BANGKOK — On the occasion of Halloween, AP News reported a collection of ghost stories from around the world to welcome the spooky season.
Stories of spiritual entities, paranormal activity and creepy cryptids are passed through generations the world over, becoming local legends that only sometimes reach across borders and cultures.
For example, China has the story of the corpse walkers, Mongolia has the death worm beneath the vast dunes of the Gobi Desert, while Britain has a storied oak staircase at The Talbot Hotel in Oundle with royal connections.
For Thailand, the most famous ghost is Mae Nak, or the Lady Nak of Phra Khanong. The tragic love story of Mae Nak, who was separated from her loved one due to her death during childbirth, has been adapted into many versions of films and dramas since 1936, with the latest being a 2024 drama version currently airing on Channel 3.
AP News reporter Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok reported the story of Lady Nak of Phra Khanong:
The young and pregnant Nak was waiting for her husband, Mak, to return from war at their home on the banks of the Phra Khanong canal. Nak and her baby died during childbirth, but when Mak came home, he found them waiting for him. With his unwavering love, Mak rejected warnings that Nak was a ghost until he saw her stretching her arm from the upper-floor porch to the ground to pick up a lime. He fled, and Nak, in grief and fury, began terrorizing the town.
In one variation of the story’s ending, Nak was stopped either by a shaman who captured her in a clay jar, or a powerful Buddhist monk who performed a rite to rest her spirit in peace.
The story has been reinterpreted into dozens of movies, with the critically acclaimed 1999 version becoming the first Thai movie to gross over 100 million baht — about $2.7 million at the time.
The shrine dedicated to Nak at Wat Mahabut, the temple where her body is believed to be buried, is famous for worshippers seeing their prayers about love and children being answered.
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