Ghosts ?

[Vinny1967]

Hope someone here can shine some light on this.

When we were living back in Europe,my girlfriend once said to me that thais were afraid of ghosts etc.I didn't think anything of it at the time,but since we've moved to Thailand this whole ghost thing has become a bit of a nightmare (pardon the pun).

Living in Europe,it didn't seem to bother her,but here in Thailand it's ridiculous.She wants lights on all the time,and if I turn the lights out she rambles on about the dead coming into the house.Is she winding me up or do thai people genuinely fear all things spooky ?

[cardholder]

Have a friend who has lived in the UK for 25 years with his Thai wife.

In England she does not believe in ghosts, but when she makes her annual visit to Thailand she then does believe in all the claptrap about "Pee's".

[Neeranam]

Thai people have a higher degree of awareness than most foreigners.

I've seen a ghost but they don't scare me anymore. How can a non-physical being hurt one?

[cardholder]

Thai people have a higher degree of awareness than most foreigners.

I've seen a ghost but they don't scare me anymore. How can a non-physical being hurt one?

You clearly don't drive a car in Thailand............

Edited March 29, 2013 by metisdead
: 30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[Neeranam]

Thai people have a higher degree of awareness than most foreigners.

I've seen a ghost but they don't scare me anymore. How can a non-physical being hurt one?

You clearly don't drive a car in Thailand............

Awareness of the spiritual dimension I mean! A more evolved 6th sense. Actually, a less polluted 6th sense.

[Amusements]

Tell her to get a monk round. They are used to dealing with house spirits, and will bless the house and tell her what to do.

[uptheos]

Ghosts don't have the ability to cross continents, so she's safe in Europe but watch out for Olde European spooks, many of which appear to have made the journey to Thailand.

[FunFon]

Yes this is very real for those that believe, which seems to be most Thais, even educated wealthy ones - they just know enough about our opinions to pretend they're more sophisticated than that, but they still believe.

Absolutely no point in trying to convince them otherwise, they'll just agree with you superficially and still suffer inside.

I just tell them I protect myself by choosing not to believe, let them get on with whatever they think will protect them and try not to let my disdain show.

Keep in mind such beliefs can have major life-changing consequences, e.g. most girls won't want to get an abortion due to the murdered baby's spirit haunting her the rest of her life. Seems worse than rural Ireland or Bible-belt USA that way to me. . .

I'll take the opportunity to plug the free vasectomy service at the clinic supported by Cabbages and Condom, both the procedure, very professionally done and the follow-up visits 100% free including for farang. And other "family planning" services available there as well, reasonably priced and much safer than the back-alley jobs, major kudos to K Mechai "Mr Condom" and his organisations for bringing rationality to Thailand in this area.

[candypants]

just a brief sampler of some of the ghosts you are up against:

Edited March 19, 2013 by candypants

[Neeranam]

Yes this is very real for those that believe, which seems to be most Thais, even educated wealthy ones - they just know enough about our opinions to pretend they're more sophisticated than that, but they still believe.

Absolutely no point in trying to convince them otherwise, they'll just agree with you superficially and still suffer inside.

I just tell them I protect myself by choosing not to believe, let them get on with whatever they think will protect them and try not to let my disdain show.

Keep in mind such beliefs can have major life-changing consequences, e.g. most girls won't want to get an abortion due to the murdered baby's spirit haunting her the rest of her life. Seems worse than rural Ireland or Bible-belt USA that way to me. . .

.

Rather arrogant to think that your non-belief is correct and all those who believe are wrong.

Education and money are not criteria for belief.

Stephen Hawking said that ghosts exist.

Albert Einstein's theories prove the exustence of ghosts.

[partington]

Yes this is very real for those that believe, which seems to be most Thais, even educated wealthy ones - they just know enough about our opinions to pretend they're more sophisticated than that, but they still believe.

Absolutely no point in trying to convince them otherwise, they'll just agree with you superficially and still suffer inside.

I just tell them I protect myself by choosing not to believe, let them get on with whatever they think will protect them and try not to let my disdain show.

Keep in mind such beliefs can have major life-changing consequences, e.g. most girls won't want to get an abortion due to the murdered baby's spirit haunting her the rest of her life. Seems worse than rural Ireland or Bible-belt USA that way to me. . .

.

Rather arrogant to think that your non-belief is correct and all those who believe are wrong.

Education and money are not criteria for belief.

Stephen Hawking said that ghosts exist.

Albert Einstein's theories prove the exustence of ghosts.

