Do you believe in ghosts ?. If you are Thai I’m certain you will answer yes, I believe in ghosts. If you are a westerner I guess you will most likely dismiss ghosts and belief in the spirit world as pure twaddle. As a westerner living in Thailand you will also be aware that Thai people absolutely do believe in ghosts.
The Thais belief in ghosts is so certain, they even provide a house for the spirits in which they will hopefully reside without feeling the need to enter the property owners residence. This practice is called Animism (spirit worship), and is the oldest form of worship known to man.
In Thailand they take ghosts seriously, and a ghost is not simply a ghost. Thai ghosts take many different forms, and there are good ghosts and bad ghosts. And there are also spirits who for whatever reason, cannot rest in peace, either waiting, or trapped in a sort of twilight zone between death and the next life.
Personally, I prefer not to believe. But I have to admit after spending years in Thailand, coming to terms with Thai culture and spirituality, and also being married to a Thai who also believes in, and has had a ghostly encounter of her own has made me sometimes doubt my personal preference.
I also have a couple of farang (western) friends who claim to have had legitimate supernatural encounters in Thailand. It’s too easy to dismiss another persons stories of encounters with the spirit world. And too easy to dismiss them as a wacko, or eccentric.
Seeing is believing. And until we see a ghost with our own eyes we are never going to believe they exist. Funnily enough, my friends who experienced “ghostly goings-on” suggest in order to see ghosts and other supernatural happenings you must be “susceptible to ghosts”.
Ghosts Caught on Camera
There are thousands upon thousands of supposedly genuine photos and videos which have captured the image of a ghost. Many are found to be elaborate fakes, others are the result of flawed developing or faulty equipment. Some of the images are genuine, yet the image captured does not appear ghostly at all. They are just everyday photos and footage of everyday people. The ghostly thing is, some of those people captured on film were never actually there, at least not in a form visible to the human eye.
My Own Thailand Ghost Experience
Besides the shared supernatural experiences of my wife and friends, I did have had one experience, maybe it was supernatural, maybe it was not. In any case it was the following experience which inspired me to write this post, and at the same time ask the question, “do you believe in ghosts ?”.
On this particular day, I was driving past the Sacred Fig Tree on Soi Rompho in Jomtien (see photo below). I took this opportunity to take a few photos of the tree for my blog. I parked the car a few meters short of the tree, and my wife remained in the car while I walked around the tree and got my shots.
To my knowledge, as I was taking these photos, only a couple of motorcycles and a car passed by. So when I arrived home and viewed the photos on my computer I was surprised to see what appears to be a young man and woman caught on one of the images (above).
The next image (below) is a crop of the image above. The young woman is paying her respects to the spirits, while the man behind her looks like he might be about to pull her away. There’s nothing unusual about a young Thai woman stopping to wai the spirits of a Sacred Fig Tree. I took this photo in the early afternoon, so the fact that she’s wearing a very short dress and knee length boots is also not that unusual.
The only unusual thing about this photo is, I would swear the young couple were never there while I was taking the photos, and so would my wife, who was watching me the whole time. Agreed, I was engrossed in my mission of photographing the tree, and it’s true the young couple may not have been in my wife’s field of view. In my defense, I’m still easily distracted by girls wearing short dresses and knee length boots, it’s not often they escape my gaze. For my wife also not to see the couple, on a road void of any features other than a tree, is very …..spooky.
Another odd thing about this photo is, if you look closely, even though one of her legs is partially obscured by the Spirit House ladder, she appears to be wearing just 1 boot.
Like I said, I prefer not to believe in ghosts. Maybe if I don’t believe, I will not see. What about you ?.
Take Part in the Supernatural Poll
So, do you believe i ghosts. Please select one of the answers below.
Everyone likes a good ghost story, and I would love to hear yours, especially if your supernatural experience happened in Thailand. Please leave your thoughts in the comments form at the bottom of the page. No need to sign in, you may comment as a guest, or even a ghost if you wish.
Poll closed: results
Do You Believe in Ghosts ?
Yes I Believe in Ghosts (100%, 1 Votes)
No I do not Believe in Ghosts (0%, 0 Votes)
After Spending Time in Thailand I Believe Ghosts Might Exist (0%, 0 Votes)
No, But Many of My Thai Friends do Believe in Ghosts (0%, 0 Votes)
I Have Had a Ghostly Experience in Thailand (0%, 0 Votes)
