92 4.16 Wat Pai Ngoen, Bangkok (2/2)

The video and camera crew was non stop recording ever since Pornsak had mentioned that she is here for the visit and unmistakenly took it as a cue for the documentary to start. Even I who was not supposedly be involved was also been taken in by the video camera as part of the prop.

Out of a corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a baby who was peeking from behind a metal cabinet and heard some soft giggling too. I looked at Pornsak and I signalled and pointed to my third eye and my ears that I had seen and heard something.

”Ah... Don't worry Aroon, they are here and they are harmless. We will open up a portal for them to enter the netherworld at the end of this segment, ok? I brought the thing that my uncle had brought me.” Pornsak patted her sling bag beside her and that may contain some mystical items that she said will make the loss souls journey back to the netherworld.

After I had torn a few packets of sticky milk candies, arranged the mini milk bottles that looked like those for playthings for girls to feed their baby dolls, and also the glutinous candies. It looked quite a galore for the small ones to enjoy and I lit up 3 joss sticks, clasped it in my hands and muttered something to them to enjoy this little offering that we have prepared for them and stuck it in the middle of the offerings altar. I quickly rose and went offscreen as I am not part of the Narrator or the SPI team anyways.

Pornsak began narrating in her calm voice as the video camera panned the area before her and fixed on her face and then zoomed out to where the offerings altar and then back on her again.

”It was just another regular day in the market. People were busy with shopping, while merchants were gossiping about the latest TV dramas. A local guy noticed that a dog was carrying a plastic bag in its mouth.” Pornsak began with a calm voice when she suddenly peaked her voice a treble later.

” When the dog tore the bag open, he was shocked. The dog was chewing on a baby's body part. Police followed the dog and traced the source of the bag to the nearby Wat Pai Ngoen Temple. When they entered the morgue, the stench was unbearable.”

SPI members who were listening to her narrating felt goosebumps all over, including me! That dog that happened to growl at us earlier may have entered our story and doesn't the plastic bag contain any body parts, do they?

Pornsak continued,” What they discovered was more shocking – piles of plastic bags that had overflowed from the storage area. Inside the bags, dead foetuses and babies' body parts were found. In total, as many as 2,002 dead babies were found.”

Pornsak paused and pointed to another location to narrate and shoot. Slight perspiration had emerged under above her upper lip. After moving to the torn apart crematoria she began again.

”After investigations, police found that for years, the cremators had been paid by an illegal abortion clinic to destroy the bodies. But recently, the crematorium malfunctioned, so the bodies were piled up in the storage until it had overflowed.”

”Although the bodies were properly cremated after that, locals sometimes can still hear the sounds of babies giggling and crying coming from the direction of the temple. A photo even surfaced on the news – someone had captured a shadow of a baby figure in front of the storage door where the bodies were found.”

”Alright, its a wrap. Let's move on to the middle of the temple and set up this thing my uncle had given me. Not a single minute too late as the weather around doesn't permit.”

Pornsak showed to the SPI team of the sudden overcast of dark shadows looking in the distance that threatens to break loose anytime soon sending torrents of rain in Thai godforsaken place. She definitely would not want to get stuck in here a minute longer.

She moved to the middle of the temple and took out a yellow piece of cloth and she unfurled it. She placed it on the ground using four stones to add to its weight. I saw a lot of intricate designs on the yellow cloth and as I passed the offering altar, the first thing I noticed was its joss stick that had been through. The neatly arranged candies had been disturbed while some had even dropped to the ground. Must be some rats, I suppose.

Pornsak said some prayers on the yellow cloth and stood up and clasped her hands and bowed slightly.

”Let's go, if those souls are willing to enter to their other side then let them be. We will not be in any power to control them to cross over but once a single soul steps over, the rest might follow,” she explained as she walked over to me and held my arm with the rest of the SPI team followed suit after switching off the video cameras.

It was already past 3 pm and we decided to move to our next location that was at Ajarn Chuan Ashram which was located at Chachoengsao, a distance of 87km or a 2hrs drive. The place we are heading was nearby Paet Riu train terminus and even driving through normal traffic, we would be there about 530 pm and that leaves little daylight to safely film the documentary.

So the SPI team decides to leave the documentary part in the next morning as we head to look for the nearest lodging available there. The EMF gadget left in the passenger side had picked some considerable movement before we embark on our journey and the SPI team prayed that none of the spirits would follow them as they journey forward.

Soon, the van rolled out from the abandoned crematorium and back to the main road where the bustling city life greeted us once again. Some of the SPI team members began to unroll what they had taken from their cameras of that place and soon out of dozens of pictures taken, there seem to be some apparitions of naked babies at the bundle of toys that were strewn across the floor, also appearing at the spoilt snacks and fruits left by visitors at one corner of the wall plus a peeking head of a baby looking at the offerings altar when I was arranging the sweets and stuffs there.

The SPI team was ecstatic at the same time felt the prickly goosebumps when they saw the smiling babies that seemed to greet them with smiles of joy as we brought them fresh offerings.