Ever Seen A Ghost In Thailand?

[xyborg]

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when i was a kid i wanted to grow up to be a parapsychologist, so i did everything i could in hopes that i would see a ghost. never did. i have been in some very weird supernatural situations, and even in some in which other people say they have seen ghosts, but i have not. i have a scientific mind and don't even believe in a god without proof so definitely don't accept the existence of ghosts. i think when we are dead we're dead.

<br /><br />I recommend you attend a one-on-one session with a known medium who will give you messages and facts that would otherwise be impossible. I was also like you, science and science only...until you meet one of these folks who throw all that out the window. You normally have to have some sensitivity to see spirits, but a medium can provide you with everything but a visual, and the best ones work for free.<br />

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I think its called "being gullible"

[Neeranam]

You normally have to have some sensitivity to see spirits, but a medium can provide you with everything but a visual, and the best ones work for free.

I agree with that.

[Neeranam]

i think when we are dead we're dead

lol - have you never had 'deja vous'? I've been hypnotically regressed(on a TV show with Uri Geller) which added proof to my knowing that I was around before this body.

[jazzbo]

Did Lord Buddha Say Ghosts Don't Exist, Or (their existence) Just Wasn't Important?

[bendix]

I recommend you attend a one-on-one session with a known medium who will give you messages and facts that would otherwise be impossible. I was also like you, science and science only...until you meet one of these folks who throw all that out the window. You normally have to have some sensitivity to see spirits, but a medium can provide you with everything but a visual, and the best ones work for free.

Oh, now I've heard it all - only sensitive people can see ghosts, huh? But just in case you're not one of the chosen few, a super-sensitive medium can do it for you.

LMFAO.

dam_n, i really wish i was more enlightened.

[camerata]

Did Lord Buddha Say Ghosts Don't Exist, Or (their existence) Just Wasn't Important?

I don't think he was specific either way, but the teachings make it clear that spirits and deities can't help anyone become enlightened.

The Hungry Ghost realm (peta loka) is actually one of the "unfortunate rebirth" realms in Buddhist cosmology, and AFAIK it's the only type of Thai ghost that has anything to do with Buddhism.

Here are the other Thai ghosts from thailandvoice.com:

Phi Peta - A hungry ghost. Everyone who is preoccupied with material attachments to the exclusion of the spiritual will be reborn as a Peta, having a giant belly and an mouth as small as the eye of a needle. Peta may sometimes be heard whistling at night, looking for people to make merit for them. This ghost is relatively harmless.

Phi Am - A ghost which sits on the chest or liver of sleepers, causing discomfort. It can be harmful.

Phi Chamob - A ghost which haunts the place where a woman has died in the jungle. This spirit does not do any harm.

Phi Ha - The spirit of a woman who has died in childbirth. This ghost is considered to be very violent.

Phi Krahang - This ghost appears as a man with feathers and a tail like a bird. It eats filth and glows at night. An unpleasant and frightening spirit.

Phi Krasy - This ghost lives inside a witch and leaves her body during sleep by way of the mouth. The Krasy is the colour of fire, has a head the size of an electric light bulb and a half-metre long bluish tail. A Krasy ghost likes dirt and does not generally harm human beings, although when it consumes entrails (hardly surprisingly) it can cause death. Krasy witches have a sleepy appearance during the day. Their eyes don't blink and they can never look anybody in the face. Also, they don't cast any reflection in the mirror. Before Krasy witches can die, they have to find somebody who will inherit the Krasy by consuming some of the old witch's spittle.

Phi Lok - A ghost which haunts various localities. It frightens and misleads people, and can be seen as well as felt.

Phi Phrai - The spirit of a woman who has died in childbirth and whose body has been used to make phi thai hong lotion. A sorcerer must hold a candle under the corpse's chin, and from the resultant melted oil essences are manufactured which drive men mad and attract women.

Phi Tai Ha - The spirit of a woman who has died of malaria. The ghost will also spread this disease.

Phi Thuk Khun - The substance of a living person which has to be sent out on astral journeys every week, or harm will come to its owner,

Phi Khamod - A spirit in the shape of a red star which, like a Will o' the Wisp, misleads wanderers.

Phi Nang Tani - A female tree spirit which is essentially beneficent and may fill the alms bowls of itinerant monks.

Phi Pa - A forest spirit. Hunters may leave a piece of the foot, lip, tongue or eyelid of a killed animal to show respect to this spirit.

Phi Poang Khang - A spirit in the shape of a black monkey which likes to suck the big toe of people sleeping in the jungle. It is said to live near salt licks.

