Phi Pop
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Pop or Pob (, ) is a cannibalistic spirit of
Thai folklore Thai folklore is a diverse set of mythology and traditional beliefs held by the Thai people. Most Thai folklore has a regional background for it originated in rural Thailand. With the passing of time, and through the influence of the media, large ...
. It manifests itself as a creature that likes to devour human
viscera In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...
. Pop is related to the Phi Fa spirit.


Legends

A traditional legend says that a long time ago, a flower could take control of them. Once, the prince said the 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 In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
lives inside a
sorceress A sorceress is a female practitioner of sorcery (disambiguation), sorcery. Other uses include: Film * Sorceress (1982 film), ''Sorceress'' (1982 film), a fantasy film directed by Jack Hill * Sorceress (1987 film), ''Sorceress'' (1987 film) releas ...
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 from the old sorceress. If these ghosts succeed in haunting someone, they will eat that person's intestines while sleeping. One rumored way to get rid of them is to call in a healing dancer, chasing away the Pop by spinning dance. When the patient is watching the dance, Pop will enter into the spinning movement and be chased from the body.


Ha Gom

The Pop with great power is called ''Ha Gom'' (ห่าก้อม, ). Ha Gom is the lord of all Pops and has other Pops or other ghosts as its henchmen. Ha Gom is not afraid of sunlight and can transform into a person or animal and mingle with other people during the day. It is not afraid of monks or any sacred amulets. The only person who can subdue it is a sorcerer with power equal to or greater than its own.


History

The Pop was mentioned in ''Ramphan Philap'' (รำพันพิลาป, "Lament of Bewailment"), a poem by Sunthon Phu around 1842–1843, in a single line of text. It is the oldest evidence indicates Pop in the pages of history. In November 1892, coinciding with the reign of King
Rama V Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth Monarchy of Thailand, king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his ...
, there was a record of a Pop in the present city of
Uttaradit The original name of Mueang district, Uttaradit, was Bang Pho. This district was under the control of Phi Chai District. Later, it was established as Uttaradit Province and Bang Pho District became the capital district. It was changed to Mueang ...
. It was said that there was an old Laotian of Phuan descent named ''Ta Puang'' (the old Puang), who came to build a house and live behind the temple, Wat Pak Fang. It was only known that he floated on a raft along the
Nan River The Nan River (, , ; , ) is a river in Thailand. It is one of the most important tributaries of the Chao Phraya River. Geography The Nan River originates in the Luang Prabang Range, Nan Province. The provinces along the river after Nan Prov ...
and came ashore. Although already old, but Ta Puang's skin was still white, radiant, and firm, unlike that of ordinary elderly. Not long after he came to live there, three local young women died of unknown reasons in a row. Folks then spread rumors that he was a Pop. The story of the Pop of Uttaradit was recorded in ''Vajrayana Viset'' (วชิรญาณวิเศษ), which was a publication distributed among the upper-class circles at that time. Later in 1908, at Ban Songyae in the present-day Yasothon Province, the origin of St Michael's Church, the largest wooden church in Thailand. A Pop had supposedly possessed members of five families in this village. The story calmed down when two priests, named Desaval and Ambrosio, performed an exorcism. Some Ban Songyae residents later turned to Christianity.


In modern times

In 2002, there was news published in the ''
Kom Chad Luek ''Kom Chad Luek'' (, , , ) is a mass-circulation Thai-language daily newspaper launched in 2001 and published in Bangkok, Thailand, by the Nation Group. Its circulation is in the 500,000–900,000 range. ''Kom Chad Luek'' closed down on 8 Apri ...
'' newspaper that there were pair of Pop running rampant in the suburb of Bangkok, around Bang Bon or
Bang Khae Bang Khae (, ) is one of the List of districts of Bangkok, 50 districts (''khet'') of Bangkok, Thailand. Its neighbouring districts, clockwise from north, are Thawi Watthana district, Thawi Watthana, Taling Chan district, Taling Chan, Phasi Charoe ...
. This pair of Pop appeared in the form of a monk holding a dog and a nun holding a cat. Some believe that they came across the border from
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
. Frightened people reported the event to the police. This event also caused the price of '' nard'' (หนาด), a medicinal plant that Thais believe its leaves can ward off ghosts to sell very well, and the price increased from 20 baht to 100 baht per plant. To make matters worse, there are also rumors that they have previously resided at Wat Suan Kaew in Nonthaburi Province, regarding this issue, Phra
Phayom Kalayano ''Anthoshorea roxburghii'' is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distrib ...
the abbot of the temple said, "It's nonsense and delusional." In 2007, following the mysterious and sudden deaths of four villagers in Kalasin Province's Sam Chai District, some 1000 residents raised some 35,000
Thai baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...
for an
exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...
of Pop, allegedly dwelling in two of the female villagers.Spirit
/ref> In 2012, 10 males died suddenly in Pakse, Champa Province, Laos. People believed that these deaths were caused by Pop. In February 2024, a young woman told her story on
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
that she was 6 months pregnant and on her second pregnancy. One night, she left the house to go out to eat about 10:00 pm. She smelled betel nut and cordial following her. After that, she also had a strange dream about an old woman biting her womb. She believed it was a Pop who came to eat her unborn child. In late April 2025, a woman named Somkid, who lives in a
village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in Na Di District, Prachin Buri Province, said that every Buddhist holy night for a long time since about half a year ago, there would be strange lights floating around. She herself has seen it about 4–5 times. The villagers' ducks and chickens would often die for no apparent reason. Her uncle also heard a woman's screams throughout the village and saw her appear in front of his house, even though Somkid did not come. She therefore believed that all of this was the work of a Pop, known as ''Pop Laek Na'' (ปอบแลกหน้า, ), who could transform into another person. This was because her father used to be a
shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
.


