Ghosts & SLABS

(1) I notice that the _Sri Lanka Association for Buddhist Studies_
("S.L.A.B.S.") now maintains a website; the last copy of their printed
newsletter (that I managed to find a copy of) was actually an
interesting read, with some useful book reviews, as I recall:

   http://www.beyondthenet.net/SLABS/SLABS_News_Letter.htm

(2) Thailand remains haunted (I wonder why they employed 99 monks to
expel the ghost instead of the usual/magical 108?):

Eerie experience interrupts rite

Ghostly encounters at Suvarnabhumi

By Amornrat Mahitthirook [Bangkok Post]

Airports of Thailand (AoT) organised its largest religious rite at the
new Suvarnabhumi airport yesterday to ward off evil spirits, only to
experience an encounter with the unexplained. Rumours of occasional
''ghostly sightings'' have gone around since the first foundation
brick was laid at the airport many years ago. The AoT is determined to
correct the growing perception that the airport is possibly harbouring
some ''uninvited inhabitants'' and to put its staff members' minds at
ease.

Yesterday's rite was presided over by 99 monks who chanted en masse to
improve the luck of the new airport, set to open commercially on
Thursday.

However, halfway through the rite, a man appeared, quivering, and
began to speak in a commanding voice claiming to be ''Poo Ming'', a
guardian spirit of the land partially developed into the airport.

He ordered that a proper spirit house be built at the airport to allow
for its smooth operation. The man, who was unidentified, later passed
out and woke up to find the spirit had left him.

AoT president Chotisak Asapaviriya said the ceremony helped to boost
the morale of airport staff, some of whom were unnerved after learning
of frequent car crashes on the road running parallel to the airport's
eastern runway.

Some veiled figures have sometimes been spotted on the 6km-long road.

Somchai Sawasdeepon, the airport general manager, said he had heard
ghost stories from staff who came across a woman dressed in a
Thai-style costume at the airport construction site in the evening.

He said the airport land formerly belonged to some local communities
encompassing the centuries-old Wat Nhong Prue and its cemetery. It was
reported that the bodies had not been exhumed for proper religious
cremation.

Sqn Ldr Panupong Nualthongyai, head of Suvarnabhumi airport security,
was also a witness to some strange, unexplained episodes.

''Whatever you make of it, it is the belief associated with the Thai
way of life. For the non-believer, it is best not to act
disrespectfully [towards the supernatural],'' he said.