In the 1970s, it is said that a mistress of President Lon Nol hanged herself in her unfinished villa near the Phnom Penh International Airport after she had been overwhelmed with debt for gambling.
Before it was demolished in the late 1990s, people say the villa was haunted and nobody dared to try a night stay in the villa as an army of ghosts even dared to exchange gunfire with real soldiers who tried to stay there to test their courage.
Indeed, the late Khmer Republic President’s mistress ghost is among one of the most fearsome phantoms that Cambodians believe.
Called Kmaoch Tay Horng, these ghosts are the spirits of people who have died of unnatural causes such as a lightning strike, drowning, murder, or suicide.
Nevertheless, Cambodians’ fear of ghosts seems to be slowly fading away as living space has expanded into the ghost sanctuary over the past few decades.
“Now many people even built their houses next to the graveyards,” says Sok Hun, a 43-year-old tomb builder in Kampong Cham province.
When he was young, Hun says he was also afraid of ghosts and did not dare go past a cemetery alone after dark.“Old people said ghosts could do anything to haunt you,” he says. “There was a story about a man injuring his body as he swam on the dry road when the ghost turned it into a fake river at night.”
Many young Cambodians think that old people use ghosts to scare their children so that they do not go out at night. They say the ghosts will haunt them, especially at midnight when they go past a crematorium.
A young man was said to have returned home after midnight after he had gone dancing during the Khmer New Year. When he arrived at a pagoda, he saw a young girl sitting alone under a banyan tree.
“Why are you staying here alone at night?” the man began to flirt with her. “Aren’t you afraid of ghosts?”
“Of course, I was very afraid of ghosts when I was still alive,” responded the girl, making the young man show his clean pair of heels.
Old people also try to prevent young children from going swimming in the river and frighten them that “water ghosts” will pull their legs and drown them.
Meanwhile, Cambodian people also blame the ghosts for something missing or human-made mistakes.
“Hidden by the ghost, it will be found by the blind!” children are told to recite this phrase when they try to find something missing.
Also, a countryside man tells his friend not to tease him with a knife lest a ghost accidentally pushes his hand and kills him.
When a young woman secretly breaks the wind among others at night, she will try not to tell others out of shame though people encourage her to admit this.
“If nobody has farted, it must have been the ghost!” a man would put the blame on the phantom.
“How did you blame the ghost as I did not do it!” shouted the ghost from behind as people ran into different directions.
Uy Borasy, a 59-year-old Phnom Penh resident, says his fear of ghosts began during the Khmer Rouge period in the late 1970s when a friend from a youth mobile work camp died at a hospital in Kratie province.
“I was also sick and stayed in a bed next to him,” he recalls. “After he died, his spirit came to stay on top of me one night, making me unable to move.”
Pov says a friend of his has claimed to know a phrasal mantra to frighten the ghost if he feels that he is being haunted by the ghost.
“He told me to say ‘Putho Arahaing Ana Klaing Chenh Mok!’ (Oh, Mighty Buddha, You ghost come out if you are strong!)” says Pov, adding that he has never dared to say that since “The ghost may appear and scare the hell out of me.”
Heng Chhun Ieng, a 50-year-old mother in Kampong Cham, says she was also afraid of ghosts when she was still a small girl.
“When I went past a graveyard after dark, I would run as fast as I could,” she recalls.
Ieng says her parents-in-law gave her and her husband a small plot of land behind the village to build a house near a graveyard after they got married 25 years ago.
“Now, I am not afraid of ghosts anymore after living side by side with them,” she says. “If you don’t disturb them, they will not disturb us either.”
Hun, the tomb builder, says the stories of haunting ghosts may become a thing of the past as new development continues to move into the ghost sanctuary.
The father of three says he often sleeps next to the tomb he is building to help protect the dead body which has just been buried.
“I think the ghosts are grateful to me for building their tombs and don’t make me afraid,” he says, laughing. “If any ghosts haunt me, I will make an ugly tomb for them.”
However, the website “Verywellmind” gives some tips for people who are still afraid of ghosts to follow so that they can get rid of phasmophobia or the fear of ghosts.
Medication
Medications may sometimes be prescribed to help people cope with some of the symptoms associated with phasmophobia, including anxiety and depression. Anti-anxiety medications or antidepressants may help people manage some of these responses. In many cases, medications tend to be most effective when combined with other treatments.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy can also be helpful in the treatment of phasmophobia. There are several different types that may be considered.
Exposure therapy is the preferred treatment for specific phobias such as phasmophobia.
People are gradually exposed to the source of their fear while they practice relaxation responses. Over time, the fear response is gradually reduced or eliminated.
Religious counseling is another option. In some cases, it may be best to seek counseling with a religious leader in addition to or in lieu of traditional therapy.
Coping
Research suggests that fear of the supernatural and ghosts leads people to experience feelings of shame. In addition to treatment, it is important to find ways to cope with both the anxiety of the phobia as well as such associated emotions that this fear can create.
This self-care may include making sure that you are getting plenty of sleep, eating a healthy diet, and engaging in regular exercise.
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