While historical proof is hard to come by, the Thais still believe in Nang Nak, even until today. In fact, she has her own shrine in Sukhumvit (pics of the shrine are below this long-winded explanation) and is worshipped as a protector of military conscripts and bringer of good luck (especially winning lottery numbers).

The legendary tragic story of Nang Nak has been retold many times in the Thai media (TV dramas, DVDs, comic books, you name it~!!), most famously in the 1999 movie titled “Nang Nak” directed by Nonzee Nimibutr (pictured left). 

The story is always quite similar: sometime between the 18^th and 19^th century Siam (today's Thailand), a beautiful young woman named Nak married a young man named Mak. They lived peacefully next to the Phra Kanong klong (canal). 

Unfortunately, trouble was coming to interrupt their blissful married life: Mak had to leave the pregnant Nak to fight in the war (some claimed it was against the Burmese).

Worse, Mak was injured in battle, and this delayed his return. Unfortunately for the forlorn Nak, she died during childbirth (her baby was stillborn)… thus husband and wife were never reunited in this life.

Nevertheless, Nak’s love was so strong that her spirit refused to leave this world. When her husband finally returned from the war, her ghost (as well as the ghost of her unborn child) bewitched him, making him believe that everything was normal.

The neighbors started to notice that Mak was behaving very strangely: talking to nobody, eating the air (he thought he was eating Nang Nak's cooking), acting as if he was carrying a child, etc… Then the community realized, to their horror, that there was a very persistent ghost among them~!!

Things started to get REALLY nasty when the villagers tried to alert Mak and convince him that both his wife and child were actually dead. This provoked the fearful wrath of Nang Nak herself, who basically killed ANYONE who stood in her way (I wouldn’t go into specifics, but let’s just say that Nang Nak didn’t tend to play nice… oh and she preferred agonizing, blood-curdling tactics as her killing methods~!!).

The desperate villagers tried various ways to force Nang Nak to leave this world, but to no avail. They hired shamans, voodoo masters, witch doctors, WHATEVER you call ‘em… None was successful. Worse, Nang Nak was becoming more and more PISSED OFF and VIOLENT~!! Her incredible power came from, some said, the belief that she had the power of TWO beings (herself and her unborn child), so “typical” exorcism methods were utterly useless against her.

One day, the ghost of Nang Nak was busy preparing food when she dropped a lime (some said it was a knife) to the ground. Now, since traditional Thai houses are built on stilts (pictured right, taken from the Jim Thompson website), it would be very inconvenient for anyone to actually leave the kitchen, go down the stairs, pick up the dropped object, walk back up the stairs and re-enter the kitchen.

But for Nang Nak, this was not a problem. Since she was a supernatural being, she simply stretched her arm a few meters to the ground and picked up the lime (or knife) that she dropped. Unfortunately for her, Mak happened to see it by accident. He got (understandably) scared out of his wits and fled to a nearby temple, with Nang Nak in hot pursuit.

Now, Thais believe that temples are sacred grounds, therefore ghosts weren’t allowed inside. But because Nang Nak was no ordinary ghost, she was able to enter the temple and terrorize even the monks themselves~!!!!! (In the 1999 “Nang Nak” movie, there was a particularly hair-raising scene when Nang Nak crawled on the temple ceiling, much to the horror of the monks cuddled in total fear below her~!!)

Things looked REALLY dire… until a powerful monk came (some said from Thonburi) and succeeded in placating Nang Nak’s rage. He managed to make her realize that she was causing more harm than good being a destructive, possessive, murderous ghost and convinced her to leave her husband be (and this world). Nang Nak bid a tearful farewell to her beloved Mak and agreed to be “exorcised” by the monk.

I know two versions of the final exorcism: one version said Nang Nak's spirit was put into a ceramic jar, which was then dropped into a river.

Another (flashier) version said the monk cut the center of her forehead and made it into a belt buckle which he wore until his death. The belt then supposedly came into the possession of His Royal Highness Prince Chumbhorn Ketudomsak, passed down for generations and is now lost....

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Well, buckle or no buckle, this fascination and devotion to Nang Nak survives until today.

