Possessed in Thailand
I was with a friend walking through Central Festival mall in Phuket today when we walked past a woman who was sat down rocking back and forth, shaking her head violently. She was being attended to by another woman who was holding an apple. I thought nothing of it and kept on walking, but my friend stopped.
I asked my friend why she was staring at the woman and she told me that the woman was possessed. I was taken aback by this. I had no idea that this was a common thing, but there are people who have the ability to let spirits “enter†them, sometimes at will, sometimes not. Quite a crowd had gathered around this woman, who had apparently been invaded by an unwelcome intruder.
I wanted to take a picture but would have felt a bit intrusive snapping away while this woman had some sort of encounter with a spirit from another dimension. Five minutes later we walked past the woman again, but this time she had calmed down and the spirit had gone. My friend said that there will be plenty of people like this around during next month’s vegetarian festival.
The Phuket vegetarian festival will take place October 11 to 19 and I’m really looking forward to it. It will be the first time I’ve seen this incredible spectacle, which involves not only people possessed by spirits, but some downright gruesome mutilation such as bloody piercings and slashings while spirits protect from pain. I’ll certainly get some good pictures of the festival. If you have any days free then I think a trip to Phuket during the vegetarian festival is a must at least once in a lifetime. I’m incredibly squeamish at the best of times, but I want to see it with my own eyes.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival pictures.
Techno' tags: Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian festival
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I'm going to miss the vegetarian festival. As a veggie myself I was a huge fan of this rare annual treat.
Never met anyone possessed but I once met an Indian doctor in Bangkok who was over from India for an international conference on witchcraft, no quite the Harry Potter variety. Apparently the practice of "witchcraft" and "witch doctors" is very much on the rise in parts of Asia.
September 24th, 2007 at 4:48 am
hey matt, photos are great – but, can you get some video? Even from your phone would be awesome stuff. Wait, you're in Phuket, yes? I think I'll head over for the Vegetarian festival I can't miss that kind of craziness…! – Vern
September 24th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Thai are very superstitious and believe in all kind of animists concepts (You saw the trees with yellow fabric rolled around them? Spirit living here!)
If you want to know a bit more watch the movie Mekong Full Moon Party (http://tinyurl.com/2c7gbe)
You can find it in any video shop and it is a funny one too (The grand mother has remedies for all kind of diseases)
I remember taking my Thai friends to the restaurant in the crypt of St Martin's in the field in London. For those who do not know about it, the restaurant floor is covered in tombstones and therefore with dead people below. My friends refused to walk in and we had to go somewhere else because she could not walk on dead people.
~R
September 24th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Do you ever watch the Thai news? They have a case of human possession at least once a month or bi-monthly. Often it's monks, but it's really, really common. About 6 months ago there was a school that had heaps of kids suffering possession at assembly at the same time..very freaky! Was on the news for a couple of days.
September 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I am of the sceptical kind and don't really believe in ghosts and spirits. I have read about the mutilations etc and I am in Thailand around that period… but I'm not sure I am into that.
September 24th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Hey, do you have any news of the Burma protests aside from the major network spiel? Wish I was there atm.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Come on, you've got an occasion to fuel a spicy controversy here! Let's speak the truth: this 'possessed woman' is just a crazy soul…
September 24th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Interesting blog and thanks fro stopping at mine. Your comment was very amusing.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Possessions, voodoos, black magic and all those stuff are somehow always portrayed in thai horror movies that is also why many Singaporeans still think that Thailand is 'dirty' (spiritually). Please take a video next time if you can!