Thailand: Cells and Ashes

[KEND]

High on Human Ashes
NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: In the latest drug craze to hit the south, youths in Nakhon Sri Thammarat’s Muang District are reportedly drinking a concoction that includes the ashes of recently-cremated corpses and extract from leaves of the krathom tree.
‘Phon’, a 17-year-old from Muang District, said he and his gang of about 10 friends had tried every known concoction of krathom leaf available until they stumbled upon the new formula.
The mixture is made by boiling the leaves and then adding ashes taken from beneath funeral pyres following cremation ceremonies.
The youths believe the mixture confers physical strength as well as spiritual protection from the ghost of the person whose ashes were drunk, Mr Phon said.
The drink has an indescribably amazing taste and anybody who tries it becomes instantly addicted, he added.
To satisfy their thirst for the elixir, the youths drive around looking for funerals. When the cremation is over, they sneak in to steal the left over ashes, he said.
The mixture is known as ‘Avatar’ after the hit film or ‘tai hong’, which means ‘violent death’.


Cell Phone fears grip the North
CHIANG MAI: People in Northern Thailand have been afraid to answer their cellphones in recent weeks, following claims that calls from certain numbers cause instant brain haemorrhages.
People are warning each other to watch out for numbers containing the sequence 3333. If the gossip is to be believed, when calls from the numbers are answered the phones send out a high frequency signal causing blood to explode out of the ear.
The deadly phone calls have reportedly been restricted to the North with reports from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Phayao, Phrae and Nan.
On January 21 Kanchana Khayan, a fourth-year student at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, told reporters that her mother had warned her never to answer calls from a number starting with 083-333 and ending with 67.
A Tourist Police officer, who asked not to be named, said the death calls are all people are talking about in certain districts of Chiang Mai.
In Phrae, the phone calls are rumoured to have killed more than 40 people

[Dmitri]

Good times!

claims that calls from certain numbers cause instant brain haemorrhages

I remember some movie from the 70's I think where someone was assassinated by answering a phone call; he picked up the receiver which emitted this shrieking sound, which made the guy collapse on the floor in pain and promptly die. Bleeding from his ear, IIRC. After that movie there was this light semi-paranoid craze among some (many?) people who were semi-jokingly afraid of potentially receiving a call like that.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

ok, so thais are still not quite with it as far as superstition goes. lol

[Fu Mei]

I remember some movie from the 70's I think where someone was assassinated by answering a phone call; he picked up the receiver which emitted this shrieking sound, which made the guy collapse on the floor in pain and promptly die. Bleeding from his ear, IIRC. After that movie there was this light semi-paranoid craze among some (many?) people who were semi-jokingly afraid of potentially receiving a call like that.

For some reason I think I remember something about that.

Considering the thread with all of the memories of music from '69' & '70, it might be interesting to see some reminiscing of some of the more interesting/strange movie plots from the '70's.

[Darthwing Teorist]

Cell Phone fears grip the North
CHIANG MAI: People in Northern Thailand have been afraid to answer their cellphones in recent weeks, following claims that calls from certain numbers cause instant brain haemorrhages.
People are warning each other to watch out for numbers containing the sequence 3333. If the gossip is to be believed, when calls from the numbers are answered the phones send out a high frequency signal causing blood to explode out of the ear.
The deadly phone calls have reportedly been restricted to the North with reports from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Phayao, Phrae and Nan.
On January 21 Kanchana Khayan, a fourth-year student at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, told reporters that her mother had warned her never to answer calls from a number starting with 083-333 and ending with 67.
A Tourist Police officer, who asked not to be named, said the death calls are all people are talking about in certain districts of Chiang Mai.
In Phrae, the phone calls are rumoured to have killed more than 40 people

More population control.

[shawnsegler]

...and you know what happens if you swallow coke and poprocks at the same time, right????

S- grew up watching "In search of" and reading "Chariots of the Gods".

[Darthwing Teorist]

...and you know what happens if you swallow coke and poprocks at the same time, right????

More population control.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

mmmmm sweet n' tasty population control!

[Dmitri]

...and you know what happens if you swallow coke and poprocks at the same time, right????

More population control.

Quit joking you guys, this is serious business. People are being exterminated!

[grady]

Ah, the Thai ghost thing ...

One of my Thai friend's parents are professional "ghost busters" in bangkok.

Her friends would always take her along to look at new apartments to check them for ghosts ... they absolutely would not move in without having her check the place first.

I also know of an occasion when the entire contingent of Thai students moved out of the foreigner's dorm of a University where I was studying en masse when they unanimously decided it was haunted.

There is an entire genre of Thai horror/scary movies involving ghosts and they LOVE watching them ... kinda cute, actually.