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  1. #1
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    Surin: Red shirts keep 'widow ghost' away after 10 men die

    'Widow ghost' terrifies village in northeastern Thailand | Bangkok Post: news

    Red shirts keep 'widow ghost' away

    SURIN – Fearful villagers in tambon Tha Sawang have hung red shirts in front of their homes to repel a "widow ghost" rumoured to have taken the lives of 10 apparently healthy men in the village since last month.

    People in the village told a reporter that 10 strong men have mysteriously died, some in their sleep and others just dropped dead while walking.

    Doctors said all of them died from respiratory failure.

    A spirit medium hired by the villagers said the "widow ghost", or pee mae mai, also known locally as the lai thai (sudden unexpected death syndrome) spirit, was responsible for their demise.

    The medium also told villagers to hang a red shirt outside their homes to repel the evil spirit and also warned that families with only one son have a higher chance of a visit from the ghost.

    The reporter said that the widow ghost rumour has spread to other districts, such as Chom Phra and Tha Tum.

    "The reason I hang a red shirt is not because of my political views, but it's because I am worried for my nephew's safety. I don't necessarily believe in the story but taking some precaution doesn't hurt," said a 61-year-old villager.

    The red-shirt group, more formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), is a political pressure group opposed to the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and those who support the military coup on Sept 19, 2006. Many of them are strong supporters of the Pheu Thai government.

    Another villager, 42, said, "Some of the men who died did not show any sign of sickness, they were perfectly fine. When I heard about the rumour, I respected people's beliefs and put a red shirt on my front door as well."


    Photos by Nopparat Kingkaew





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    "Slavery is the daughter of darkness; an ignorant people is the blind instrument of its own destruction; ambition and intrigue take advantage of the credulity and inexperience of men who have no political, economic or civil knowledge. They mistake pure illusion for reality, license for freedom, treason for patriotism, vengeance for justice."-Simón Bolívar

  2. #2
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    see the red shirts are guilty




    Tha Tum is on the road between Surin and Sangkha - about the extent to where thay are widening the road out of Sangkha

  3. #3
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    Shouldn't surprise.

    A wide assortment of "traditional' spirituality is quite observed and understood in Surin....

  4. #4
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    My wife and I were watching a Thai movie last December Where all the blokes in the Esarn villages were dressing up as women. I asked why this was happening and she said it was due to a ghost terrorising Esarn. Off course I burst out laughing thinking it was a great story line for a comedy. She didn't laugh and told me she could just about remember it in her Mum's village and that it was true! This was about about 20-25 years ago. I don't know the name of the movie but the missus said there are a lot of movies centered around this .

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    Oh and her Dad and Uncles were all dressed as women too.

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    ^ get your skirt on!
    Showed my wife this news item and she said straight away about men dressing as women to fool the ghost.


    Phii Mae Mai

    "Another ghost is referred to as the widow ghost. She supposedly searches for a husband and sometimes takes men while they are sleeping.

    When men die in their sleep it is sometimes attributed to this widow ghost taking them.

    To fool the ghost, men who have been scared by a suspicious death, may resort to disguising themselves as women."

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    There was a medical article a while back, somewhere, about the prevalence of the hereditary heart disease, ARVD. People who have the disease often don't have any symptoms until sudden death from irregualr heart rhythms. Bouts of heavy drinking increase the chances of death.

    The article mentioned ARVD is common in some villages of Thailand though the deaths are blamed on ghosts.

    Maybe New Years drinking and ARVD ganged up on those villagers.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by StrontiumDog
    The medium also told villagers to hang a red shirt outside their homes to repel the evil spirit and also warned that families with only one son have a higher chance of a visit from the ghost.
    And these people are allowed to vote.

  9. #9
    Have you got any cheese Thetyim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by baldrick
    Tha Tum is on the road between Surin and Sangkha - about the extent to where thay are widening the road out of Sangkha
    Police are searching for a ghost with a very large car

  10. #10
    euston has flown

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    ^^Unfortunately the powers that be have just jailed our primary CSI who could explain what happened, though ENT's available.

    However when 10 people in a single village die for no apparent reason over a month. this should be seen as suspicious and worthy of investigation. deliberate or accidental poisoning with pesticides, ARVD and I am sure there are a few others that are far more likely than some evil spirit.

