“Possessed’ girl leads cops to naught

PHUKET: Police spent hours dredging a pond in Songkhla province earlier this month after a 17-year-old girl told them she had been possessed by the spirit of a young boy whose murdered body was dumped there.

Officers eventually abandoned the search after failing to find any remains – except for the skeleton of a dead dog.

Mrs Ploi said her daughter Fa (names have been changed to protect the family’s identity) came home from school on January 13 and began speaking in a voice that was not her own.

Fa claimed to be the spirit of a dead schoolboy called “Boy” who had been murdered. His body had been dumped in a pond behind Wat Khaotoknam in Rattaphum District and the corpse was hidden under three plastic tanks on the bed of the pond, Fa claimed.

Fa said Boy was killed after fighting with his stepmother and that his father had covered up the crime. The voice even gave the address where Boy lived as well as the names of his parents.

Fa asked that the police be informed so that the body could be recovered. Over the next few days, Fa kept repeating the same words over and over again and eventually Mrs Ploi agreed to take her to the police.

The family arrived at Rattaphum Police Station on January 15, quickly persuading them to launch a search for Boy’s body.

Officers went to the pond together with a fire truck and local volunteers. A crowd of at least 100 villagers gathered to watch the search.

After pumping water out of the pond and dredging the sandy bottom, officers found three plastic water tanks, just as Fa had said.

They kept digging in the sand for another three hours, eventually finding some bones. Excitement was tempered, however, when a dog’s skull was found accompanying the skeleton and the search was later called off.

Police went to the house described by Fa, finding that the occupants were not as the girl described and there had never been a boy called “Boy” living at the address.

At the time Thai-language reports of the affair appeared on January 16, Fa was apparently still speaking in a strange voice and claiming to be Boy’s spirit.

Rattaphum Police Station Superintendent Phitak Phuttawiro said he had advised Fa’s family to take her to the hospital for treatment.

— Thai Rath