Window Ghosts

A young Thai man screamed and died in his sleep.

"A window ghost probably killed the man," a Thai trader told me after he had heard the news. "Window ghosts steal the souls of young men during their sleep. The victims scream and die."

I thought for a moment. "A window ghost enters a house through a window, I presume?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"You mentioned men. What about women?"

"The ghosts never attack women," the trader said. "To avoid death, some Thai men wear lipstick to bed. A man who wears lipstick or fingernail polish to bed hopes to trick window ghosts into believing he is a woman and not a man."

"Do window ghosts have any favorite haunts?" I asked.

"Window ghosts kill many young men in Thailand and the Philippines," the trader said. "Most of the deaths occur in the northeastern region of Thailand."