Mae Nak of Phra Khanong
Thailand's best-loved ghost story is of a wife who waited for her husband to come home, long after she had died.
What was reported
The legend of Mae Nak Phra Khanong tells of a young woman in what is now a district of Bangkok, in the 19th century, whose husband went away to war. She died in childbirth while he was gone, but when he came home she was waiting with their baby, and he lived with her, not knowing she was a spirit.
When he learned the truth, she wouldn't let him go, until a monk finally laid her to rest. A shrine to Mae Nak at Wat Mahabut is visited every day by people asking for luck, love and protection.
Explanations offered
The story has been told in countless films, plays and TV series, and some think it grew from a real woman of the area. It's a folk tale of love and loss rather than a claim anyone sets out to prove, and the shrine is a living part of Bangkok's religious life.
- When
- Told since the 1800s
- Where
- Wat Mahabut, Phra Khanong, Bangkok, Thailand
- Witnesses
- Thai tradition, and visitors to her shrine
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.