Ghost House

Living on Koh Samui I get to absorb the Thai culture & the sometimes crazy island life!

There are a great many mysteries here, which are fun to explore. I am not going to elaborate on the subject of the difference between beautiful girls & beautiful ladyboys, or the Thai alchohol purchasing laws, although they are both worth further consideration!

I am fascinated by the ghost house known here as Spirit Houses, so much so that I sell little replicas of them! Raised above the ground on a high platforms, outside of homes & businesses here on the island. Even business like Thai airlines, Thai restaurants and bars. Some elaborate & very ornate with mirrors, lights, & lots of glittery decoration, others much simpler. The one outside my Thai house is painted in bright cheerful colours,covered in tiny figures, and vases with flowers.

These Spirit Houses are believed to provide a special shelter for the spirits,or celestial beings, who would otherwise reside in the heavens, so this is the home of the spiritual guardian of the property.

Spirit Worship is traced back in history to when Tai's migrated from the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam to all parts of Southeast Asia. Buddhism also came to Southeast Asia, these beliefs developed side by side. Some of the old animistic beliefs are intertwined with Buddhism and some animistic practices still exist in Thailand. One practiced by every Thai is the Spirit House


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Spirits watch over and protect the home
Spirits can be good or evil
Most are mischevious
Spirit houses are built by only Expert Spirit House Builders, who must exercise all necessary rituals so that the invited spirits will find it an acceptable earthly abode.
Offerings to the resident spirit may include flowers, food such as meat, fruit and rice. Candles and incense are also seen, the incense lit daily.

Now we can appreciate why the spirit houses need to be treated with care! If a new spirit house is created, to replace an old one. there is a ceremony to ensure that the spirit moves from the old house to the new. Once this is all completed the old spirit house will be discarded, at, or near a temple or Wat.
This explains the old, rickity and abandoned looking spirit houses all piled together, on the side of the road. It seems that when a spirt house is discarded it is put with others which have suffered the same fate! Yes, those piles of spirit houses are deliberate.