Krasue

Krasue
กระสือ / អាប

Krasue (Thai) or Ahp (Khmer) and "Palasik", "Kuyang", "Leak", "Poppo", "Parakang", "Selaq Metem" (Indonesian) ghost
Grouping	Legendary creature
Sub grouping	Nocturnal, undead, luminescent
Similar creatures	Manananggal (Philippines), "Palasik", "Leyak" and "Kuyang" (Indonesia)
Mythology	Southeast Asian folk mythology
Other name(s)	Ahp, Penanggalan, Leyak, "Kuyang", "Palasik"
Country	Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia
Region	Southeast Asia

The Krasue (Thai: กระสือ, /krà.sɯ̌ː/), known as Ahp (Khmer: អាប) in Cambodia and as Kasu (Lao: ກະສື, /ka.sɯ̌ː/) in Laos, is a nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests itself as a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her internal organs hanging down from the neck, trailing below the head.^[1]

According to Thai ethnographer Phraya Anuman Rajadhon, the Krasue consists of a floating head accompanied by a will-o'-the-wisp kind of luminescent glow.^[2] The explanations attempted about the origin of the glow include the presence of methane in marshy areas.^[3] The Krasue is often said to live in the same areas as Krahang, a male spirit of the Thai folklore.

This spirit moves about by hovering in the air above the ground, for it has no lower body. The throat may be represented in different ways, either as only the trachea or with the whole neck.^[4] The organs below the head usually include the heart and the stomach with a length of intestine,^[5] the intestinal tract emphasizing the ghost's voracious nature. In recent movie Krasue Valentine, this ghost is represented with more internal organs, such as lungs and liver, but much reduced in size and anatomically out of proportion with the head.^[6] The viscera are sometimes represented freshly daubed with blood,^[7] as well as glowing.^[8] In contemporary representations her teeth often include pointed fangs in yakkha (Thai: ยักษ์) or vampire fashion.^[9] In the movie Ghosts of Guts Eater she has a halo around her head.^[10]

Krasue has been the subject of a number of movies in the region, including My Mother is Arb (Khmer: កូនអើយ ម្តាយអាប). Also known as Krasue Mom, this Cambodian horror film has the distinction of being the first movie made in the People's Republic of Kampuchea after the absence of locally-made movies and the repression of local folklore in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era.^[11]

The Krasue is also found in the popular mythology of Malaysia, where it is called the penanggalan or hantu penanggal, and also in Indonesia that has many names like Leak, Palasik, Selaq Metem, Kuyang, Anton, Poppo, and Parakang. This spirit is also part of Vietnamese folklore as ma lai via the minority ethnic groups of Vietnam's Central Highlands. In the Philippines there is a similar ghost, manananggal, a local spirit that haunts pregnant women.^[12][13][14]

Legends

Origin

In Thailand, there is a legend locating Krasue's origin in Angkorian Khmer culture. It tells of a certain Khmer princess becoming the Krasue in centuries past after having been executed by burning. The marriage to a powerful Siamese nobleman had been arranged for this Khmer lady following the defeat of her people in war. She was very distressed, however, for she was in love with one of the conquering soldiers, a younger man of a lower status. Eventually she was caught with her lover and the offended Siamese aristocrat sentenced her to death by burning. Shortly before the execution the princess got a Khmer sorceress to cast a magic spell over her to allow her body to be unharmed by the flames. The spell was powerful, but its effect arrived too late, when most of the body of the princess had been burnt except for her head and some of her viscera. Thenceforward the non-charred remains were cursed to continue living as the Krasue ghost. A modern version of this particular Phi Krasue's legend was enacted in the 2002 Thai horror film Demonic Beauty.^[15]

There are other oral traditions that say that this spirit was formerly a rich lady that had a length of black gauze or ribbon tied around the head and neck as protection from the sunshine. This woman was then possessed by an evil spirit and was cursed to become a Krasue. Other popular legends claim that origin of the spirit may have been a woman trying to learn black magic that made a mistake or used the wrong spell so that her head and body became separated. Past sins are also related to the transmission of the Krasue curse; women who aborted or killed someone in a previous life will become a Krasue as punishment. Other folk stories talk about a person being cursed to become a Krasue after having consumed food and drink contaminated with a krasue's saliva or flesh. Popular imagination also claims that the transformation into a Krasue is largely restricted to the relatives of women practicing witchcraft "Mae Mot" (แม่มด) or "Yai Mot" (ยายมด), especially their daughters or granddaughters. Often women acting strange in a community are suspected of becoming nightly a Krasue by other members of the village.^[16]

