Grave problems for market

RAYONG: Vichai Eaksuk reckoned he was in luck. He’d found a place to hold a small fair for the last two weeks in November. A man called Anek was willing to rent out the area in front of 14 bungalows he managed. What Anek didn’t mention was that villagers believed bungalow No 5 was haunted. So, Vichai set up his fair, but nobody came on the first day. He asked people at a nearby shop why they hadn’t come. Their answer was puzzling; they said they didn’t want to go because the fair was too crowded. Then, on the fifth day, Vichai walked up to his wife, Som, and, speaking in a woman’s voice, told her his name was Juang and he came from Chiang Rai. Speaking through Vichai, Juang said that she had been murdered 10 years earlier, and that her younger sister, Jan, had hanged herself from the banyan tree behind No 5. Then Vichai collapsed, waking with no memory of his stint as medium. Villager Sawaeng Samipak, 70, later confirmed the story. She explained that a foreign man had tricked the girls into coming to Rayong, intending to force them into prostitution. When the girls wouldn’t give in, he murdered Juang. Jan escaped, but later hanged herself from the banyan tree. Two days later, Vichai dressed the Banyan tree with a Thai dress. That night, he awoke at the touch of a hand on his leg. There was no one in the room. When he went back to sleep, he dreamed of a young woman wearing the dress. She thanked him and promised to reward his deed with riches and good luck.