If you read my last post, you know I spent last week building a road in the jungle. What I didn't put in that post was the story of our group being haunted...
First, a little background story to set the mood...Elephant Jungle (the name of that particular project, check it out on Facebook) has been in place via Elephant Nature Park for a couple years already, but only recently has development occurred on the property.
P'Pom has been working with ENP since the very beginning of its foundation (over a decade now) and a few nights ago she told me the story of the first time she ever visited the property. The night before her first visit, one of her staff told her he dreamed about a house in the jungle with a red roof. He wasn't sure where or what it was, but Pom was involved in his dream somehow and he felt he was supposed to warn her of something.
The next day she visited the property and asked another staff member to find the spirit house associated with the hut. Thai Buddhist belief dictates that every building or occupied land must have a spirit house (pictured here) to appease and provide housing for any spirits who lived on the land or space before you moved in. Thai people must make daily offerings of food, flowers, sweets and incense to the spirit house, thanking the local spirits for their generosity, protection and prosperity.
Pom's staff came from the forest saying the spirit house had been neglected, but it was easily spotted with its red roof. P'Pom felt the chill of her staff's warning down her spine, and to this day she worries every time she visits the property that some bad omen may fall on her.
Since then, a Burmese family has moved onto the property, working for ENP to protect the land and more importantly to make daily offerings to the spirit house. This family has surrounded themselves with dogs and cats for extra protection because they feel ghosts wander freely around the land at night. Sometimes the ghosts even take on human form to communicate their needs.
The next day she visited the property and asked another staff member to find the spirit house associated with the hut. Thai Buddhist belief dictates that every building or occupied land must have a spirit house (pictured here) to appease and provide housing for any spirits who lived on the land or space before you moved in. Thai people must make daily offerings of food, flowers, sweets and incense to the spirit house, thanking the local spirits for their generosity, protection and prosperity. Pom's staff came from the forest saying the spirit house had been neglected, but it was easily spotted with its red roof. P'Pom felt the chill of her staff's warning down her spine, and to this day she worries every time she visits the property that some bad omen may fall on her.
Since then, a Burmese family has moved onto the property, working for ENP to protect the land and more importantly to make daily offerings to the spirit house. This family has surrounded themselves with dogs and cats for extra protection because they feel ghosts wander freely around the land at night. Sometimes the ghosts even take on human form to communicate their needs.
One story goes back to my time at the property 2 years ago. Jack and Chom were our construction leaders when we first started working on the road. Chom is ethnic Karen, and most of his people are Christian. Jack is a practicing Buddhist, so he was in charge of the offerings to the spirit house. Because he heard the land was haunted, he made very special offerings of food. One day two women came to visit Chom in the afternoon while our group was swimming in the river. The women had long beautiful hair and spoke with a strange accent. They thanked Chom for the delicious food they had yesterday, asked for a little less garlic next time and then walked off without another word.
Chom asked Jack if he had fed anyone garlic, and Jack admitted that he made a special dish of garlic chicken last night...but that dish was reserved for the spirit house only. Chom, normally a non-believer, was adamant he had been visited by local ghosts who have been around for a very long time.
The Burmese family that recently moved onto the property has had many strange experiences with noises and shapes appearing at random, and they associate a lot of bad luck with the unhappy ghosts on the land. While our group was there last week the local construction worker, Inge, woke up one morning feeling a force pulling his leg and dragging the blanket off his bed. (Sound a little paranormal familiar? I can 100% guarantee this Burmese worker has never seen the movie!)
And now, our story. A few days ago none of us had been told anything of the ghosts, with good reason too considering that Thai people think you're inviting bad omens by merely speaking of them. These previous stories only came out the last day, upon our departure from the project, as the local staff made sense of our strange experiences.
Every day last week, our volunteers had strange and violent dreams usually involving loved ones back home. Over breakfast each morning we would take turns sharing the details of our dreams, and we never thought more of it. On the second to last day I had a dream that one of my co-workers was trying to kill me, and the dream felt alien to me...like it wasn't coming from my sub-conscious, but being forced from another. When I talked it out with my group, we realized that all of our dreams had one theme in common: the feeling of waking up, wanting to take our revenge.
