Phuket

andy50 · #1 14-01-2005, 23:33

Patong - A second surge of tsunami terror is hitting southern Thailand, but this time it is a wave of foreign ghosts terrifying locals in what health experts described as an outpouring of delayed mass trauma.

Tales of ghost sightings in the six worst hit southern provinces have become endemic, with many locals saying they are too terrified to venture near the beach or into the ocean.

Spooked volunteer body searchers on the resort areas of Phi Phi island and Khao Lak are reported to have looked for tourists heard laughing and singing on the beach only to find darkness and empty sand.

Taxi drivers in Patong swear they have picked up a foreign man and his Thai girlfriend going to the airport with all their baggage, only to then look in the rear-view mirror and find an empty seat.

Cries of help

Guards at a beachfront plaza in Patong said one of their men had quit after hearing a foreign woman cry "help me" all night long, and similar stories abound of a foreign ghost walking along the shoreline at night calling for her child.

The majority of Thais are deeply suspicious, believing ghosts reside in most large trees and keeping a spirit house in every home where daily offerings of food and drink are given to calm nearby paranormal entities.

Mental health experts warn tsunami survivors have picked up on this cultural factor as a way of expressing mass trauma after living through the deadly waves and witnessing horrific scenes in their aftermath.

"This is a type of mass hallucination that is a cue to the trauma being suffered by people who are missing so many dead people, and seeing so many dead people, and only talking about dead people," Thai psychologist and media commentator Wallop Piyamanotham said.

He said people who claimed to have seen ghosts first-hand were people that mental health specialists would be paying particular attention to.

Volunteers helping at Thai temples, transformed into scenes of grisly death as forensic experts struggle with the task of identification, are especially vulnerable, psychologists and doctors said.

Wallop said widespread trauma began to set in about four days after the waves hit.

"This is when people start seeing these farangs (foreigners) walking on the sand or in the ocean," he said, adding the sightings started about the same time as people "began calling for help, crying, some scared".

Many people said they could not escape the smell of death or the sights they had seen while assisting in the crisis, he said.

Wallop said the reason almost all ghost sightings appear to involve foreign tourists stems from a belief that spirits can only be put to rest by relatives at the scene, such as was done to many Thai victims.

"Thai people believe that when people die, a relative has to cremate them or bless them. If this is not done or the body is not found, people believe the person will appear over and over again to show where they are," he said. - AFP---im taking my teddy to bed with me tonight!!

wylos · #2 14-01-2005, 23:56

MADNESS.

quote:Thai people believe that when people die, a relative has to cremate them or bless them. If this is not done or the body is not found, people believe the person will appear over and over again to show where they are," he said. - AFP

if thats what they believe in,maybe thats why some people are thinking this way,that they can hear things (not saying it aint true).It all sounds a bit spooky to me,but as the old saying goes"stranger things have happened at sea".
anything could happen in this crazy world

jimholio · #3 15-01-2005, 08:39

If you truly believe in something it becomes "your" reality.

LivinLOS · #4 15-01-2005, 09:50

I was going to post about this earlier..

Since the terrible day ALL of us (my mates) that have regular Thai girls have been forced to listen to loads of tales of 'Pee' and mine even has had problems sleeping etc.. It was even the reason one of my fave gogo girls cited as why she was leaving Patong to go back and be with mama in BKK !!!

Basically they are really supersticious and this is emphasised and reinforced by dumb TV shows where they get scared people, take them to a place that they say is haunted, in the dark, and have this little machine that beeps when a 'ghost comes'.. The machine beeps, the person craps it, then swears blind (so they dont look like an idiot) that they saw / heard / etc a ghost... I have never met a Thai that does not think this is all 100% above board and none of them seem to even consider this is just personality manipulation for TV !!!

Drives me nuts !!!

stevem · #5 15-01-2005, 15:02

It all comes down to what you and someone else believes in. In my books no one has the right to critise what someone else believes in, after all this what several wars have been started over.

LivinLOS · #6 15-01-2005, 17:16

It was in no way intended to mock yet I (in my ignorance) no of nothing in the Bhuddist faith that includes ghosts, gouls, zombies, and other spirits that Thais are so fond off ?? In fact the Catholic version of Christianity has lots more in this line (so I understand)...

