Mae Nak Phra Khanong
From Buddhist Encyclopedia
The story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong is famous and a favorite among Thai people.
History
In a rural village in Thailand, Mak was sent to fight in a war and leaves his pregnant wife, Nak. Mak was injured, and barely survives. He returns home to his doting wife and child, or so he thinks. Mysterious events occur around the village.
A friend visits and sees Mak living together with Nak. The villagers, knowing that Nak died in childbirth several months previously, realize what is happening, that Mak is spellbound by Nak's ghost. People who attempt to tell Mak, or who know too much, are killed by Nak's ghost, who becomes more active in her aggression due to her inability to accept her early death and her frantic desire to stay with her husband.
Toward the end, Mak discovers what is happening, and shocked, flees to the local temple. The villagers attempt several solutions, including burning down the house and in the end summon a ghost banisher to destroy her forehead (this would destroy her soul as well as the ghost).
The country's most respected Buddhist monk at that time, Ajahn Toh arrives in the final moments to advise Nak. In a tearful farewell Nak repents, leaving her husband to live his life. Ajahn Toh has the center of her forehead cut out and gives it to her husband for safekeeping who then finally becomes a monk. The epilogue states that her husband wore the artifact to the end of his days, where it was passed on to the King.