Tucked inside Sukhumvit 77 (Onnut), is a small (but famous~!!) shrine dedicated to Nang Nak (also called Mae Nak) and her unborn child. 

The shrine is deep inside the Wat (temple) Maha But grounds, right next to the Phra Kanong klong (canal).

People flock to this shrine mainly for two reasons:

1). Men come here to ask Nang Nak to spare them from being conscripted into the military (in Thailand, all Thai males must serve in the military for 2 years) – understandably, Nang Nak would be sympathetic since it was military duty which wrenched her beloved Mak from her.

2). Devotees also come in droves to ask her for winning lottery numbers. There are two holy trees near her shrine (one is pictured on the left), wrapped in colorful sacred sashes, where people believe “hints” of winning lottery numbers would be revealed.

* Obviously, women who are pregnant (or wishing to get pregnant) are advised NOT to come to this shrine~!! You wouldn’t wanna parade your bulging stomach to a bloodthirsty female ghost who lost her baby in childbirth~!! That’s just ASKING FOR TROUBLE~!!

Naturally, when people come here, they bring appropriate offerings for both Nang Nak and her child. Particularly popular are: traditional Thai clothes (pictured right), jewelry, make-up, toys and sweets. Devotees also cover her (very creepy-looking~!!) statue with gold leaves.

As for myself, I’ve never had any supernatural encounters, so I’m still keeping an open mind.....

But today’s encounter with an old woman in Nang Nak’s shrine has gotten me looking over my shoulders~!!

When I went to visit the shrine, I asked an elderly female attendant there (who was standing next to the gold leaf-covered statue) whether I could take pictures of Nang Nak’s statue (I mean, I thought it would be kind of rude just barging in there like a SWAT team and snapping pics, y’know~??).

The woman looked very friendly and peaceful. But when I asked her (in my most polite voice), her serene expression turned VERY unpleasant IN AN INSTANT and she told me in a very stern tone that I was NOT allowed to take any pictures.

NOBODY should be taking Nang Nak’s pictures, she claimed (which I know for a fact to be UNTRUE, because I have come across pictures of her statue many times before, usually taken by farang photographers, such as this one taken by Richard Barrow from thaiblogs.com - check out the original article HERE).

I also found these two dramatic pics from thaiworldview.com:

(As you can see here, Nang Nak's popularity is evident - check out all those "gifts"~!!)

Anyway, the crotchety old woman then came closer to Nang Nak’s statue and caressed the statue’s arm fondly and with such tenderness that I swear, the hairs at the back of my neck stood up~!!

“Nang Nak doesn’t like people bothering her,” the old woman said, looking at the statue with devotion so fierce in her eyes it creeped the hell out of me. She then turned to look at the statue's eyes, and said, "Isn't that right~??" as if expecting the statue to back up her claims. “People will just destroy everything~!!” Her voice rose and she shot me a look of pure accusation. I thought I saw something “more” there… Anger? HATRED?

Now, perhaps the heat and humidity were making me feel very uncomfortable… or perhaps all the smoke from the devotees’ joss sticks was preventing enough clean oxygen from reaching my brain… or maybe it was the mumblings of another woman next to me, her eyes transfixed on the gold leaf-covered statue in front… But right there and then... I got a VERY FORBIDDING feeling.

In short, I was totally creeped out. Not scared shitless, mind you… but I didn’t feel comfortable in pressing the issue at all.

I DID think about taking the pics SECRETLY (I mean hell, I’ve taken some forbidden pics many times before already~!!), but OK, I felt that the mood around me was NOT in my favor anymore. Was she just a senile old woman? Or was she telling the truth? Would I invoke the uncontrollable rage of Nang Nak if I went ahead~?!

I am now sorry to say that I completely CHICKENED OUT~!!! Me, the logical, cynical SSS~!!! I totally lost my balls (pardon my French; it’s just a figure of speech) because some creepy old lady had such a strong NEGATIVE reaction to me taking pictures of a feminine, gold leaf-covered statue in the heart of Sukhumvit~!! AAAARRRGGGHH~!!!

I am now (sheepishly) offering these other pics I managed to capture AROUND the temple and soi.

CLICK ON INDIVIDUAL PIC FOR A BIGGER VIEW (and more info).

sukhumvit

bangkok

thailand