Home > Ghost of Mae Nak Phra Khanong in Bangkok's haunted temple - Unexplained Mysteries
Ghost of Mae Nak Phra Khanong in Bangkok's haunted temple - Unexplained Mysteries
See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Nak_Phra_Khanong
Mae Nak Phra Khanong ('Lady Nak of Phra Khanong'), or simply Mae Nak ('Lady Nak'), is a well-known and popular Thai ghost. Local folklore insists the story is based on actual events that took place during the early 19th century. It is a ghost story that has been told and retold for several decades. At that time, the district was still undeveloped similar to the present-day rural Thailand. Legend has it that the events are real, and took place somewhere between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. This legend speaks of a pregnant woman named Nak who was deeply in love with her husband Mak. He was sent away to war, and while away she and their child died during labour. This of course is where the themes of the offerings come from. Upon returning home, however, Mak found his wife and child alive and well. They lived together for some time, before he eventually realized that the rumours he had heard were true, and that he was in fact living with ghosts. He fled and took refuge in a temple, which is off limits to the super natural. Enraged, Nak haunted the region of Phra Khanong, until eventually being captured by an exorcist, her spirit put in a bottle and tossed into the river.
There was a young couple , the husband was named Mak while the wife was named Mae Nak. One day when Mak was notified for military conscription and he would have to be trained in the capital for one year. So he had to leave his two-month pregnant wife behind with tears and fear. Mak then bade farewell to his weeping wife and told her to take good care of the unborn child. Since that day, Mae Nak waited for the return of her husband until several months had passed without any sign of his return.
At the time of the delivery of her child, Mae Nak Phra Khanong suffered acute pain and eventually died during laboring along with her unborn child. In Thai we call this type of death as “ dtai tang klom“ which means to die during pregnancy and her ghost will usually be fierce. Mak was not informed of the death of his dear wife.
With strong attachment to her husband, the ghost of Mae Nak refused to go anywhere. She waited for the return of her husband at her own home. Soon after her death, at night anyone walked past her house would either hear the lullabies sung by naâk from a long distance or see her ghost holding a baby in her arms. In the temple itself, no one had the courage to go near her grave. The macabre horror terrified the people around there especially when dogs howled in chorus. Some people who ventured to challenge her spirit and met her face-to-face were said to be suffering from a high fever and falling hairs. The news of her fierce spirit spread like wildfire. People were scared of her ghost so much so that her name made their hair stand up straight.
Once there was an exorcist who wanted náam man prai (an oil extracted from the chin of human corpse) to be used as a love potion as he thought that if he could get it from a dead pregnant woman, his love potion would become more potent. So he made a ceremony and recited his magic spell to make her corpse sit up so that he could use the candle to heat her chin. Unfortunately, his magic spell was too weak to overpower the spirit of naâk, so he desperately ran for his own life otherwise he would surely be strangled dead on the spot.
Since that day, the villagers had to live in fear and horror. The disturbance of her spirit was equally make her a fiercer ghost.
Then came the day when mâak was discharged from military service. The delighted young man hurried to go home to meet his dear wife and a child. At sunset, he reached home and met his wife and a child waiting for him. He was very pleased to be able to reunite with them and hugged both of them. His wife already prepared dinner for him. mâak was now the most happy man on earth as he could now live with his family. He lived with them for a few days without seeing anything unusual. He only wondered that why his wife rarely went outside and did not let him accompany her while going out.
Despite her effort to blind her husband from reality, she could not prevent him from knowing the truth of her death. So when mâak had some work to do in the village, he met many of his friends who came to greet him
Suddenly, one of his friends expressed to the loss of his wife and a child. mâak was deeply puzzled to hear it and insisted that he still lived with his wife and a child happily. His friend tried to convince him that everybody in the village knew about this and he himself helped bury her body with his own hands. Tired of convincing mâak , his friend finally suggested that in order to prove it mâak should believe in the old sayings stating that by nature a ghost would not smile and blink the eyes. Above all, the ghost had no image to reflect in the mirror. A friend suggested him to follow his advice and.
On the way home, mâak thought of the words of his friend all the time and it seemed unconvincing as he lived with her all the time and he could touch her body as well but, at the same time , there was no reason for a friend to deceive him either. To find out the truth, he would observe the movement of his wife from now on.