Description in Thai folklore

The Krasue is under a curse that makes it ever hungry and always active in the night when it goes out hunting to satisfy its gluttony, seeking blood to drink or raw flesh to devour. It may attack cattle or chicken in the darkness, drinking their blood and eating their internal organs.^[17] It may also prey on pieces of cattle, such as water buffalo that have died of other causes during the night. If blood is not available the Krasue may eat feces or carrion.^[18] Clothes left outside would be found soiled with blood and excrement in the morning, allegedly after she had wiped her mouth. Therefore, villagers would not leave clothes hanging to dry outside during the night hours.

The Krasue also preys on pregnant women in their homes just before or after the childbirth. It hovers around the house of the pregnant woman uttering sharp cries to instil fear. It uses an elongated proboscis-like tongue^[19][20] to reach the fetus or its placenta within the womb. This habit, among other unmentionable things that this spirit does, is believed to be the cause of many diseases affecting women mainly in rural areas during their pregnancy. In some cases it may catch the unborn child and use its sharp teeth to devour it. In order to protect pregnant women from becoming victims before delivery, their relatives place thorny branches around the house. This improvised thorny fence discourages the Krasue from coming to suck the blood and causing other suffering to the pregnant lady within the house.^[21] After delivery, the woman's relatives must take the cut placenta far away for burial to hide it from the Krasue. There is the belief that if the placenta is buried deep enough the spirit can not find it. ^[18]

The Krasue hides the headless body from which it originates in a quiet place because it needs to join it before daybreak,^[22] living like a normal person during the day, although having a sleepy look.^[23] To crush the still headless body of the krasue is fatal to the spirit. The flying head will return after hunting but rejoin with the wrong body which will lead it to suffer torment until death. If the top part of the body fails to find the lower half before daybreak it will die in terrible pain. The Krasue will also die if its intestines get cut off or if its body disappears or gets hidden by someone. Some folk beliefs hold that the creature can be destroyed by burning it. The main foes of the Krasue are mobs of angry villagers carrying torches and machetes. They may catch the Krasue and kill it or watch where she goes before dawn and destroy her body.

There is a legend said that the people who are wounded should be aware of the Krasue because it can smell the blood and will come to eat the blood at night when people fall asleep. However, there are ways to prevent the Krasue from coming inside the house. House-owners usually build spiky fences or grow spiky bamboo to protect themselves from the Krasue. Krasue is scared of spiky things because its intestine might get stuck and it could not escape.^[24]

Recent reported sightings

22 July 2008, cctv of lemon juice factory in Nong Suea District, Pathum Thani Province, capture of Krasue is quite clear.^[25]

The death of a great number chicken in mysterious circumstances at a farm in Nakhon Luang District, Ayutthaya Province, on the night of 4 October 2015 was blamed by local villagers on the activity of the Krasue.^[26][27]

Krasue references in Thai culture

There is information from The Royal Academy which provides examples of how belief in the Krasue has been reflected in Thai culture for centuries, for example:

• 1.An abnormally tiny banana (caused by a mutation) is said to be eaten by a Krasue.
• 2.A gluttonous person who eats too fast is usually said to “eat like a Krasue” or to be “as gluttonous as Krasue”.
• 3.Glowing mushroom in Khonkaen province is called “ Krasue Mushroom”.^[28]

. Glowing mushroom in Khonkaen province is called “ Krasue Mushroom”.

• 4.In Chonburi province, there is a village named “ Nong Krasue” (Krasue marsh). Now, the name has been changed to “ Nong Krasaem” (Happiness marsh) to make it less scary.^[29]

Scientific interpretation

In scientific terms, the Krasue is usually interpreted as the blazing flame from methane gas particles that are emitted from rotten organic matters in the farm or the field. Another source of information from research by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sirintornthep Towprayoon, an energy researcher from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, states that the idea that the Krasue is actually methane gas particles is impossible because not enough methane is emitted to ignite . Even if it doesn’t ignite, the burning would be only at the surface of the object, not floating up like the Krasue.^[30] Also, regarding anatomy, when the head is pulled off from the human body, other organs such as the gut, heart, and lungs will not come together with the head.^[30]

