Haunted places in Bangkok
Images adapted from: Posttoday, @hong118, Pantip, @oohaoe
Bangkok is best known for its many shopping malls and raving nightlife districts, but this old city also hides many terrifying, supernatural stories hidden in various locations in our plain sight that are and waiting to be explored.
To give you the ultimate chills, we’ve gathered 7 haunted places in Bangkok. Be warned, don’t read this alone at night…
Note: All stories are based on rumours and legends.
1. The haunted pillar in Suvarnabhumi Airport
Image credit: Posttoday
Each day, countless travellers stroll in and out Suvarnabhumi Airport to get to their destinations. Little do they know that this bustling airport holds a chilling tale, hidden inside a thick concrete column in the airport’s Customs Bond room.
Rumour has it that workers here often see a woman with medium-length hair walking in and out of the room. Many have even supposedly won the lottery after asking the spirit for lucky numbers.
Left: Workers offer goods like Thai desserts and garlands to the unseen being
Images adapted from: Tnews, Pantip
Some little birdies say that the ghost is that of a female construction worker who fell and got stuck inside the column’s mould. She then died and her body was set into the concrete. Hence, the head engineer needed to break the column in order to get her body out and had plastered the hole to make it look normal.
We wouldn’t blame you for looking over your shoulder every time you board a plane here!
2. Thammasat University’s ghostly red lift
On the morning of 6th October 1976, armed military officers were sent into Thammasat University to massacre students and citizens who were staging protests at the time.
Many were brutally slaughtered on the faculty grounds, including the football field and classrooms. As a result, 41 students were killed, 145 injured, and 3,094 arrested.
Image credit: @hong118
It is said that a group of students had tried to escape from the authorities via a lift in the Liberal Arts building. They became a target when the doors didn’t close fast enough – bullets flew in and the students’ blood showered all over the enclosed area.
For some strange reason, the bloodstains on the life doors couldn’t be removed – as if someone wanted the world to know what happened here. So the university decided to paint the doors red to hide the stains.
A picture from the 2009 Thai film, Haunted Universities, which was loosely based on this tale
Image credit: Thairath
Later, students and teachers had experienced various unexplainable incidents while using the red lift. Many felt suffocated and claustrophobic as if the lift was packed with people, although they were alone. Sometimes the alarm would go off too, suggesting that the lift was overcrowded.
Today, the red lift doors are no longer operational. They have since been bolted to the wall, functioning as a bloody reminder of the university’s past.
3. Bangkok’s abandoned Sathorn Unique Tower
Image credit: Pantip
From Saphan Taksin BTS station, you can see a huge abandoned skyscraper standing out among smaller buildings and houses in the area. With its washed-out and dilapidated exterior and dark empty floors, Sathorn Unique Tower – also known as the Ghost Tower – is hard to miss.
Image credit: Itsbetterinthailand
Despite its intimidating stature, this 47-storey structure was nothing more than a result of the 1997’s economic crash.
The place is rather popular among local and international photographers who want to get a good angle of Bangkok, and urban explorers looking for an offbeat adventure.
Picture from the news
Image credit: Thairath
But on one sullen day in 2014, a Thai photographer posted on Pantip Webboard, with the headline “Found a body in the abandoned tower.” Many thought he was pulling a bad prank, but it turns out that he was telling the truth.
The morning after, the authorities found the body of a 30-year-old Swedish man who had hung himself in one of the rooms on the 43rd floor. It was deemed a suicide. Many people never looked at the tower the same way again.
Note: This is a private property and we don’t condone trespassing. Always remember that safety comes first.
4. Wat Mahabut and the shrine of Mae Nak
Mae Nak is probably the most famous – and saddest – Thai ghost in history.
Wat Mahabut is a famous temple tucked away in the bustling area of Phra Khanong. Many locals believe that the spirit of Mae Nak is enshrined at this temple, and that she was cremated here.
Note: ‘Mae’ means Mother in Thai. It’s often used as a prefix for females, just like Miss and Mrs.
Images adapted from: @ruksaya_park, @oohaoe
If you don’t know who Mae Nak is, let us fill you in.
