Straw dolls keep the ghosts away in Isan

       Large numbers of small dolls made of straw have been appearing throughout Isan in the past three months as a rumour about death has spread across the region.
       The rumour's details have slightly changed from region to region, but the basic element of the fear of death remains the same.
       Generally the story refers to "a village in Isan" where the phee, or ghost, came and took the lives of three young men in one week.
       But around Mukdahan, Yasothon and Roi Et, villagers cite a dream of a queen who told of the death of the three young men. After the dream, she apparently said the phee will continue to take the lives of young men unless households that have young men living under the roof place a decoy on the front gate or fence. That decoy takes the form of the straw doll.
       Villages farther west around Khon Kaen and Udon Thani cite the story of "a village" where the phee came and took three young men who were born on a Wednesday or Thursday and were not married. In this region, most of the dolls, or tukkata, were put up with a written note pinned on them.
       "We put a note on our tukkata to say there are no boys at our house born on a Wednesday or Thursday," said Pitsamai Rachsang. She said it took her only a few hours to make her tukkata using old clothes from her young daughter and a cap from her husband.
       It appears that the village where the rumour started is Ban Don Hun in Khon Kaen province. The first boy to die was aged 18. School had just ended and he had just completed Mathayom 6 and one night he went to a party to celebrate the end of the school year. Returning from the party on a straight stretch of a lonely dirt road, he appeared to have swerved on his motorcycle for no reason, had an accident and died.
       The villagers now believe the phee jumped out, scaring him so that he would have the accident.
       Only a day later another young man died when his pickup rolled over for no apparent reason near the village on a straight dirt road. The rumour gathered speed as it was believed the phee had again jumped out from nowhere to cause the accident.
       Then within the week the third man, aged 23, went to bed as usual but did not wake up. He was reportedly fit and healthy.
       For a small village like Ban Don Hun to lose three of its young unmarried men in only one week, it left them shocked and searching for answers.
       "What really scared us was that his [the man aged 23] family's house is the closest one to the entrance to the wat," said Mrs Pitsamai, adding that the phee had now become very bold and was not afraid of anything getting in its way in its quest to take more young men.
       "Many of the mothers in our village painted the fingernails of our sons so that the phee would think that they are women and not men," another woman named Doy said.No more young men were "taken" and the villagers believe the danger has now passed and the phee has moved on.With the onset of the rainy season, the tukkata are quickly succumbing to the elements and disappearing into the folklore of Isan.