Ghosts Around the Globe: Thailand’s Krasue
In Thailand, a krasue is the spirit of a beautiful young woman that manifests as a floating head with internal organs trailing below the neck. An eerie glow accompanies the krasue as it floats up and down the countryside, searching for blood to drink or raw flesh to consume. Cambodians know this horrifying specter as an ap, while Laotians call it a kasu. Similar spirits appear in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
According to Thai folklore, krasues pose a real danger to pregnant women. Tales speak of floating heads that attempt to slay babies within the womb or devour expelled placentas. If there aren’t any pregnant women around, a krasue might feast on cattle, chicken, or even feces.
Before night turns to day, a krasue must rejoin the rest of its body or face an agonizing death. Humans can destroy a krasue by crushing or hiding a krasue’s headless body, usually concealed in remote locations, or severing the intestines trailing from the spirit’s head.
The krasue appears in several Asian films, including Ghosts of Guts Eater, Krasue Mom, Demonic Beauty, The Gluttonous Fear, and Fullmoon Devil. The gory ghost even stars in a few Thai soap operas.
Though some might dismiss tales of krasue as folklore, some Thai men and women claim to have seen the beast in person. Here’s a video one woman shot from her cell phone.
Has a floating head tried to devour your fetus? Share your experience here!
You know it’s interesting because my father encountered a male version of this creature. And he’s Cuban not Asian.
Yes, there is a male equivalent, if I recall. Asia has so many different types of spirits.
Or are you saying Cuba has something similar?
That’s just it, this demon is common to Asia not Cuba. No Cuban besides my father (that I’m
Aware of) has ever heard of them much less seen them.