Sunday Haunt

We visited the Mae Nak Prakanong Shrine at Wat Mahabut in On Nut Soi 7 this afternoon. There's a summary of the story behind this shrine on our other blog.

Would have preferred being there in broad daylight instead of on a dreary, wet Sunday. The weather was odd - rain fell on and off in heavy sheets, accompanied by blinding lighting and splitting thunder that night.

Anyway, tucked away in the corner of the temple, by the Prakanong klong, is this shrine. People pray and prostrate before a gold leaf-encrusted statue of Mae Nak and her baby. There were surrounded by heaps of gifts - clothes, toys, cosmetics, diapers, powdered milk, and cash. Even a working television, offering entertainment.

It was completely kitschy, but impressive. And chilling.

From origins as a fierce ghost, Mae Nak is now regarded as a community benefactor, and Prakanong residents were upset that the temple was re-zoned into Suan Luang District. All kinds of businesses thrive here, especially fortune tellers, mystics, small aquatic animal sellers (for release in the klong for merit), and toy vendors.

Worshipers flock here to seek winning lottery numbers, usually revealed by Mae Nak in the natural wood patterns of the takian tree under which she is supposedly buried. Apparently, some people rub the trunk with oil for hours, and the fabric-swathed tree is looking a bit gray.

About a dozen scrawny cats trotted after a sack-wielding man when we left the shrine. Yet another strange sight in an overall surreal day. Later than evening, we learn about the terrible plane crash in Phuket that was partially due to the weird weather, adding to the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.