Phi Ka - These spirits are inherited through women and can be contagious. The Ka, if not properly treated (with raw eggs) will attack and possibly possess people without the owner's knowledge. Perhaps understandably, ordinary people are said to be reluctant to marry into Ka clans!

Phi Hai - Hungry, amoral spirits associated with places where people have died an unnatural or violent death. Phi Hai are easily offended, and take every opportunity to possess people. Normally, they can be induced to leave their victim if suitable offerings are made, but on occasions an exorcist has to drive them out. In such cases, when incantations and lustral water prove insufficient, a whip may need to be employed.

Phi Pob - A malicious and very dangerous spirit which manifests itself as a beautiful woman. Phi Pob float through the air because they have no legs or lower body. They generally appear as a length of internal organs and intestines suspended from a strikingly lovely face - therefore, beware beautiful women gliding mysteriously by in long dresses! This type of ghost is probably more feared than any other species in Thailand.

[girlx]

I've been hypnotically regressed(on a TV show with Uri Geller)

er, Uri Geller humiliated himself on public TV and was shown to be a fake

[onzestan]

Once when walking around in Soi Yodsak I saw a guy I knew pretty well, coming out of one of the bars.

He was supposed to be on a business trip to Singapore. So when I asked him : "Frank what are YOU doing here",

he looked like he'd seen a ghost, so I guess I can look and sound like one.

cheers

onzestan

[jazzbo]

Sure -- every folklore has its ghosts. I grew up with Ichabod Crane and the Ghost of the Headless Horseman. But I would think that, regarding ghosts, someone who is capable of feeling "the presence of them" is well on the way to divining the existence of God themselves... and not overly concerned about what Lord Buddha says about it.

[sonnyJ]

I haven't ever seen one but I've felt them often. Being in Khao Lak after the tsunami you would have had to have been a robot to not feel them there, seriously. My husband had a phi am (incubus) experience of it sitting on his chest a few years ago.

edit, spelling

I felt one in khao lak as well. I'm not really sure what it was, but after sharing my experience with all the thais, they said it was a ghost for sure.

I was at Khao Lak as well after one week following the tsunami and never saw or felt any ghosts. All there were was hundreds of corpses and I was just taking them out of the bags or putting them back in the bags, putting them on selves to get frozen, then taking them out again and so on. Actually very Buddhist experience for me. Their ghosts didn't even thank me. I did have some unpleasant dreams for the next few months though.

Please don't call me a robot.

[Neeranam]

Did Lord Buddha Say Ghosts Don't Exist, Or (their existence) Just Wasn't Important?

Could start a whole new thread about that!

All Buddists I've met(including HH The Dalai Lama) have said that ghosts exist.

Now, I'm not sure who to believe - Bendix or HH

[Neeranam]

I've been hypnotically regressed(on a TV show with Uri Geller)

er, Uri Geller humiliated himself on public TV and was shown to be a fake

He was one of the most interesting people I've ever met.

I was shown that he definately has powers, or rather can use ones that other can't.

[jazzbo]

There already is such a topic... anyone with such an inclination as to the presence of ghosts is wasting their time in Thailand. From Wikipedia:

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) currently offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. Similar to the paranormal challenges of John Nevil Maskelyne and Houdini, in 1964, Randi put up $1,000 of his own money payable to the first person who could provide objective proof of the paranormal. Since then, the prize money has grown to the current $1,000,000, and has formal published rules. No one has progressed past the preliminary test which is set up with parameters agreed to by both Randi and the applicant. He also refuses to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the testing they intend to undergo.

BTW I have met HH several times as well going back to the early 70's... and so what?

[Neeranam]

There already is such a topic... anyone with such an inclination as to the presence of ghosts is wasting their time in Thailand. From Wikipedia:

The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) currently offers a prize of one million U.S. dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. Similar to the paranormal challenges of John Nevil Maskelyne and Houdini, in 1964, Randi put up $1,000 of his own money payable to the first person who could provide objective proof of the paranormal. Since then, the prize money has grown to the current $1,000,000, and has formal published rules. No one has progressed past the preliminary test which is set up with parameters agreed to by both Randi and the applicant. He also refuses to accept any challengers who might suffer serious injury or death as a result of the testing they intend to undergo.

BTW I have met HH several times as well going back to the early 70's... and so what?

Did you ask him about ghosts?

Proving someting is VERY different to whether it exists or not.

[sonnyJ]

Did Lord Buddha Say Ghosts Don't Exist, Or (their existence) Just Wasn't Important?

