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Apparitions · Ghosts of historical figures

Mae Nak of Phra Khanong

When
since c. 1860 traditional date – cannot be verified · first known record: 1899
Where
Mae Nak Shrine at Wat Mahabut, On Nut, Bangkok, Thailand
Verdict
Legend

Thailand's most famous ghost: a woman who died in childbirth yet waited at home by the canal for her husband to return from the war.

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13.71°, 100.61° · dimmed: other phenomena within 1,500 km

What happened

The legend places the story by the Phra Khanong canal, then on the edge of Bangkok, in the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV). Young Nak was expecting a child when her husband Mak was called away to war. She died in childbirth along with the baby, but when Mak came home he found his wife and son waiting and lived with them as before. Neighbours who tried to warn him met their deaths. At last Mak saw Nak, while preparing a meal, stretch an impossibly long arm through the floorboards to pick up a dropped lime – and realised he was living with a ghost. He fled to a temple, and the furious spirit terrorised the area until a monk bound her; there are several endings. At Wat Mahabut temple in the On Nut district stands the shrine of Mae Nak, where worshippers bring dresses, toys for the baby, cosmetics, lotus flowers and incense, and young men ask her for help before the military draft lottery. The story has been filmed dozens of times, from a 1959 film to Nang Nak (1999) and the comedy Pee Mak (2013).

Witnesses

Oral tradition of Phra Khanong; an article by K.S.R. Kulap in the newspaper Siam Praphet of 10 March 1899; worshippers at the shrine.

Explanations and hypotheses

There is no evidence that Nak ever existed. The earliest written record – K.S.R. Kulap's article of 1899 – claims the story was about Amdaeng Nak, daughter of a local headman named Khun Si, but Kulap was known for a very free hand with his sources. The tale combines the universal motif of a woman who dies in childbirth and returns as a dangerous ghost with Thai beliefs about spirits (phi). For worshippers today Mae Nak is above all a protective spirit and a symbol of faithful love.

Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.

Sources

  1. Bangkok Post – Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai, As cultures come together, it's all in bad spirits (2016)
  2. Bangkok Post – Kong Rithdee, Nang Nak at 20 (2019)
  3. Sarakadee – The Legend of Mae Nak Prakanong

More: Wikipedia (en)