I am not even saying I dont believe in 'some' spirit sightings and incidents its just I find superstitions a bit daft.. I have father who is madly superstitious, new shoes on the table, hats on beds, walking under ladders, beggining plans on new moon, etc etc etc.. Its all hockum and I find that as daft as TV programmes with no explanation of what they claim to be measuring or monitoring, scaring some daft guest and purpetuation this cycle of belief in a whole society with nothing to back it up..

If there really is some measuable phenomenon going on, deal with it in a scientific manner.. Theres 100's of real paranormal experts who would be happy to study it in a properly controlled setting, they would take sound, vibration, temperature, EMF readings ETC.. Taking another superstitions person into a graveyard after dark does not a TV show make (for me) or prove anything except the viewers gulibility..

Sleesy · #7 15-01-2005, 17:23

Just wondered if any Falangs had seen any Pee's whilst here in Thailand.

I believe Pee Bob is one of the worst chaps cos he eats your insides...

r3aps · #8 15-01-2005, 20:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleesy

Just wondered if any Falangs had seen any Pee's whilst here in Thailand.

I believe Pee Bob is one of the worst chaps cos he eats your insides...

the girl i stay with is very supersticious and has a small shrine in her room that she puts food and drink on to keep the child ghost she claims occupies her room happy.after the tsunami she wouldnt go in the supermarket under ocean plaza and only once ventured near the beach before refusing to stay there any longer.she never went past soi crocodile after that.
me personally,i think its a crock of sh1t.but hey,thats my opinion.each to there own.
steve

andy50 · #9 15-01-2005, 20:44

hi r3aps, the same thing happened with the girl i was with too, we wernt affected by the water too much as luck would have it, but she was crapping herself with fear and wouldent go near bangla road even the next day,i wanted to walk down too see the damage but she went mental (and her friends did too)--but i didnt realize at the time, it was probably to do with their beilief in ghosties and pee--as you say a crock of *hite ,but its a part of thai beliefe in animism i suppose!

Allybabba22 · #10 15-01-2005, 23:36

I also dont believe in ghosts, But my dad told me he seen a ghost in the old house they used to live in and nearly shit himself, He said he came home from work one night and his nan was already in bed, When he seen this woman walk down the stairs, And she looked him straight in the face and then just walked on into the kitchen, And when he told his nanny and uncles the next day they all laughed and said he was seeing things(Which you would). After that he said no more about it, But then a few years later when he was going through some family photo albums, There she was,The woman in the photo wearing the exact same clothes, Was actually his nan's sister who had died in the house many years before

.

But as I said I personally would have to see it to believe it.....

repeter · #11 16-01-2005, 12:43

KRABI, Thailand — The victims of last week's tsunami are buried in debris, stuck in trees and floating in the sea. Collecting and identifying the remains have been enough of a challenge, but many Thais face an equally serious task: appeasing the spirits of the dead.

The vast majority of Thais believe in ghosts, and so the stories are starting to emerge of dead tourists playing on the beach or of lost loved ones visiting surviving family members.

"There are a lot of ghosts on Phi Phi Island right now," said Vinaporn Danghon, a 23-year-old clothes seller who narrowly escaped last Sunday's raging waters.

More than 4,800 bodies have been recovered in Thailand so far, but thousands more still are missing off of the southern coasts. Many of Thailand's dead were from Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee), one of Thailand's most beautiful beach resorts, with dramatic limestone cliffs, sparkling waters and stunning coral reefs.

Vinaporn lost her aunt and several friends. "I cannot count. There are so many," she said Friday outside the provincial police station where she had come to file a claim for lost property.

When the tsunami crashed into her seaside village, Vinaporn and her boyfriend, a handyman, fled to higher ground. During the night, they heard a small group of people on the beach "screaming as if they were scared of the waves," she said with vacant eyes.

A policeman who was guarding the stranded villagers ran down to check the noise. According to Vinaporn, he saw several human figures "with no feet" floating across the beach. "The policeman rushed back and told us what he saw," she said.

Many others in this traumatized nation have heard similar stories.

Samarn Damkul, the driver of a long-tail boat for tourists, insisted Phi Phi Island was full of spirits. "There are ghosts, there are ghosts, there are ghosts," he said from one of Krabi's central piers.

