Pop (ghost)

Pop (Thai: ปอบ) is a cannibalistic female spirit of Thai folklore. It manifests itself as a woman that likes to devour human viscera. Pop is related to the Phi Fa spirit.

A traditional legend says that long ago, a prince fond of magic found a way to enter bodies which were still alive and to take control of them. Once the prince said magic words and entered the body of an animal. His servant overheard those words, repeated them, and entered the body of the prince. The servant fooled people into thinking he was the prince. Seeing this, the prince quickly entered the body of a bird and rushed to tell the truth to his wife. Upon hearing this, the prince's wife had the servant's body destroyed and the prince challenged the false prince to enter the body of an animal. When the servant foolishly entered and took control of the animal's body, the real prince re-entered his own body. The servant was unable to re-enter his body as it was destroyed. Henceforth, his revenant spirit goes from one body to another, eating its intestines.

Village legends say that this ghost lives inside a sorceress and leaves her body during sleep. Before the witch can die, the spirit has to find a body into which the Pop will be transmitted by consuming some saliva of the old sorceress.

These ghosts are powerful. If they succeed in haunting someone, they will eat that person's intestines during sleep. One way to get rid of them is to call in a healing dancer. This spirit doctor chases away the Pop by means of a spinning dance. When the patient is watching the dance, Pop will enter into the spinning movement and be chased from the body.

In 2007, following the mysterious and sudden deaths of four villagers in Kalasin Province's Sam Chai District, some 1000 residents, fearing the deaths were caused by evil spirits, raised some 35000 Thai Baht for an exorcism of Pop, allegedly dwelling in two of the female villagers. In 2012, 10 males died suddenly in Pakse, Champa Province, Laos. People believed that these deaths were caused by Pop.

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