Published in Washington, D.C.
January 22, 2005
Tsunami 'ghosts' spook superstitious Thais
By Richard S. Ehrlich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
In superstitious
Thailand, many think ghosts are
wandering tsunami-hit
beaches, spooking taxi drivers,
making the Andaman Sea
hungry for more victims and
jinxing the recovery for
devastated resorts.
Fish sellers and seafood
restaurants are experiencing a
severe downturn in business
along the west coast because
many Thais fear that sea
creatures are eating human
corpses washed out to sea.
"Foreign tourists will come
back to Khao Lak, but many
Thais and Chinese will not want
to go there because so many
people died, and so many
ghosts are there," said
Somchai, a cabdriver, as he
drove along Phuket's sleek,
undamaged highways.
"Thai and Chinese investors,
maybe they will not want to buy
property or help rebuild those
resorts, because those places
are bad luck," he said.
Most of Thailand's estimated
5,300 dead perished at Khao
Lak, and many still have not
been identified.
About half of the total deaths
were thought to be foreign
tourists staying at the swank
resorts in Phang Nga province,
just north of Phuket island.
The others were Thais who
lived and worked along the
stretch of tropical beach.
Thais and foreigners,
however, are promoting ghost
stories by retelling rumors and
hearsay.
"Did you hear the one about
the taxi driver who picked up
passengers who turned out to
be ghosts?"
That question Ñ
spread through conversations,
e-mail and the Thai media Ñ has
become an urban legend in
Thailand.
Most versions of the tale
describe an unidentified Thai
cabdriver who picks up a
"foreign tourist" and his Thai
girlfriend for a taxi ride to
Phuket's airport or elsewhere.
When the taxi arrives at the
destination, the driver turns
around and freaks out upon
seeing an empty back seat.
A Thai volunteer unloading
corpses recovered from the
tsunami became rattled when
he placed dry ice on a dead
baby to keep the cadaver cool
in the tropical heat, and the tiny
body suddenly made a moaning
sound.
"I'm sorry!" the volunteer
exclaimed, nervously asking the dead baby for
forgiveness.
"We finally calmed him down and explained
that it was common for gases, when exiting
corpses, to strike the vocal cords," wrote a
Belgian doctor, Yves Wana, in a published
description of his work at the morgue in Wat Yarn
Yao, a Buddhist temple in Phang Nga province.
Throughout Thailand, most perceived hauntings
and poltergeist events are thought to be caused
by people who had "violent deaths," which poses
a big problem for superstitious Thais pondering
the horror and brutality of the tsunami.
"If the ghost has no family here, maybe they
won't come back," said Pawn, a shopkeeper.
She
was not too worried about ghosts from the
tsunami, though she "heard" ghosts several years
ago after one of her relatives died.
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Website and more Asia news by Richard S. Ehrlich at http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent/news.html