The Tang Sam Prang is a junction where three roads connect and has a deadly reputation. Thai people believe that the three-way junction is the place where spirits use (live), and also a place where invisible powers (ghosts perhaps) can gather and reflect bad effects into the house. As you can imagine, not many people are thrilled about the idea of building their house in the middle of a junction.
Many three-way junctions in Thailand, especially in the countryside, come alongside a spirit house with a small doll (people believe it is an offering for the spirit), dressed in colourful clothes.
Most of the stories about Y-shaped junctions involve accidents that always happen at the same spot in front of the same house or the family inhabiting within that haunted house may face unfortunate luck, bad health or even death.
Even nowadays, there continues to be mysterious stories, told by teenagers. This is a story from Som and her friends in January, recorded on the radio programme The Shock in Bangkok.
“It happened in Tha Phra (in Bangkok) two years ago. My friends and I were exploring the Sapan Put (night market). Later, one friend forgot her house key at another friend’s house. When we got in the alley, there was an intersection like a Tang Sam Prang. She told us to wait outside. We waited for around two hours and she still did not show up. We noticed a house just in front of the intersection that had all the lights on, there was a Chinese-looking old lady waving at us in front of the house. It wasn’t until the next day, that the group of friends discovered that the house they thought they saw had actually been demolished years ago, after the old lady had passed away.
Some people believe in methods such as Feng Shui, putting mystic symbols,
or a Buddha image, or a mirror on the roof, may prevent bad spirits from materialising.