This #FridayThe13th, three Lao ghosts for you.

It's #FridayThe13th, time for some scary tales! Here's three Lao ghosts for you.

Illustration by Xavier Romero-Frias

The Kasu appears in Lao (ກະສື) and Thai (กระสือ) folklore and is known as Ahp (អាប) in Cambodia. She is a nocturnal female spirit, manifested as the head of a young beautiful woman with her internal organs hanging down from her neck. Legend says she was a princess engaged to a Siamese aristocrat although already in love with another soldier, of a lower status. Eventually caught with her lover, the offended Husband-To-Be sentenced her to death by burning. Before the execution she enlisted the help of a Khmer sorceress to allow her body to be unharmed by flames. The spell worked but the magic too slow, most of her body had been burnt except for her head and some viscera, thus the non-charred remains were cursed to continue as the Kasu ghost.

Apparently females are a favorite in Southeast Asian ghost stories. Phi Kong Koi originated as a jungle ghost (ຜີກ່ອງກ່ອຍ in Lao, ผีกองกอย in Thai). She looks like an elderly grandmom hopping on one leg, sometimes with a backwards foot, shouting a distinct cry “kong koi, kong koi!” repeatedly to state she’s hungry. Phi Kong Koi likes to suck blood from the big toes of people sleeping in the jungle so travelers are warned to keep their feet together or crossed to protect themselves. Some folklorists say Phi Kong Koi evolved from an ethnic group which has not been seen for a long time.

Have you heard any variation of ghost stories about Phi Kong Koi?

This last ghost for today is about a noodle ghost with an excerpt from “5 Flavors" by poet Bryan Thao Worra.

“Maybe you’ll see
The young Phi Kowpoon as a sweet phi,
Weeping by her banyan tree, selling soup to strangers.
Alas, her vermicelli is always cold as a dead white worm

But you can taste a marvelous hint of mint green as jade,
Juice from coconuts pale as a ghost’s forgotten bones
And red, red curry reminding you of doting Mae.

Be kind, tip a few extra kip,
It’s how she’s spending her afterlife.” 

“The Phi Kowpoon” art by Vongduane Manivong