone, “Mae tu ka noi ci ma ha vai vai nee la.” My grandmother would tell me to hurry. I had a picture of her, the lated was when she was really old. I never made it back to see her. I regret this for the rest of my life. I am angry about this. In 1999 I got a chance to visit Thailand. Me and my entire family erect a momunment of her. My grand father die since my mom was small. Everytime I looked at my grandmother’s picture I hear the word she said. This sadden me greatly. This is the reason why I call myself ok hhak (broken hearted). If my mother can hear this, I just wanted to tell her over and over again. I wished I had see you before you die. I remember my grandmother well. She was a part of our lives since was able to remember. Today I am especially sad because I missed my grandmother. This is one regret that I feel I should throw out here.
August 24, 2007 at 9:14 am
Ginger
Hi Amphone, we can’t always use our feeling to measure how others feel because everyone is different, and it’s obvious that I’m very much different from you. I don’t believe in wasting my time in doing things that I don’t believe in, as you can see that I spend a lot of my time translating these ghost story, mainly because I don’t have one of my own to tell, if I don’t believe in ghost, then I wouldn’t translate and write, so I do believe in ghost and ghost to me do exist.
Have you ever ask yourself as to why you’re afraid of ghost, there must be the roots as to why. Many times it’s because we watch scary ghost movies, but that’s the imagination that the filmmakers are feeding to your brain, and in these horror movies, ghosts scare you, hurt you, and kill you. I’m thinking that the root of the problem is that people are afraid of death, because ghost kills people in horror movie. Why are we afraid of death, probably because of the unknown.
If we’re afraid of something then it prevents us from living life, such as you might be afraid to go to certain places late at night because you’re afraid of ghost, or having to turn on the lights at night while you’re sleeping, if it’d make you feel better, I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, we all have our own way of dealing with things.
Thanks for sharing your story about your grandmother, what would be nice if you could write 10 random facts about her on your blog, just as I did about my mom, and I think Darly will also do this about her mom and grandmother, as for me, it helps a great deal by doing this, sometimes it helps just to talk about it.
August 24, 2007 at 5:42 pm
amphone
Alright, I understand. I didn’t mean to talk about my grandmother at all. It just came out. Afterward, I felt better. It was not a good night. Thanks for understanding. We are indeed different. I don’t believe in wasting time. I just hope you know that about me.
August 24, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Ginger
I’m not offended by what you said, and hope that you’re not offended by what I said, but everyone is different, if I’m scared of ghost or ghost story, then I wouldn’t be able to translate ghost story, I’m not the type of person that would force myself to do anything that I don’t like, especially on my own blog, I might be a bit more considered as far as the content of the story when I’m writing at Laovoices.com, but not here.
Your story of your grandmother is fine, I enjoy reading it, and I’m sure others also. We all have story that we like to share, and I should thank you that you were kind enough to share your story here, if talking about it makes you feel better, then why not.
August 24, 2007 at 10:58 pm
amphone
Exactly, so where is the offended part come in? In a blog we shoot and run. Sometime we dodged it. Sometime we get hit. Its normal. I think. I posted my writing. Therefore, I am ready for comments.
August 25, 2007 at 7:36 am
Ginger
Good, because I can sense when people’s feeling is hurt. It’s very tiring for me to have to please everyone, and I’m not good at that, it’s just not me. When you’re making a comment, you are at your own risk and have to fend for yourself. When I make a comment at people’s blog, I don’t worry about what I said and if they’re not happy with my comment, then they reserve the right to delete it, which I think it’s fair play.
August 26, 2007 at 11:13 am
amphone
Now we’re talking. Trying to please people and not saying what you mean is not right. Still, I have my limit as to how far I go with my machine gun, as long as the intention is pure, my concion is cleared…posting a weak comment is not good either. I am quilty of that sometime… but in the end, each is to its own. Ying & Yang kind of stuff, got to stay balanced, you know what I mean, jelly bean?:)
Have a great weekend.
August 26, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Ginger
Thanks, comments aren’t meant to attack anyone but mainly to share ideas.
September 12, 2007 at 4:17 pm
skyshadow82
the haunted house…..
usually old houses like those…the story could be very REAL…
it’s because who ever that built it in the past might have still want it back…=)
September 12, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Ginger
I like ghost stories send in by readers of this magazine, they’re very interest, as far as authenticity, we can’t prove anything, but they’re fun to read.