Guardian writer Ian Sample asked Hawking if he feared death in a story published yesterday. This was his response:

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven

"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose

purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human

frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble

souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."

~Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955 http://www.sfheart.com/einstein.html

Edited March 19, 2013 by partington

[hookedondhamma]

I think that the mind is a powerful thing. Not saying ghosts aren't real, but when I see my friends joking around about the 'pi dum' in front of their little sister, she probably will one day see that ghost.

[Beetlejuice]

Remember, it`s only the living that can hurt you, not the dead.

It`s all in the mind. People who want to see ghosts will see them.

I once went to see a fortune teller and she started laughing at me so I hit her. Well you have to strike a happy medium

[aussiebebe]

Yes, Thais believe in ghosts; my wife is Thai and had our condo blessed by a monk; stones with gold-leaf were placed in each corner and high up in the corner of the living room there is a small shelf with flowers, a glass of water and a small statue of some guy with a pointy hat. She leaves the bathroom light on at night, any random noise is attributed to ghosts; I whistle when I'm happy, but that 'calls the ghosts' and the headliner of the car is ruined from where a monk blessed that too.
I try to sympathise by considering all the things that scare me but not her; I find the little statue guy freaky when I used the bathroom at night and when I visit her parents, the elderly neighbours with toothless, shrunken mouths cause me sleepless nights. The thought of eating chicken feet or insects is similarly scary.
To put things in perspective, ghosts are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thais and superstitions - at least they don't exist. Far more troubling is how Thais will see a car crash on the news and play the number of fatalities as their next lottery numbers....

[FunFon]

Rather arrogant to think that your non-belief is correct and all those who believe are wrong.

Education and money are not criteria for belief.

I believe that there are many many phenomena not (yet) explained by that system of thought we call modern science that have traditionally been explained by ideas like "soul" "ghost" "spirit" "heaven" "hell" "God" or "gods", "miracles", "ESP", telekinesis etc.

I have no idea which if any of those traditional explanations based on various religions are accurate, but I suspect few of them are.

I think the human mind is capable of creating many phenomena that would not exist independently of its activities, especially when many minds in a given area strongly believe in the same shared belief system, and that these manifestations are just as "real" as most things that are reliably measured by modern science.

So in a way you could say I do believe in many things that skeptics would scoff at as supernatural and paranormal.

I just don't buy into what I feel must be simplistic explanations for those things.

At this stage in our evolution I feel we are as bacteria, microbes swimming around reproducing at some little back corner of a huge ocean somewhere, kidding ourselves that we can see the big picture.

[Vinny1967]

Yes, Thais believe in ghosts; my wife is Thai and had our condo blessed by a monk; stones with gold-leaf were placed in each corner and high up in the corner of the living room there is a small shelf with flowers, a glass of water and a small statue of some guy with a pointy hat. She leaves the bathroom light on at night, any random noise is attributed to ghosts; I whistle when I'm happy, but that 'calls the ghosts' and the headliner of the car is ruined from where a monk blessed that too.

I try to sympathise by considering all the things that scare me but not her; I find the little statue guy freaky when I used the bathroom at night and when I visit her parents, the elderly neighbours with toothless, shrunken mouths cause me sleepless nights. The thought of eating chicken feet or insects is similarly scary.

To put things in perspective, ghosts are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thais and superstitions - at least they don't exist. Far more troubling is how Thais will see a car crash on the news and play the number of fatalities as their next lottery numbers....

This is the type of carry-on I'm talking about.Was no problem back in Europe,but since moving here it's all escalated.Are the thais talking about this stuff all the time ?.Just seems strange that it's only had an effect on her since moving here.

[dean999]

How to scare a Thai in one easy step. Open the door to the house, when it's dark outside and whistle as if calling a dog. They believe it calls ghosts into the house. The look of fear on my wife's face was priceless.

[Morakot]

How to scare a Thai in one easy step. Open the door to the house, when it's dark outside and whistle as if calling a dog. They believe it calls ghosts into the house. The look of fear on my wife's face was priceless.

Be careful! You might get more than you wished for when doing this.

[Morakot]

Is she winding me up or do thai people genuinely fear all things spooky ?

No it's usually not a wind-up.

The best way to deal with this, is like you would deal with leprechauns. Since supposedly you can handle them quite well, let you GF know that you have advanced skills in dealing with magical creatures, including the one's from the netherworld like a banshee Saves the effort of getting an exorcist or the likes.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Morakot

[jvs]

I happen to live very close to a mountain where ghosts are living according to Thai people,During the day time people will come visit but after dark no one ever shows up.