Could start a whole new thread about that!

All Buddists I've met(including HH The Dalai Lama) have said that ghosts exist.

Now, I'm not sure who to believe - Bendix or HH

I believe what the Sakkhyan Buddha said was don't go worship these Hindi deities or any deities but look for your self. Sleep at the cemeteries and so on... Take your robes from the corpses etc..

[jazzbo]

I most certainly did not ask HH about ghosts... I was invited by and in the company of scholars.

[camerata]

For those who wonder whether ghosts and other paranormal phenomena are real or not, I recommend Carl Sagan's excellent book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.

[jazzbo]

Yes, and I recommend --

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

[bendix]

Proving someting is VERY different to whether it exists or not.

True . . but if people are making bold assertions that such things exist, surely there has to be some burden of proof on you to back it up? And yet - for centuries - there has been none.

It's easy going around spouting any outrageous statement as being 'true'. It's a touch harder to verify it with empirical evidence.

I'll take my (lack of) scientific proof over your blind faith any day.

[thaihigh]

there are hundreds of ghosts all over pattaya,nana,patpong,etc.they are pale pasty fat bald and the butt ugliest men with bad teeth ever seen on earth.what the poor thai women $ee in them i$ beyond me.

[Dustoff]

What a fun thread!

But it may be time for me to unsubscribe as I actually have a real life outside of the voluminous email updates I get from these 'Ghosts posts'. Besides, other than Camerata's post listing local superstitions, I see little relevance to Thailand in all of this ribtickleness.

Just to clarify my own position, I have no wish to demean my own kind's belief in fantastical beings and in fact stand in total awe of mankind's limitless imagination.

Boo!

[meemiathai]

Please can someone send some ghosts to my place, preferably good looking female ghosts at night when I am horny by myself in bed? The wife is in thailand now.

[jazzbo]

Good point Kuhn Dustoff -- I mostly come to ThaiVisa for, and to maybe share, some practical information on life in Thailand... and it is sometimes interesting to explore the credibility of the mega-posters... I have been working on my computer since 5 AM this morning, and this gives me a little pause to relieve tedium and eye-strain... and my hopeful attempt to remain, as you put it, in the real world.

[AlexLah]

Sorry for you all non believers but here is a small clip that proofs ghost do exist.

Watch it, specially you Bendix..

http://jaspersweblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/...en-bestaan.html

Load (pause) it untill 100% and then play

[bendix]

Oh well, that's definitive proof there, isnt it?

Now I come to think of it, I've seen similar proof before in a movie called Ghostbusters. There were definitely ghosts in that.

I know realise I'm a firm believer.

[AlexLah]

Good Bendix,

Glad we sort that out.

You mean now right instead of know.....

Edited January 21, 2008 by AlexLah

[RueFang]

... i think when we are dead we're dead.

Try thinking that after you've had an out of body experience...absolutely impossible to continue thinking this way, as I once did.

[khunandy]

Try thinking that after you've had an out of body experience...absolutely impossible to continue thinking this way, as I once did.

I agree, no need to go into details but I had an "out of body" experience about 10 years ago that was indisputable in regard to the location I was witnessing from approximately 30 metres in the air and the people I was watching while floating. I knew the people and later that same day confirmed that is exactly what they were doing at that early hour of the morning.

All this while I was at home tucked in bed and the events were 10 kms away.

The feeling of "flying" to this location was absolutley amazing and I have had an open mind ever since.

My elderly parents were recently staying in a guest house in Chiang Khan on the Mekhong River and the poor old girl had three uncomfortable experiences during the night with floating "Gargoyle type faces" in the room. They scarpered the next day.

In regard to ghosts, Ive never seen one but suspect that the people who genuinely claim to have had experiences may have a mind that is more receptive to this sort of thing than those who are forever sceptical. My wife is a firm believer.

Khun Andy

[gburns57au]

Most of the experiences detailed are not relevent to Thailand....

But if you are a believer then there is no reason why they couldnt be seen in Thiland or anywhere else.

If you are a non believer, then you will find a "logical" explanation, no matter where you are.

The only explanations given to my Italian woman was....."you were dreaming"....I wasnt, I was wide awake. and "you were drunk"....I wasnt.....great scientific explanations to explain why what I saw was not what I thought.

I havent personally seen any in Thailand to this point in time....it doesnt mean they dont exist.

[burman]

I think the truly scientifically minded person will have to be undecided about ghosts until proof is found which may well happen as science improves. There have been too many reported ghost sightings in history to discount them totally because hard proof has not be found yet.