Five Most Well-known Thai Ghosts

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Five Well-known Thai Ghosts

Since Halloween has just ended this year, this month’s newsletter is going to be about the five most well-known Thai ghosts in Thai culture. Do not worry, these ghosts are the most well-known ones, not the scariest ones.

Do Thais celebrate Halloween? A few times I have got this question. For us, วันฮาโลวีน (wan haaloowiin) Halloween day is considered a foreign celebration. Thai families don’t celebrate it, and Thai children don’t go door-to-door collecting candy from neighbors.

However, there are fun activities and events for Halloween in certain places, such as schools, companies, restaurants, and bars. People usually dress up as scary characters.

Thai Ghosts Day

In Thailand, we do have a day dedicated to honoring those who have passed away. This day is called
วันสารทไทย (wan sàat thay) Wan Sart Thai or สารทเดือนสิบ (sàat dɨan sìp) Sart Duean Sib. It is on the 2nd of October every year.

Different regions have different ways to celebrate this day. The purpose of the celebration is to honor and remember people who have passed away, especially their families and relatives.

But nowadays, this tradition has become less common among younger generations.

Famous Thai Ghosts Stories

1. ผีกระสือ (phǐi krasɨ̌ɨ)

I first heard the story from my older siblings and then watched its story on TV. Every time I saw a floating green light in the dark (later, I realized that it was just a light from an insect called a firefly), I was so scared of encountering this ghost.

It is believed that this ghost inhabits women’s bodies, often older women. They crave raw bloody food and also eat dirty stuff like excrement.

At night, it leaves its body at home and floats around with its head together with internal organs, glowing green. Living chickens are their target.

2. ผีกระหัง (phǐi krahǎŋ)

It’s a flying ghost similar to กระสือ (phǐi krasɨ̌ɨ) but it is a male ghost and flies with the whole body not just the head and the internal organs.

It flies using big wooden sieves attached to both arms as wings and has a rice pestle as its vehicle.

It is believed that a man who practices sorcery and becomes unable to control their powers could transform into this ghost. It flew out at night to search for foul and decayed food similar to ผีกระสือ (phǐi krasɨ̌ɨ)

There are love stories between ผีกระสือ (phǐi krasɨ̌ɨ) and ผีกระหัง (phǐi krahǎŋ) as well because both ghosts were from the Middle region of Thailand.

3. ผีปอบ (phǐi pɔ̀ɔp)

It is a distorted spirit that possesses a person, which can be a man or woman, acting as a medium. It uses the body to find raw and fresh food to eat. This ghost is well-known in Isan region.

It also consumes the victim’s internal organs leading to death. The victim appears to die as if they are simply sleeping, without any visible wounds, known as ใหลตาย (lǎy taay) or sleep death.

It’s believed that a person becomes ผีปอบ (phǐi pɔ̀ɔp) due to previous involvement in dark magic or mystical practices. If they fail to control these powers or break certain prohibitions, they risk transforming into this ghost.

4. ผีเปรต (phǐi prèet)

This ghost exists not only in Thai culture but also in  Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. This ghost can come in different forms and appearances depending on each country.

The typical one in Thailand is described as being as tall as a palm tree, with hands the size of palm leaves, and a mouth as small as a pinhole.

When I was a kid, I was told that ผีเปรต (phǐi prèet) have big hands because they hit their parents when they were human and have mouths the size of pinholes because they spoke badly to their parents.

Moreover, this ghost is eternally hungry and always cries in pain. It has to wait for someone, especially their families, to feed them. The families will feed them by dedicating merits through a religious practice.

5. ผีตายทั้งกลม (phǐi taay tháŋ klom)

A woman who died during her pregnancy is called ผีตายทั้งกลม (phǐi taay tháŋ klom). She would haunt people who walk past or come near her house at night by singing a haunting lullaby.

The most famous one is called แม่นาก (mæ̂æ nâak) or นางนาก (naaŋ nâak). Her story has been made into a soap opera nine times, including this year (2024)! It has also been made into a film for… I did not think I could count.

นางนาก (naaŋ nâak) Nang Nak’s 1999 film is considered the best and scariest by Thai people. I agree with that. You can see the trailer here. I think the full movie is on Netflix and also available on Youtube.

แม่นาก (mæ̂æ nâak) story is famous among Thai people because she was real. I didn’t mean that the ghost was real, but a woman whose name was นาก (nâak) who died during her delivery was a real person in history.

During the late reign of King Rama III, there was told that a daughter of a village chief of พระโขนง (phrá khanǒoŋ) sub-district named นาก (nâak) died during her delivery. That’s why people know her as แม่นากพระโขนง (mæ̂æ nâak phrá khanǒoŋ).

There is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok (Sukhumvit 77) called วัดมหาบุศย์ (wát mahǎa bùt) Wat Mahabut or people know it as วัดแม่นากพระโขนง (wát mæ̂æ nâak phrá khanǒoŋ) Mae Nak Phra Khanong Temple. It is where her shrine is located.

If you are in Bangkok and would like to visit, the location is above. You can take BTS to Onnut Station.

Her story is that her husband went to war as a soldier. She promised to wait for him at home, at that time she was already pregnant. Unfortunately, she died during her delivery before her husband’s return.

Her spirit was still around the house waiting for her husband until he came back. He didn’t know that his wife had died. People told him but he did not believe it because he still saw his wife as a normal person and living with her.

Phrases Related to Ghosts

  • ผีเข้า ผีออก (phǐi khâw phǐi ʔɔ̀ɔk)
    It describes people who are unpredictable or difficult to understand, with moods that shift suddenly and without obvious cause, as if they’re “possessed” one moment and “normal” the next.

    ผีเข้า (phǐi khâw) means a ghost gets in
    ผีออก (phǐi ʔɔ̀ɔk) means a ghost gets out.
  • ผีไม่มีศาล (phǐi mây mii sǎan)
    This phrase is used to call someone who does not have a permanent place to stay. From my experience hearing this phrase used by older people to scold their younger relatives when they are always out of the house and do not come home until late at night, or even stay overnight at their friends’ houses.

    ศาล (sǎan) means a shrine which is considered a home of a ghost. So, ผีไม่มีศาล (phǐi mây mii sǎan) means a ghost that does not have a shrine (to stay).