Thailand and ghosts

[STEVE G]

I am suprised that stupid sound effects and thai soap dramas haven't been mentioned yet.

[Takiap]

I started another thread about superstition, and the bizarreness if it, a while back.

I watched a Thai guy die in front of me due to a family's superstition. Convinced that conventional doctors couldn't do anything for 'the spirits inside of him', they opted for an old lady 'witch doctor' who seemed kind of ... out there, let's say.

Sadly, I have seen something very similar at a nearby Mom and Pop shop. Despite their good intentions and their holy water, the local monks were unable to save the owner, whereas a quick visit to the hospital would have worked wonders. Then again, how could a doctor possibly know more than an old lad in white clothing?

[redzonerocker]

I am not a believer, but all that I will say is that I've seen a few things that I cannot explain, and to say I found them a little scary is an understatement.

I'm the same as you.
The fear being more out of not being able to find a rational explanation.

Though I broadly agree that there is a lot of 'mumbo jumbo' surrounding the subject, I do believe there is some substance to the topic.
It will never be proven one way or the other whilst we remain in this life.

Superstition and faith healing, though vaguely linked, are different subjects altogether from the paranormal.

I have to agree with GLC, some of the superstitions are quite bizarre.
Equally some of the 'faith' healings are too.

Back a few years there was a thread about snake bites, to which someone suggested there was a nut of some kind that was used as a cure for the venom.
I asked the poster (possibly Norseman?) the question, "if you were bitten, would you chance the 'nut' remedy".
I'm fairly sure the answer was NO . . .

[kendo]

Up north in Issan it's more common to see the beliefs and superstitions of ghosts or spirits.
In our our area of Surin we are near the Cambodian border between Prasat and Kap Choeng on the 214 border road to Chong Chom. This area is still a disputed border region to this day. My wife witnessed lots of bombing and close combat fighting when she was young. All around our area I have been told of many tragic story's of people killed by the conflict or some poor rice farmer that got blown up by a land mine.

Now a lot of Thais believe that spirits live in trees and in our area you will find hundreds of spirit houses smashed under trees or just in a pile by the side of the road and they do tend to avoid them. From the main 214 highway there's three roads that lead to our village one night coming back from the bar we missed our usual turning on the bus and we had to get off and walk a mile and a half down a road that is never used by most locals especially at night. I have used this road riding a motorcycle about exploring and had noticed before loads of smashed and Brocken spirits houses so I asked my wife what's this all about she told me on this area of road many people died from the fighting and they believed there's many spirits there and everyone was scared to use this road.

Here's a picture of my pregnant wife on that day walking that road not very happy as she was genuinely tence at the prospect.