The story goes like this: Back in the 1800s, there lived a young lady named Nak, who was pregnant. During this time, her husband Mak had left to serve in the military. Unfortunately, Nak died during childbirth along with her baby during his absence.
Unaware of the news, Mak returns home to find his wife and child still alive, who welcome him lovingly. Fellow villagers try to warn Mak that he’s in fact living with the spirits of his loved ones – and when he finally finds out and tries to run away, Mae Nak swears revenge on the village for making leaving her in fear.
The 1999 classic, ‘Nang Nak’, tells the heart-wrenching tale of Mae Nak
Image credit: Khaosod
Till this day, people still visit Mae Nak’s shrine and ask for her blessings for their love life. Oftentimes, women come here to beg for their boyfriends or husbands to successfully avoid getting drafted into the military, since Mae Nak hates that it took her husband away from her.
Check out more Thai horror movies inspired by local folklore:
5. Santika Pub’s deadly countdown
Image credit: Psomeasy
Santika was a famous upscale night club in Ekkamai. But in contrast to its ‘holy name,*’ this place turned into an inferno on the first minute of 2009 as people were celebrating the New Year.
*Santika means “saintly” in Sanskrit
Right after the grand countdown, fireworks were being set off inside the club. This caused a blaze to break out within the pub, which killed 66 partygoers and injured 222, not including bodies that couldn’t be identified.
The event’s poster shows the man ‘crying black ash’ – an eerie foreshadowing of what was to come
Image credit: Panthip
Looking back, there were spooky signs that foreshadowed the accident. First, the band which was playing that night was called “Burn.” The second spine-chilling thing was the party was named “Goodbye Santika” as the club was also planning to close down soon after.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Although the club’s burnt ruins have since been bulldozed, the land has been left empty for weeds and trees to take over.
Folks who live nearby often claim to hear people screaming in agony at night from the empty lot. Drivers who use the road at night also say that they see people waving their vehicles down as if they want to be picked up.
6. Bangpakong River’s suicide bridge
In many countries, there are specific locations people often go to end their lives, like Aokigahara Forest in Japan and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
As for Thailand, a huge bridge across the Bangpakong River which lies in Bangkok’s outskirts is one of those places.
Image credit: @theshock_13
It appears that spirits of those who have died here call out to the living to do the same as well. Some have claimed that they’ve seen an apparition of a woman in red calling out for passersby to jump off the bridge.
Other legends have added to this, saying that the woman’s ghost is actually controlled by a vengeful spirit of a craftsman who died when he was building the bridge in the late 1930s. Because he passed on before his duty was done, his soul wasn’t able to move on. Hence, he became enraged and started to enslave the lives of the living, forcing them to their untimely deaths.
Image credit: Thakam
While this story sounds like a good plot for a Hollywood movie, it has actually made national headlines and been on the news on television – yep, we take these things seriously.
7. Wat Samian Naree and the ladies in black
Located near a railway track that connects Bangkok to other provinces, Wat Samian Naree is a temple that has a creepy tale involving 2 mysterious women, a diesel-fueled train, and death.
Image credit: Virginiacity-nv
Taxi drivers often share their terrifying experiences where they’d pick up 2 ladies in black dresses near the temple, asking to be brought to the tracks.
But once the car finally reaches the destinations, the drivers would notice that their passengers have vanished from the backseat. And it’s in that very moment when they would see the torsos of the female ghosts crawling around the train tracks.
Legend has it that these are the ghosts of a pair of sisters who got into a grisly train accident, and haven’t been able to move on.
Get spooked in Thailand’s capital
Don’t get frightened by these creepy tales alone – share them with your friends to keep them awake at night too. If the fear is too unbearable, then you should learn how to fight ghosts.
And if you want to challenge yourselves to the max, visit some of these places on your next trip to Bangkok – you might have your own story to tell us after. Stay safe!
Also read:
- Male Villagers Start Dying Mysteriously, Locals Blame It On Widowed Ghost Looking For A Husband And Scare It Away
- “Rescue” Team Captures More Than 1,000 Ghosts During Ghost Festival Ritual In Thailand
- 10 Real Singaporean Horror Stories To Keep You Up At Night
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