Grouping Legendary creature Similar creatures Tai Thang Klom Country Thailand | Sub grouping Vengeful ghost, undead Mythology Thai folk mythology Region Southeast Asia | |
Phi Tai Hong (Thai: ผีตายโหง) is a ghost of Thai folklore. It is the vengeful and restless spirit of a person who suffered a violent or cruel death.
Contents
Legends
Phi Tai Hong usually has its origin in a man or a woman who died suddenly, often without the observance of proper funerary rituals. According to the Royal Institute Dictionary 1999, the official dictionary of Thai words, tai hong means "to die an unnatural and violent death, such as being murdered or drowning" and Phi Tai Hong means the ghost of a person who died in such manner.
According to Thai oral tradition Phi Tai Hong are very dangerous for they are usually full of resentment and may easily kill people. The spirit of a person who was assassinated will seek retribution and will eventually threaten and seek to kill the murderers, as well as people that may be close to them when the spirit is active. As a consequence Phi Tai Hong are among the most feared ghosts, especially in the form known as Tai Thang Klom (ตายทั้งกลม) or Tai Thong Klom (ตายท้องกลม), which is the ghost of a woman who died together with her child in her womb. There are many instances in Thailand in which people claim that such spirits are real.
Thai culture blames this lethal spirit as one of the ghosts that haunt houses and one of the most difficult to exorcise. Exorcisms can be very complicated, involving complex ceremonies. Stories about this kind of spirit and the exorcism ceremonies that are needed to be free from them are popular in Thai publications.
Modern adaptations
Phi tai hong is a ghost that has been featured in many movies of different types, such as 2003 Thai comedy-horror film Buppah Rahtree and the 2010 film Tai Hong. It also appears in many other movies, but in a role less central to the theme. In its Tai thang klom variant this ghost is featured in the 2010 film Tai Thang Klom ("The Snow White").
Phi tai hong is also a recurring theme in Thai television soap operas (lakhon) such as The Sixth Sense (สื่อรักสัมผัสหัวใจ), the highly successful Raeng Ngao (แรงเงา), and in Fai Huan (ไฟหวน), as well as in the more recent Nang Chada (นางชฎา) with Davika Hoorne as the vengeful ghost and Waen Sawat (แหวนสวาท) starring 'Pancake' Khemanit Jamikorn in a dual role.
The phi tai hong legend often provides a plot to erotic films, such as Phi Sao Tai Hong and Khon Hen Phi, in which the hero spends a night of pleasure with a woman, but then finds out later she was an apparition.