Belief in ghosts in vietnam.

Xuan Ngoc Lanh from Quang Nam Province,in central Vietnam,killed himself after his prize sow gave birth to a litter of all males.

Local custom demands that in such circumstances the sow and her piglets must be killed in order to appease the forest ghosts .

However Lanh spared the sow,s his family's most valuable asset, which according to locals angered the the forest ghosts.

After the forest ghosts caused a string of bad luck, Xuan Ngoc Lanh took his own life,leaving behind his wife and two children.

He was convinced that it was only a matter of time before the forest ghosts killed him.

www.thesun.co.uk...

Belief in ghosts in Vietnamese culture is strong .Vietnamese ghosts are people who have died unnatural, premature, painful or violent deaths, and especially when people die away from home.

As with any society with a widespread belief in the paranormal,Vietnam has its share of ghost stories.

One tale tells of the daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese business mogul.

The story goes that the poor girl she contracted the leprosy when an outbreak of the disease struck Saigon. She was confined to a bedroom on the upper floor of the family mansion which later became Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Art .

It was announced that the young girl had died of a sudden illness as to avoid the social ostracism that goes along with a disease such as leprosy.

This sadly wasn't the case however .The girl was locked away in her room for years with no human contact, only being fed by meals slid under her door.

Eventually the poor thing went insane and hung herself.

People over the decades have reported seeing her ghostly figure roaming the halls of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Art and hearing anguished cries in the night.

www.asialifemagazine.com...

Here is another story told by reddit user /u/pokemonyellowversion which in turn was told him by his mother.

After the Vietnam war a Vietnamese solider returned home to his overjoyed wife.

She raced to greet him but he seem unenthused , responding to her embraces with only the wo "Wife, make me food."

His manner was a little strange and his voice seemed a little off, but so overjoyed about having her husband back after a long absence that she ignored his strangeness.

She made him the meal and the husband ate and immediately went to bed right after. He slept through the rest of the day and only woke at night to say to his wife:

"Wife, make me food."

Again, the wife complied and the same thing happened.The cycle continued like this for weeks until the wife could not ignore his strange manner any longer.

She called upon the local Catholic priest for help. He came and observed the husband, finally saying to the wife: "This man is not your husband. Some spirit has taken posession of his body."

It was decided that the only thing to do was to exorcise the spirit or whatever it was that had taken over her husband.

The priest waited until nightfall when the husband usually woke up to demand food from his wife:

"Wife, make me food."

But instead of his wife there stood the priest. The priest quickly performed the exorcism ritual and the husband fell to the ground, the body decomposing rapidly to nothing but dust.

www.reddit.com...

So maybe Xuan Ngoc Lanh from Quang Nam Province,in central Vietnam had good reason to fear the forest ghosts.

However local media reports that Mr Lanh had twice previously tried to take his own life so the skeptic in me screams out that Mr Lanh probably had underlying mental health issues.

But wait i hear you say. What became of Mr Lanhs prized sow and its litter of all male piglets.

Sorry to inform you they where was disemboweled for worship by the locals.


www.vietnambreakingnews.com...

a reply to: thebabyseagull

If you haven't already, you should watch the movie, R-Point. It's not bad. I think it's on Netflix.

a reply to: thebabyseagull

Superstition about piglets and catholic exorcisms aside for a moment…

The girl was locked away in her room for years with no human contact, only being fed by meals slid under her door.

Eventually the poor thing went insane and hung herself.

People over the decades have reported seeing her ghostly figure roaming the halls of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Art and hearing anguished cries in the night.

Spirits of formerly living people trapped in a location crosses all cultures and geographics, I have eye witnessed a few of these in my lifetime. I would welcome any attempt to explain that sort of thing. What sentence do spirits receive that pins them to a spot, annoying the living? Some are reported to be 'stuck' for generations, centuries even.

Why is that? Simply to convince others of their choosing the spirit realm exists? Is that a sufficient enough reason?

Stuck on 'stuck' ghosts.

a reply to: intrptr

Some are reported to be 'stuck' for generations, centuries even.