In academic terms

In the technical description, it is described that 'Pop is a social process'. That is to deny people who are alienated from society or the community. The accused is a Pop who will be expelled from the village community. This belief was more prominent in the upper northeast and some central parts. It may not be found in other regions.


Adaptations

Thai films about Pop include 1989 movie ''Ban Phi Pop'' (บ้านผีปอบ), "The House of Pop", 1990 movies ''Ban Phi Pop 2'' (บ้านผีปอบ 2), "The House of Pop 2", ''Lang Phao Phan Khot Phi Pop'' (ล้างเผ่าพันธุ์โคตรผีปอบ), "Holocaust of the Ogre Clan", ''Tanha Phra Chan'' (ตัณหาพระจันทร์), "Midnight Shade 2", and ''Pop Phi Hian'' (ปอบผีเฮี้ยน), "Pop is strong enough", all by Ekapan Banleurit, as well as ''Phi Lop Pop Mai Lop'' (ผีหลบปอบไม่หลบ), ''Phan Phi Pop'' (พันธุ์ผีปอบ), "The Breed of Pop", and ''Phi Pop Chom Tingtong'' (ผีปอบจอมติ๊งต๊อง), "Pop at its Most Crazy". In 2023, Tee Yod, "Death Whisperer" became the fastest Thai film to gross 100 million baht of the year. And its seque, Tee Yod 2, the following year, it became the highest grossing Thai film of the year. It also appears in movies with a mixture of horror and comedy, such as the 2008 film ''Ban Phi Poep'' (บ้านผีเปิบ), "The House of the Spirit Gorging itself", and ''Krasue Fat Pop'' (1990) with Chutima Naiyana, in which
Krasue The ''Krasue'' (, ) is a nocturnality, nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests as the floating, disembodied head of a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her organ (anatomy), internal organs still attached and tr ...
fights against Pop, judged to be a more
malevolent spirit In mythology and folklore, a vengeful ghost or vengeful spirit is said to be the ghost, spirit of a dead person who returns from the afterlife to seek revenge for a cruel, unnatural or unjust death. In certain cultures where funeral and burial o ...
than Krasue by the villagers. Most movies about Pop are
comedy horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...
s. Chao Nang, "The Princess's Terror", 1992 ''Mae Nak Choe Phi Pop'' ( Mae Nak meets Pop), 1997 Pop Phi Fa and 2009 Pop Phi Fa (remake) are Thai television soap operas (ละคร) based on the Pop legend. This ghost is a popular subject in the same manner as
Krasue The ''Krasue'' (, ) is a nocturnality, nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests as the floating, disembodied head of a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her organ (anatomy), internal organs still attached and tr ...
or Krahang and humorous depictions, as well as gory ones, are common in Thai comics.Pop - Comic book
/ref>


See also

* Phi Fa *
Krasue The ''Krasue'' (, ) is a nocturnality, nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests as the floating, disembodied head of a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her organ (anatomy), internal organs still attached and tr ...
*
Phraya Anuman Rajadhon Phraya Anuman Rajadhon (; , also spelled ''Phaya Anuman Rajadhon'' or ''Phrayā Anuman Rajadhon''; December 14, 1888 – July 12, 1969), was one of modern Thailand's most remarkable scholars. He was a self-trained linguist, anthropologist and e ...
*
Ghoul In folklore, a ghoul (from , ') is a demon-like being or monstrous humanoid, often associated with graveyards and the consumption of human flesh. In the legends or tales in which they appear, a ghoul is far more ill-mannered and foul than go ...


References

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External links


Thai popular spiritsThai movies with trailersThai horror movies
Thai ghosts