    Its a bit of a shame than nobody in a position to care why and do something practical to find out why these people have so suddenly died will give a shit about a bunch of farmers in the middle of nowhere
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  11. #11
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ^ I find it unlikely that 10 people really died in one village over a months time. Could be just an exaggeration?

  12. #12
    euston has flown

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    I can go with that too, more likely than evil spirits.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by StrontiumDog View Post

    Doctors said all of them died from respiratory failure.
    Some sort of bird or swine flu ??

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    What a great story: it lays both malevolence and stupidity at the doors of the UDD. Unfortunately, the red shirts have absolutely nothing to do with the Red Shirts, as the link to the Daily News (which is itself distinctly yellow) makes very clear so the insertion of the guff about Peua Thai is utterly irrelevant. All round, a shit effort by the Bangkok Post.

  15. #15
    euston has flown

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    dan, you need to something about the paranoia, you will start seeing reds under the bed next and go all macarthy on us.

  16. #16
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    Paranoid about what? There is no connection between the red shirts which are used to scare off the ghosts and the Red Shirts. None whatsoever. Given that, why did the Bangkok Post feel the need to insert into this story a paragraph about PT and the UDD?

  17. #17
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    Time for the DSI to find a Democrat scapegoat and charge him with murder.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zooheekock View Post
    What a great story: it lays both malevolence and stupidity at the doors of the UDD. Unfortunately, the red shirts have absolutely nothing to do with the Red Shirts, as the link to the Daily News (which is itself distinctly yellow) makes very clear so the insertion of the guff about Peua Thai is utterly irrelevant. All round, a shit effort by the Bangkok Post.
    Would you not expect the commercial media to cast a potical associated twist on this story? One that has no political relevance.

  20. #20
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    well sets see dan, why is the story denigrating to PT, UDD or the redshirts. I don't know a single thai who does not believe in these ghost stories, spirits and all the other stuff. I do not know one who does not have talismans in their homes, cars and most have one hanging round their necks. Most are somewhat surprised that I don't believe in something that they see as being a natural obvious part of the world

    talismans always have a cultural context and when looking for a talisman to scare a ghost in that part of the world, given what the udd have achieved a red shirt talisman makes a great deal of sense. How does this denigrate the UDD, is anything it demonstrates just how deeply engrained faith in the movements power is in that part of the world.

    As for why its news worthy. I think 10 people ding under mysterious circumstances and people hanging talismans to keep their families safe would be seen as news worthy in many parts of the world

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    Member KevyChase's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rural Surin View Post
    Shouldn't surprise.

    A wide assortment of "traditional' spirituality is quite observed and understood in Surin....
    You guys are like the hipsters of Isan. That's why you stay there ?

  22. #22
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    ^ you have made the classic mistake

    reading a RS post

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    Days Work Done! Norton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by misskit
    Maybe New Years drinking and ARVD ganged up on those villagers.
    Could be.

    Quote Originally Posted by StrontiumDog
    Doctors said all of them died from respiratory failure.
    Bad mushrooms should not be ruled out.

  24. #24
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    why is the story denigrating to PT, UDD or the redshirts
    Why did the Bangkok Post introduce PT and the UDD into the story? Other than an accident of language, there is zero connection so what is that paragraph doing there?

    As for many Thais believing in ghosts and spirits, many do (not all - I know some who don't) but so what? We can all respond to this kind of button-pushing without realising that we're guilty of exactly the faults we see in others. There's no mystery in that - these types of stories don't provoke a reasoned, rational reflection. It's a burst of emotion and then onto the next story. And the readership of The Bangkok Post are not that likely to believe massively in this kind of stuff - their craziness (the Thai readers, not the foreign ones, who have their own craziness) will be W. Vajiramedhi's flying meditation or something like that.

    As for why its news worthy. I think 10 people ding under mysterious circumstances and people hanging talismans to keep their families safe would be seen as news worthy in many parts of the world
    Of course it is. And the hanging of red shirts to ward off ghosts is interesting but that's not what I made a post about. It's the linking of the story to UDD and PT which is shitty third-rate journalism. The Daily News hasn't done that. Sanook hasn't done that. Matichon hasn't done that. Even fucking Manager hasn't done that so why does the Bangkok Post feel the need to?

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    Quote Originally Posted by KevyChase View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Rural Surin View Post
    Shouldn't surprise.

    A wide assortment of "traditional' spirituality is quite observed and understood in Surin....
    You guys are like the hipsters of Isan. That's why you stay there ?
    Yes.....hipsters.

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