I don't believe that time exists in their reality. Centuries would be but a blink of an eye to the spirit.

The Catholic interpretation would be thus:

Purgatory (Lat., "purgare", to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.

Not really religious, per say, but believe in God. However, the definition kind of describes the predicament, as much as we do know about the spirit realm.

a reply to: intrptr

The particulars (why, when, where and hows) of haunts intrigue me... now that I know they are a 'real' phenomena, that is. I thought it was all hooey before I was confronted with it... and it's a worldwide phenom, even though the West has mostly decided it myth.

I, too, have lived in houses with (mostly) invisible residents. One had a suicide and I'm fairly convinced the 'ghost' had an effect on me... sorta "rode" me, somehow, making me do things I normally wouldn't... though nothing violent or anything. When I left, those behaviors stopped... so I can't prove it, but guess it's related.

I once (maybe) stopped a rather intense haunt by just talking to a seemingly empty room, saying "I know you're here, know you can't make us see or hear you often, but maybe you can mentally call out for help and get to where you are supposed to go when you die" and that at least seemed to make it stop... also, talking to 'them' nicely can work to get lost things back, too.

But the mechanics of it all are fascinating. Why are some stuck, and most aren't? What is it about dying by your own actions or being distraught that gets you stuck? Are they stuck, or are they other creatures pretending to be dead people? The fact something can (or seems to) exist without a visible physical body makes most anything possible.

And why are they effected by structures and geography? If they're not physical, then why would they be confined to a physical area? I could guess that it's due to their own mental constructs... but it's a guess. And the rules... although there seems to be some rudimentary communication, nothing of import is ever passed to us living folks... no big info that proves it's supernatural origin, so that it seems some rules might be enforced... and if so, how would that be? Is there a bureaucracy and police force over there?

Being stuck here as a ghost would seem a dismal prospect, but time does seem to make ghosts fade... a local ghost changed from looking real to being seen as a black and white image to a faint shadow over a century's time span, according to reports. I ran into it when fully invisible, but still throwing rocks at people invading his turf.

Anyway, I've read the standard tomes trying to explain it all, but they tend to contradict each other... but it seems an important subject for all of us as we are all shedding these bodies someday, and if we survive, then I'd like to move on to see what's happening around the universe rather than being stuck in my rental house, even IF it was rent free!

So... what's the deal with the afterlife... in Vietnam or Somalia or Idaho or Mars?

a reply to: donktheclown

I don't believe that time exists in their reality. Centuries would be but a blink of an eye to the spirit.

Fourth dimension stuff… like everywhere and every when at once?

Dunno. I can't quite see there from here. Like 2D Flatland people imagining 'UP'.

a reply to: Baddogma

And why are they effected by structures and geography? If they're not physical, then why would they be confined to a physical area?

The only answer I have heard at one time that made any sense to me…

Everyone that has ever been born here, lived here and died here… is still here. Where are we going to go? It takes huge rockets and tons of fuel to leave earth orbit.

Thats assuming they are bound by gravity. Which seems to be the case, in some cases.

Why suicides? Good question. How about, you didn't love yourself enough, stay here till you do. Earn your right to leave this place by letting others that come after you know what you went through. Convince them there is a spirit world (lesson imparted), that suicide is a no no, and theres a penalty…?

I think some people in life were too materialistic with their possessions and money. Maybe they have to stay in the place they lived in and watch others live in it without being able to do anything about it?

God, what torment for someone who is greedy and selfish.

Get out, get ouuut, seems to be another theme.

Another thought was the injustice someone might have endured, a murder unsolved, a lifetime of abuse at the hands of a terrible person.

Until the day justice is really served the poor soul wanders the place trying to convince anyone of their cry of sorrow.

Puuure speculation. I haven't a clue about the 'rules' either. Thanks for playing along, really enjoyed reading your reply.

a reply to: rukia

I will give it a watch.

Not seen on Netflix though.

The U.k version of Netflix apparently has far less choice than the American version.

a reply to: intrptr

I think that a lot of these apparitions are residual.

