Mae Nak Phra Khanong, or simply Mae Nak or Nang Nak, is a well-known Thai ghost. According to

Mae Nak Phra Khanong (meaning 'Lady Nak of Phra Khanong'), or simply Mae Nak ('Lady Nak') or Nang Nak ('Miss Nak'), is a well-known Thai ghost. According to local folklore the story is based on events that took place during the reign of King Rama IV.

A shrine dedicated to Nak was constructed at Wat Mahabut. In 1997, the shrine was relocated to the nearby Suan Luang district of modern Bangkok.

COMMON LEGEND
A beautiful young woman named Nak, who lived on the banks of the Phra Khanong canal, had an undying love for her husband, Mak.

While Nak was pregnant, Mak was conscripted into the Thai Army and sent to war where he was seriously wounded (in some versions it is the Kengtung Wars, while others are not specific). While he was being nursed back to health in central Bangkok, Nak and their child both died during childbirth. But when Mak returned home, he found his loving wife and child waiting for him. Neighbors warned him that he was living with a ghost but he rebuffed them.

One day, as Nak was preparing nam phrik, she dropped a lime off the porch. In her haste to retrieve it, she stretched her arm to an impossible length pick it up from the ground below. Upon seeing this, Mak realized his wife was a ghost. That night, Mak sneaked out the house and fled with Nak in pursuit. According to Thai folklore, ghosts are afraid of sticky Blumea leaves so Mak hid behind a Blumea balsamifera bush. He then ran into Wat Mahabut temple, which as holy ground, a ghost cannot enter.

In her grief, Nak terrorized the people of Phra Khanong, furious at them for causing Mak to leave her. However, a powerful exorcist captured Nak's ghost; and after confining her in an earthen jar, threw it into the Phra Khanong canal.

There are regional variations to the rest of the story. In one, an old couple new to Phra Khanong find the jar while fishing; in another two fishermen dredge up the jar. In both cases, Nak is freed when the jar is opened.

In alternative versions, a venerable monk named Somdet Phra Phutthachan (To Phrommarangsi) defeats Nak by confining her spirit in the bone of her forehead and binds it to his waistband. Legend says the waistband is currently in the possession of the Thai royal family. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon, also claimed to have had the relic. In another, the monk assured Nak that in a future life she would be reunited with her beloved husband, so she voluntarily departed for the afterlife.

RESEARCH
Anek Nawikamul, a Thai historian, researched the story and found an article in the Siam Praphet newspaper written by K.S.R. Kulap, dated March 10, 1899. Kulap claimed the story of Mae Nak was based on the life of Amdaeng Nak ('Mrs Nak'), daughter of a Tambon Phra Khanong leader named Khun Si. Amdaeng Nak died while she was pregnant. Her son, worried that his father might remarry and his inheritance shared with his step-mother, invented the ghost story. He dressed in women's clothing and threw rocks at passing boats to make people think it was Nak's ghost. Kulap also suggested that Nak's husband was named Chum, not Mak.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Nak_Phra_Khanong

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