Modern popular culture

Countries where the Krasue tale is popular have adapted it to film.^[31] Several Thai films depict this spirit, including 1973 movie Krasue Sao (Ghosts of Guts Eater), Thai: กระสือสาว with Sombat Metanee, which features a fight between two Krasues,^[32] Itthirit Nam Man Phrai Thai: อิทธิฤทธิ์น้ำมันพราย made in 1984, with Tanid Pongmanoon and Praew Mardmarud,^[33] Krasue Kat Pop Thai: กระสือกัดปอบ (1990) with Bin Banleurit and Trirak Rakkarndee,^[34] Krasue Krahailueat (Bloodthirsty Krasue), Thai: กระสือกระหายเลือด, made in 1995 with Thida Teerarat,^[35] Tamnan Krasue Thai: ตำนานกระสือ (Demonic Beauty) released in 2002, Krasue Valentine (2006) by Yuthlert Sippapak, Krasue (The Gluttonous Fear) Thai: กระสือ made in 2007, with Jedsada Roongsakorn and Sirintorn Parnsamutr,^[36] Krasue Fat Pop Thai: กระสือฟัดปอบ (2009) with Chutima Naiyana, in which Krasue fights against Phi Pop,^[37] and Fullmoon Devil (2011) Thai: กระสือ by Komson Thripong. Krasue also appears in erotic movies such as Krasue Rak Krasue Sawat (2014) Thai: กระสือรัก กระสือสวาท^[38] and Wan Krasue Sao (2013) Thai: ว่านกระสือสาว^[39] In all these movies Krasue plays a central role, but she also appears in many other movies in lesser roles, such as in Phi Ta Wan Kap Achan Ta Bo (2008) Thai: ผีตาหวานกับอาจารย์ตาโบ๋,^[40] among others.^[41]

Krasue, as Ap (also spelt Arp or Arb), is present in the Cambodian horror films Neang Arp (Lady Vampire) (2004),^[42] Tiyen Arp (Heredity of Krasue) (2007), Arb Kalum (The Sexiest Krasue) (2009)^[43] and Phlerng Chhes Arb.^[44] Hong Kong's Witch with the Flying Head (飛頭魔女) (1977), which includes a Krasue spitting flames and firing laser beams and that was dubbed in Thai as Krasue Sawat (กระสือสวาท), meaning "Lovely Krasue",^[45] and Indonesia's Mystics in Bali (1981) also feature local versions of Krasue. In the Vietnam War-era drama Freedom Deal by Camerado, President Nixon orders the 1970 military incursion into Cambodia, unwittingly unleashing a legion of local ghosts similar to the Krasue.^[46]

This ghost appears periodically in Thai television soap operas (ละคร). Krasue, a popular lakhon aired between 20 December 1994 and 21 March 1995,^[47] as well as the more recent Krasue Mahanakhon (กระสือมหานคร) —in which the ghost story for a change is against a background of young city people instead of the usual rural or traditional setting^[48]— feature a Krasue in the central role. The theme song of the 1994 Krasue TV soap opera became very famous.^[49] There was a remake in 2011 named Krasue Cham Sin (กระสือจำศีล),^[50] but it was poorly cast and produced, not being able to reach the popularity of the 1994 lakhon. A Krasue has been also comically featured in a Sylvania light bulb commercial for Thai audiences^[51] and in a more recent dietary supplement ad.^[52] A rather ugly-looking Krasue has a role as well in the Nak animated movie.

Representations of Krasue, often humorous,^[53] are very common in Thai comic books.^[54][55][56] Since this ghost is a popular subject in some places of Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, there are even costumes,^[57] dolls,^[58] keyholders^[59] and lamps^[60] in Krasue form.

The Krasue is one of the enemies found in Indivisible, a role-playing game.

See also

• Thai folklore
• Hungry ghost
• Leyak
• Nukekubi
• Manananggal (Philippine mythology)
• Penanggalan (Malay culture)

Bibliography

• Chutima Pragatwutisarn (2010) (ชุติมา ประกาศวุฒิสาร), Evil Woman in a Beautiful Body: Femininity and the Crisis of Modernity in Thai Society, Chulalongkorn University
• Baumann, Benjamin (2013) Tamnan Krasue - Constructing a Khmer Ghost for a Thai Film. in: Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia (14)

References

External links

• Tamnan Krasue-Constructing a Khmer Ghost for a Thai Film
• Macula's illustration of (krasue)

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