Another night one of my students woke up to the sound of my voice outside her tent. She saw me pressed against the net of her tent, and I was speaking my name over and over again. When she opened the zip of her tent I was already gone. The next morning she asked what I was doing last night, and I told her not once did I wake up or leave my tent...unless I was sleep-walking and possessed, there is no way I crouched to her tent in the middle of the night.
The very last night, I had a private haunting. My group was inside the main hut playing cards and singing songs, and I was tucked in my tent on the outside balcony trying to fall asleep. As I started to drift to sleep, I heard soft chanting coming from the front of my tent from the direction of the forest. I know it was chanting, positive that it was, since the sounds of monks chanting in their Pali language is a very distinct sound. I asked my group if they heard anything, and two girls tried to assure me it was just them singing inside the hut. I pressed my ear to the walls of my tent, and the sounds of chanting got louder and louder. I freaked out! I was the only one that could hear the monks, and knew what I was hearing something impossible since there were no people, monks or temples anywhere near our property.
The locals shared their stories and told us they think an old village once existed here since there are so many ghosts visiting in so many different forms. This land is dangerously close to the Burmese border, and 700 years ago during the height of the Lanna period, this part of Northern Thailand was regularly invaded by Burmese kings. When the Burmese invaded they were notoriously violent, and burning villages to the ground would have been common practice. Maybe that's what happened here...maybe not. One thing for sure is that I'm damn certain I lived in a haunted house last week.
Chom asked Jack if he had fed anyone garlic, and Jack admitted that he made a special dish of garlic chicken last night...but that dish was reserved for the spirit house only. Chom, normally a non-believer, was adamant he had been visited by local ghosts who have been around for a very long time.
The Burmese family that recently moved onto the property has had many strange experiences with noises and shapes appearing at random, and they associate a lot of bad luck with the unhappy ghosts on the land. While our group was there last week the local construction worker, Inge, woke up one morning feeling a force pulling his leg and dragging the blanket off his bed. (Sound a little paranormal familiar? I can 100% guarantee this Burmese worker has never seen the movie!)
And now, our story. A few days ago none of us had been told anything of the ghosts, with good reason too considering that Thai people think you're inviting bad omens by merely speaking of them. These previous stories only came out the last day, upon our departure from the project, as the local staff made sense of our strange experiences.
Every day last week, our volunteers had strange and violent dreams usually involving loved ones back home. Over breakfast each morning we would take turns sharing the details of our dreams, and we never thought more of it. On the second to last day I had a dream that one of my co-workers was trying to kill me, and the dream felt alien to me...like it wasn't coming from my sub-conscious, but being forced from another. When I talked it out with my group, we realized that all of our dreams had one theme in common: the feeling of waking up, wanting to take our revenge.
Another night one of my students woke up to the sound of my voice outside her tent. She saw me pressed against the net of her tent, and I was speaking my name over and over again. When she opened the zip of her tent I was already gone. The next morning she asked what I was doing last night, and I told her not once did I wake up or leave my tent...unless I was sleep-walking and possessed, there is no way I crouched to her tent in the middle of the night.
The very last night, I had a private haunting. My group was inside the main hut playing cards and singing songs, and I was tucked in my tent on the outside balcony trying to fall asleep. As I started to drift to sleep, I heard soft chanting coming from the front of my tent from the direction of the forest. I know it was chanting, positive that it was, since the sounds of monks chanting in their Pali language is a very distinct sound. I asked my group if they heard anything, and two girls tried to assure me it was just them singing inside the hut. I pressed my ear to the walls of my tent, and the sounds of chanting got louder and louder. I freaked out! I was the only one that could hear the monks, and knew what I was hearing something impossible since there were no people, monks or temples anywhere near our property.
The locals shared their stories and told us they think an old village once existed here since there are so many ghosts visiting in so many different forms. This land is dangerously close to the Burmese border, and 700 years ago during the height of the Lanna period, this part of Northern Thailand was regularly invaded by Burmese kings. When the Burmese invaded they were notoriously violent, and burning villages to the ground would have been common practice. Maybe that's what happened here...maybe not. One thing for sure is that I'm damn certain I lived in a haunted house last week.
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