One time I came back from a bpai tiao just as dusk was setting in, and the sun sets really fast here. So on my two kilometer bike ride home I turned on my lights to the flashing setting and made it home just fine. When I told my co-teacher about it the next day, she told me that people probably thought that I was a ghost. Because Thai people believe in ghosts, and there are lots of Thai ghosts and lots of superstitions around them.
For example, if you whistle at night the ghosts will come and bad things will happen.
If you sweep at night, if you have money, it will all disappear.
Cleaning your house on Chinese New Year will help to bring good luck.
Many houses have red shirts hanging in front. You might think that this is because of the political group, The Red Shirts, but no. Turns out that there is a woman ghost who comes and kills men. But she likes to wear a red shirt so if there is a red shirt in front of the house she will think that there are only women there and she won’t kill them. Sometimes men will paint their nails and wear a skirt to also fool this ghost.
My first homestay family left a light on all night to keep the ghosts away during the night.
When I was looking at rental houses, one of the houses had a bedroom with an altar for the Buddha in it. I was told that if I was afraid of the ghosts I could sleep in there.
There is a ghost that is just a woman’s head and then her intestines and guts hanging off of the head. Her name is Krasue and she comes at night and eats flesh and drinks blood and often targets pregnant women.
At my current homestay there are little sticks tied above all the windows and doors and on the front gate. I don’t know why they are there. I can only guess that they are another superstition.
Here is a list of other Thai ghosts and their stories.
I told my co-teacher about the children’s saying “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” She thought it was pretty silly.