I use this to screen the people by telling them if they are good people they have nothing to fear but if the are bad they better leave before dark.

My gf does not believe in ghosts anymore so she says but if i am ever out alone at night and i come home all of the lights are on and

she is playing music so she can not hear anything.

She is always very happy when i come home.

[cardholder]

Tell her to get a monk round. They are used to dealing with house spirits, and will bless the house and tell her what to do.

.... for a few Baht.

[BB1955]

When my wife lived in the US she had to park at the edge of a grave yard when she went to work at night . Never said a word about it . Now if I even slow down near a cremation site she freaks out says ghost are there . I think its funny but heck who knows .. I also had a Thai teacher very well educated told us all in class one day about seeing a funeral procession coming up canal road late at night . She said that the ladys eyes in the picture moved and watched her as she past . My only thought were yup late at night yup coming home from the bar maybe you might see about anything . But she swore she was sober and swore it was true . So again who knows ......

[BB1955]

Have to add this . We had a murder suicide in our moo baan a few months back . At the time we were looking for a house to buy . I told my wife hey no problem now . We will wait until about midnight tonight put on white sheets and walk down the Soi where it happened and go woooooooooo..... Come back in the morning and pick out which house we want becasue they ll all be forsale !!!!! Truth being it only took about a month and the majority of the houses on that Soi are up for sale now or vacant .....

[rattler]

Thai people have a higher degree of awareness than most foreigners.

I've seen a ghost but they don't scare me anymore. How can a non-physical being hurt one?

You couldnt make it up could you???

[rattler]

Thai people have a higher degree of awareness than most foreigners.

I've seen a ghost but they don't scare me anymore. How can a non-physical being hurt one?

You clearly don't drive a car in Thailand............

Awareness of the spiritual dimension I mean! A more evolved 6th sense. Actually, a less polluted 6th sense.

Just call it brainwashing and be done with it, its much easier.

[rattler]

I happen to live very close to a mountain where ghosts are living according to Thai people,During the day time people will come visit but after dark no one ever shows up.

I use this to screen the people by telling them if they are good people they have nothing to fear but if the are bad they better leave before dark.

My gf does not believe in ghosts anymore so she says but if i am ever out alone at night and i come home all of the lights are on and

she is playing music so she can not hear anything.

She is always very happy when i come home.

I got similar drivel off a worker on my land building a house. I had to fly out of Thailand to my home country and asked him if he would take care of the house whilst I was away, ie stay there

Cannot he said " something big" lives on your land.

he then walked back to his tin hut, safe in the knowledge he wouldnt get a problem with the "big monster"

Anywa good for me if the locals believe this codswallop it will keep them away at night, meanwhile I live in terrible fear of what the " big thing" will do to me

Dark ages or what!!

[wellred]

Is there a Most Haunted or something similar in Thailand? Gap in the market possibly.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[Scully]

In any old city in England they use a ghost as advertising, go to some where like York and the pubs and hotels make sure you know about the old lady that wonders the corridors in her white gown.

Try that in Thailand and it would be business suicide.

[FunFon]

Vinny1967, on 19 Mar 2013 - 20:30, said:

This is the type of carry-on I'm talking about.Was no problem back in Europe,but since moving here it's all escalated.Are the thais talking about this stuff all the time ?.Just seems strange that it's only had an effect on her since moving here.

-

Looking back I see this is the main thrust of the OP's question.

It was very well answered here, but perhaps others thought uptheos was just taking the piss?

uptheos, on 19 Mar 2013 - 14:37, said:

Ghosts don't have the ability to cross continents, so she's safe in Europe

-

This is the real answer. Thai "ghosts" - being much more physically imagined than our ectoplasmic floating figments - are recognized as not existing overseas, they stay in Thailand.

Since the farang collective unconscious isn't as active in this area, and in fact our version of such manifestations is usually suppressed by active skepticism, Thais overseas don't experience much if any such phenomena there.

But of course the local ones back here don't go away in the meantime, so when they come back things go back to normal and the spirit world dominates their consciousness again.

Neil Gaiman's "American Gods", besides being an excellent read, has a great explanation of this phenomenon, as well as some great stories as to what happens to the poor things when they do try to travel - highly recommended read!

[Vinny1967]

So basically what thai people believe is that ghosts and their like only exist in Thailand ? ,or are the ghosts in Thailand dangerous and the rest of the world not ?.I tried asking me other half about this and she wouldn't even give me an answer.Refused to talk about anything related to the dead.