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| A scene from 2012 Thai horror film ‘Mekong Hotel’ depicting a phi pob. |
Royal Thai Police in northeastern Thailand were dispatched this week to try and calm down residents of a village who claim a vengeful form of a female ghost known as a phi pob has been wreaking havoc on poor mortals in the area. Villagers claimed the evil spirit is responsible for the recent deaths of four cows as well as causing four police trainees to fall seriously ill.
Adul Chaiprasithikul, head of Pathum Ratchawongsa Police Station, told Thai news outlet Khaosod English that widespread belief in such spirits is causing panic among the villagers:
The residents are frightened. The letter requests police to conduct regular patrols … they want some reassurance. The people who believe in the rumor are genuinely scared. There are more people who believe in it than those who don’t.
In order to calm the spooked residents, Thai police have increased their visible presence in the villages where the evil spirit is believed to be wreaking its ghostly havoc. No word yet on how police have the ability to fight off ghosts, but hopefully residents are at least feeling a little calmer. I guess the Ghostbusters haven’t made it to Thailand yet – although if they caught the recent reboot over there, I can’t blame them for calling the police instead.
This particular type of ghost is believed to manifest in the form of a human female and devour human entrails while their owners are sleeping. Belief in such ghosts is still somewhat widespread among Thai culture, with odd behavior, sudden illnesses, and deaths often blamed on vengeful spirits. Thai culture is infused with ghost stories, and many houses throughout Thailand still display a “spirit house” on their lawns, meant to be a home for spirits that would otherwise occupy human dwellings. Many Thais regularly leave offerings outside of these spirit houses in order to appease these spirits into leaving them alone.
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