They are not "conscious" in the sense we normally understand it.

Its like a stuck record ,replaying certain events.

I think someones conscious creates a type of energy.

This energy can be adsorbed by the surrounding area and under some unknown circumstances this energy seeps back int existence causing the energy sort of replay itself.

a reply to: charlyv

On the subject of Purgatory.

The last pope gave permission for babies who died before they have been baptized to go to heaven.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

They big of him ,am sure you'll agree.

So If the concept dd a play a role in reports of ghosts then we wont be seeing any ghost babies.

a reply to: donktheclown

I like this idea,

It would explain a lot.

I have lived in Vietnam for 6 years. Yes, they believe in ghost big time. There is an apartment complex close to where I live consisting of 3 - 33 story buildings that is basically vacant because it is believed to be haunted. saigoneer.com...

a reply to: yayeeya

Great article ,thanx for sharing.

Got any personal stories from your time there?

originally posted by: thebabyseagull
a reply to: intrptr

I think that a lot of these apparitions are residual.

They are not "conscious" in the sense we normally understand it.

Its like a stuck record ,replaying certain events.

I think someones conscious creates a type of energy.

This energy can be adsorbed by the surrounding area and under some unknown circumstances this energy seeps back int existence causing the energy sort of replay itself.

Until they directly interact with you personally. If you've ever had an experience like that you know they are conscious, living beings.

If we are souls then that is the conscious energy? The you that is reading and comprehending this right now, the real you is your soul. The part that leaves the body when it dies.

originally posted by: donktheclown
a reply to: intrptr

Some are reported to be 'stuck' for generations, centuries even.

I don't believe that time exists in their reality. Centuries would be but a blink of an eye to the spirit.

I'm replying twice to your post I thought of something else along the lines of crossing dimensions. Spirits appear to us because they return to this dimension for the small amount of time they do, so they can impart a message, lesson, warning, whatever.

People report all sort of physical phenomenon, from lights, shadows, mists, images, partial to full apparitions.

So we don't understand fully what it is we see because they aren't 'here' in the 3d sense. Just like you talking to a person in 2 dimensional flatland. They would hear your voice coming from everywhere, nowhere. If you passed through their plane of existence, you would appear as a flat morphing image.

Like passing an apple through, to them, the apple is a circle that grows and vanishes, they can't see the whole thing at once.

a reply to: intrptr

> Until they directly interact with you personally.

I have never had such an encounter . If i did mayhaps that would go some way to influencing my opinion on the matter.

Have you had such an encounter, if you dont mind me asking ?

How do you know that it was a real occurrence as opposed to a psychological one?

a reply to: thebabyseagull

Have you had such an encounter, if you dont mind me asking ?

How do you know that it was a real occurrence as opposed to a psychological one?

Yes, on occasion.

To know its real as opposed to imaginary it helps to have someone with you that has the same experience, plus some background about it that exists prior to you witnessing the same things others have before you.

Called corroboration, things add up to convince you, sealing the event in your mind so you remember it for the rest of your life. You tell me why…

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: intrptr

The answer "that everyone is still here" is possibly right on, but I'd guess the "here" is on a different 'level' ...at least the place we are supposed to go might be overlayed on this "dimension" (terms are problematic when we don't know for sure what we're talking about!) or "frequency" ... interesting thought on gravity being a constant, but some of the accounts mention floating, or at least they don't all seem bound by gravity, but as we think we can detect gravity from other universes, then perhaps it IS a constant... though physical structure itself sure seems malleable, at the least.

Anyway, nice to wonk out with someone over this... as there aren't too many folks who know this stuff has some reality and express a willingness to discuss it.. .probably a decent Thread idea there.

Enjoy your posts, too...

a reply to: thebabyseagull

Sure, some are def residual... but all the guys I've run into were reactive and seemed aware... though lacking a richness I associate w normal living folks, although that's hard to really determine from sporadic code knocking and such ... maybe the Egyptian (etc) idea of us as a composite being is right on? And these beings are just partial remnants of humans (no offense to any ghosts reading this)?