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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Steven White

One of Thailand's most haunted places where 99 monks performed an exorcism

For many visitors flying to Thailand there is good chance they will inadvertently pass through one of the country's most haunted locations.

Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) just outside the capital city of Bangkok, a major tourist hotspot, opened in 2006 and has since had many ghostly sightings in it as well as fatal accidents.

Right from international airport's beginnings, an oversight meant that many of its construction workers did not know it was being built on top of an ancient cemetery.

Some of them reportedly refused to work and quit there on the spot once they knew - because they were too frightened to continue.

The airport is said to be haunted in particular by a blue ghost called Poo Ming (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)

While it was being built, which is estimated to have cost more than $4bn, workers said they could hear screams and wails around them.

One person alleged he could hear classical Thai music being played - although there was nowhere obvious it could have been coming from.

During BKK's official opening the authorities even brought in 99 Buddhist monks to appease any untoward spirits away.

A swamp was drained to build the airport on - but it was also the site of an ancient cemetery (Matt Hunt/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)

The exorcism ceremony was full of chanting and prayers and took nine weeks to complete.

One dramatic moment at the end of it saw a baggage handler stumbling through the throngs of people watching the monks and claiming to be the guardian of the cemetery, Poo Ming.

The holy men duly blessed the young man so that he could return back to normal.

A group of 99 Buddhist monks led prayers and chats for nine weeks to appease any spirits in the airport (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)

However the lingering ghost of Poo Ming, who is said to be blue in colour, refuses to leave the airport and is often seen in the guise of an old man with a walking stick.

He, along with other demons, are believed to stalk the terminals.

Sometime they possess people within the vicinity and allegedly cause accidents and even suicides.

Plane crashes at the airport have been blamed on ghosts by airline officials (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)

Airports of Thailand, which owns BKK, built glass barriers in more elevated terminals to stop people from jumping down and killing themselves.

Many people have reported seeing the apparition of pale lady carrying a baby who regularly causes accidents by stepping in front of drivers and scaring them.

While an abandoned Honda car sits in the airport's car park caked in a layer of dust.

Gifts of red Fanta are often left for the dead by people in the spirit house inside the airport (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)

It is said that the person who rented the car was killed years ago and now haunts the area - people place flowers by the vehicle as an offering to the unrestful spirit.

In 2013 a plane landing at BKK lost control and veered off the runway.

Luckily there were no serious injuries to anyone and it was concluded that it was the result of malfunctioning landing gear underneath the plane.

The airport's name Suvarnabhumi means 'the golden land' and was chose by King Rama IX who died in 2016 (Matt Hunt/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)

However, the Thai Airways managing director blamed it on ghosts at the time and went as far as saying that a ghost flight attendant helped passengers off the plane.

Another, more serious accident happened in 2018 when a landing plane again skidded off the runway and injured 14 people.

Malignant spirits were accused of playing a part in the incident once more.

An abandoned vehicle in the car park is thought to be haunted by the ghost of the man who rented it and was killed before he could return (Reuters/Chalinee Thirasupa)

Thailand is a country entrenched in the belief of ghosts and one effort to maintain the afterlife within BKK is through the building of spirit houses.

There, many Thai-based airlines conduct group prayer sessions where people can leave offerings to the dead.

One popular gift is strawberry Fanta as the drink is thought to be a favourite of ghosts due to its bright red colouring.

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