Well, when a country's elected representatives pay heed to such nonsense, it's hardly surprising that such superstitious beliefs are to be found throughout the country.

"Mr. Lorm Yawangphol, who identified himself as an experienced villager necromancer"

Sounds like an interesting career choice. Does anyone know if it is reserved occupation for Thais, or can I get an ED visa to do the course and improve my future in Thailand?

They are doing it wrong.....

Should not take the leader out of that red shirt beforehand.... Stuffed red shirt has much more power, at least it's what they claim...

And at least they will useful for something.

and how old were these people that died?

you must love thais and their superstition...

wisdom does not come with age, that is called dementia

In a normal country this would be an April Fools joke...

Yes, because other counties don't believe in religion, ghosts or luck and all those people who go to church and temple weekly to prey to the man in the sky controlling all things on earth are not doing so to be rewarded or viewed after death by an angel guarding the gates to place of eternal bliss but rather doing this all as part of an elaborate April Fool prank. Same of course goes for those places like Area 51, Amytiville, Loch Ness, Burmuda Triangle, numerous places where Bigfoot lives and crop circles appear and cattle are mutilated by aliens. But of course the unnamed and non-interviewed claims of the people in this story reflect stupidity unseen anywhere else in the world.

The Martian chap who lives with his Thai wife next door to us is always saying that getting his visa renewal at Immigration is a breeze.

Every time I go to immigration there is nobody at the alien desk ... so, I guess there is no wait for his kind.

Superstition has nothing to do with Buddhism, it exists all over the world, even in well developed countries. "Don't walk under a ladder", "A black cat crossing left of you brings bad luck". People throwing money in a fountain or a well, for good luck. It's everywhere, spirits are part of many cultures, let them have it, respect it.

In this case the problem is that not only the old temple was demolished, but a new temple has not been built, not even started if I understand well. That is of course totally wrong but typical Thai. Bring the old building down and oops, we have no money to build a new one...

To be more logical: the people that died (more than the usual number) were the vast believers of those bad spirits and maybe even some of them were the instigators of demolishing the old temple.... som nam na. Believing that you are haunted and doomed makes your life shorter