At home, his wife was busy preparing food in the kitchen. He told her a joke and tried to make her laugh, but his wife did not share the mood with him. He thus peeped at her eyes and was surprised to see that his wife did not blink her eyes at all. Now he began to have some doubt on the status of his wife but again consoled himself as it was just a coincidence. To make further proof, he looked for a mirror but could not find a single one in the house.
While stepping into the kitchen again, he saw Nark pounding náam prík (a sauce of shrimp paste and chili eaten with vegetables and fish) and unexpectedly the lime used as ingredient fell to the ground. naâk suddenly stretched her arm through the floorboard of their elevated wooden house to pick up the fallen fruit on the ground. mâak was stunned to see the shocking scene which turned him mad. The frightening husband could not imagine as to how he could spend his love life with a wife who now turned to be a ghost.
Late at night, mâak was still haunted by the horror scene in the evening. He stayed awake thinking of how to escape from his ghost wife. Nark herself noticed the strange behavior of her husband and suspected that he probably knew about her death and was prepared to escape from her. So she did not allow him to stay out of her sight. To be able to escape from his ghost wife, mâak pretended to go to urinate outside the house but naâk wanted to accompany him.
To convince his suspicious wife, mâak told her to tie his waist with a string that would enable her to detect his movement. Immediately after his wife agreed with the idea, mâak walked straight to the water jar downstairs and released the water from the hole which he had punctured during the daytime. The falling water made noise similar to that of his falling urine. mâak then untied the string from his waist and tied it with the water jar and ran away from home quickly.
After the long disappearance of her husband, naâk became suspicious of him so she pulled the string that was still tight and called his name. When there was no answer from him, she went out to meet him only to find that her husband had already disappeared. The sad and furious ghost hurried to follow her husband who now took refuse in the consecrated assembly hall amidst the Buddhist monks who were chanting. Since it was the holy place, the ghost or any evil spirits could not enter the area. naâk just sat crying for mâak and promised that she would not harm anyone if he agreed to come out and lived with her. mâak refused the plea and urged her to leave him alone as they were now living in a separate world. He would make merit for her spirit so that she would be reborn again and not to worry about him.
Unable to persuade her husband to come along, naâk then transformed herself into an ugly ghost with a tall body and threatened to strangle to death whoever posted an obstacle to her love life. To calm down her spirit, the abbot then told mâak to accept the truth as she was dead and could no longer live in the human world. She should abandon defilement as death was natural occurrence to all beings on earth.
The furious ghost then told the abbot not to interfere in her personal affairs and warned him to be involved only with his religious duties. Since mâak did not want the monks to be troubled because of him, he ran away from the consecrated assembly hall and sought protection in a bush of the camphor-plant which is said to be inaccessible to a ghost. Unable to approach her husband, Nark could only cry for him and waited for him to come out till daybreak.
Since then every night a ghost of mâe naâk would terrorize the villagers so much so that they had to live in horror. No one could suppress her spirit even the capable exorcise had to run for his life. Sometime later there was a Buddhist monk Somdej Phra Puttajarn from Thonburi who volunteered to put her tormented soul to rest. Whatever may be, her spirit now lives in peace, people from near and far come to seek spiritual help from her and urged her spirit to help in time of need.
The Shrine of Mae Nak
The shrine of Mae Nak stands next to Klong Phra Khanong, at Wat Mahabut, a large temple down Soi 77 off of Sukhumvit Road. To get there to take the Sukhumvit line of the BTS Skytrain to On Nut, then walk back to On Nut Road Soi 77), on the north side of Sukhumwit.
About 1 km down On Nut, there is a small lane known as Soi 7. Wat Mahabut and the Mae Nak shrine are at the end of Soi 7. You can also reach the temple by boat on Klong Pra Khanong. The shrine is a low building under large trees with a roof that encompasses the tree trunks. The main shrine has several minor shrines around it.
Offerings
A statue of Mae Nak and her infant form the centerpiece of the shrine. Devotees often make offerings, accompanied by a request for help, generally by women seeking an easy childbirth or for their husband to be exempt from military conscription. These are usually lengths of colored cloth, wrapped around the trunk of the Bo tree. Other offerings include fruit, lotuses, and incense sticks left in different locations.
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Toys for her child and portraits of the ghost are displayed in the shrine's inner sanctum. A collection of fine dresses offered to her are displayed behind her statue. Offerings are also made at Phra Khanong canal, where fish purchased live at markets are brought in buckets to the edge of the canal and freed. Stalls at the shrine sell toys, fish, lotus buds, incense sticks and garlands for those who wish to make an offering.