Samarn told of a fellow speed-boat driver who lost his friend, a woman, to the 35-foot-high waves. His friend spent several days looking for her body but could not find it. On Thursday night, Samarn said, the woman's ghost paid a visit to the boat driver.

"He said he wasn't dreaming," Samarn said. "She said to him, 'Don't search for me anymore. I'm here at the Chinese temple [where corpses are being collected]. Please take care of my son.' "

The friend went to the temple the next morning and found the body, which he returned to an island north of Phi Phi for a funeral.

Mat Thai-aium, whose boat was destroyed, stands amid boats under repair.

Samarn and other boat drivers say the residents of Krabi province are easily spooked and fear a return of the killer waves. "People around here are paranoid," said Samarn's brother, Chain Damkul. "They hear a motorcycle engine start, and they start to run."

A leading Thai-language newspaper ran a front-page headline on Thursday that roughly translates to "Creepy Phi Phi, Scary International Ghosts." The paper reported that marine police were too scared to spend the night. A 45-year-old woman who came to search for her missing family saw "foreigner ghosts" playing in the water.

The reported sightings are sure to feed local superstitions and may keep many Thai tourists from returning to the famous beach resort — which could be devastating to the economy. Tourism generates more income in Thailand than revenue from the number-one export item, computers and accessories. And Krabi province — known for its many islands and limestone formations — depends heavily on tourism, as well as fishing, rubber trees and palm oil.

"I don't want to go back to Phi Phi Island anymore," said Thitinun Aussavamahasakda, owner of Eighty Nine Cafe, a restaurant and travel shop in downtown Krabi, the closest mainland port. "I'm scared. It's like a graveyard."

Thitinun has been comforting dazed tourists and Thai friends, urging them to pray at the local Chinese temple. "We're all sad and in grief," she said. "It's incomprehensible."

Like many Thais, Thitinun believes that when a person dies unexpectedly, the soul is not prepared to move on to the next place. A special "merit-making" ceremony must be held where friends and relatives of the victim donate food and money to local Buddhist monks, who hold a ceremony to help the spirit on its way to its next reincarnation.

"I believe quite strongly in ghosts," Thitinun said.

Buddhism and animism have coexisted for centuries in Thailand, with belief systems blurring over time. Most Thais, more than 90 percent of whom are Buddhist, have "spirit houses" to honor the dead people who used to live on their property.

The spirit house is a miniature structure, like a doll house, usually made of wood or concrete and kept in the corner of the property. Homeowners typically place incense, water or tea, and a plate of fresh food in the spirit house every morning while saying a brief prayer.

Similar "merit" will be needed to get the ghosts from the deadly tsunami on their way. The ghosts of foreigners need particular help, Thitinun explained, because they do not know how to return to their native countries. Some wander around as if they were still alive.

She said a group of Krabi-area travel agents had chartered a boat on New Year's Day for more than 400 people to visit Phi Phi Island to make merit for the dead. They did not plan to spend the night

geespot · #12 16-01-2005, 13:26

There is going to be a big blessing by all faiths in Patong Beach this month. To deal with issues above

G

plasticsmith · #13 18-01-2005, 06:21

I also read the same story in the Vancouver newspaper this morning.
I have heard lots of ghost stories but never made any conclusions one way or the other.
If ever there was a reason for ghosts to be restless...this is it.
I have personaly never seen a ghost but then again I have never seen the statue of liberty....but I believe it is there.

jimholio · #14 19-01-2005, 01:25

I just saw this.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/T...647259,00.html

domifletch · #15 19-01-2005, 02:36

I know Thai people really believe in pee (ghosts) and don't try to laugh about it, you will look stupid, sure

I think they believe there are some pee in Rawai (among other areas) and foreign authorities, although they don't believe in it, know how many Thai people are afraid about it.

I don't believe at all in ghosts or surnatural things, but how many movies about gosts have met a real success in theatres in our countries? So how can we judge it?

Just for the fun, if you know a Thai, show him/her this picture and say you don't know who it is, you have just found it on your camera and you think it is a picture taken in your home

Be sure he/she will first think it's a ghost.

It is not a lack of respect, just a joke, so be fast to say it is only a joke and explain it's a bad pic

... but maybe it will be a hard work