新世代をゾッとさせる「お化けラジオ」　タイ

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイ・バンコクのうらびれたショッピングセンターの上階。真夜中になるとリスナーが経験した超自然現象を語る「お化けラジオ」の配信が始まる。（写真は、タイ・バンコクの「お化けラジオ」で週録をするジャックことワチャラポン・フックジャイディーさん。）
　タイには出産中に死んだ女性のお化け「メーナーク」や、頭部と内臓だけの姿で空を漂う女性のお化け「グラスー」などさまざまなお化けや怪談がある。
　この日の怪談は、女性が震える声で語った。「白いスーツを着た男に時間切れだと言われ、女性はその男について行かざるを得なくなった。ふと後ろを振り返ると、ベッドに自分が寝ているのが見えた」
　スタジオでは、ホストのジャックことワチャラポン・フックジャイディーさん（４６）が辛抱強く、詳細を確かめながら話を聞いている。
　ワチャラポンさんは毎週１回、午後１１時から夜明け前まで２本のエピソードを配信・収録する。お化けラジオのユーチューブチャンネルは３００万人近くが登録する人気番組で、オンラインで数千コメントが寄せられる。
　「技術が発達すると、お化けに会う機会が増える」「お化けはアプリ、チャット、電話を使って接してくる」とワチャラポンさんはＡＦＰに語った。
　その一つとして、遠くに住む友達から連絡がありお寺で待ち合わせをした人の話をしてくれた。
　実際にお寺に行ってみると、「その友人が既に亡くなっていて、ひつぎに携帯電話が入れられていたことが分かった」と、眉をひそめ、いたずらっぽく笑った。
　ワチャラポンさんは２０年前、「お化けゴッドファーザー」と呼ばれたカポン・トーンプラップさんの下でブレークした。深夜のリスナー参加番組はバンコクのタクシー運転手に人気を博した。
　現在、ワチャラポンさんの番組はタクシー運転手よりも、フードデリバリーの配達員に人気だ。市内を四六時中走り回ることからお化けとの遭遇率が高いのだ。
　リスナーからの応募に目を通し、政治的な話や、規制が厳しい王室関連の話もよけていくのはスタッフのケムジラーさんだ。
　リスナーは自分たちの話が本当だと信じているとし、「同じ話をしてくる人はほぼいないので、大勢が幽霊に出会っているのだと思う」と話した。
　ワチャラポンさんのスタジオの下の階にあるカフェは、番組の若いファンや家族連れでにぎわっている。
　墓石の形をしたブラウニーを食べていた警察官（２５）が、自身の体験談を聞かせてくれた。
　ある家に出動した時、太った男性の影が風呂場に消えて行くのを見た。風呂場のドアはなかなか開かなかったが突然開き、中で死後５時間はたっている大柄な男性の遺体を発見した。「風呂場に消えて行ったのは男性の霊だったのだと分かった」と語り、「幽霊の存在は１００％信じている」と続けた。
　ワチャラポンさんは、リスナーは自分の経験した幽霊の話を家族には話せないので似たような考えの人が集まるこの番組に連絡してくるのだと話す。「話している人以外、それが本当だと証明はできない」と言うとニヤリと笑った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/04/17-17:19）

It is almost midnight, and above a semi-abandoned Bangkok shopping centre, Ghost Radio is on air.
Rapid-fire comments ping across the studio's screens as thousands tune in online to hear callers describe their encounters with Thailand's supernatural.
Belief in spirits runs deep in the kingdom, which has a celebrated canon of ghosts from individuals like Mae Nak, a woman who haunted her village after dying in childbirth, to more sinister creatures like krasue -- bodyless women who float through the night looking to devour flesh.
Now these ancient tales are being reinvigorated through online platforms like YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp and even delivery app Grab.
She met a man in a white suit who told her that her time was up, and that she had to go with him, the first caller recounts, her voice quavering.
But when she turned back, she could see her body lying in bed.
In the studio, host Watcharapol Fukjaidee listens patiently, gently prying out details.
The charismatic 46-year-old, also known by his nickname Jack, films two live episodes a week from 11 pm to dawn, fielding calls from spooked Thais as millions tune in and thousands comment online.
When there is more technology, the chance to see ghosts increases, he tells AFP.
Ghosts come with apps, chat lines, phone calls. Technology becomes the channel where they can contact people.
Watcharapol recounted a caller who was contacted by a distant friend, asking him to meet at a temple, but when he got there he made a chilling discovery.
It turns out that his friend had died and his phone was put into the coffin, he says, raising his eyebrows, a mischievous chuckle lurking.
- Ghostly meet-ups -
The host got his break 20 years ago under Thailand's godfather of ghosts Kapol Thongplub, whose late-night call-in show was a favourite with the capital's taxi drivers.
It is now food delivery riders rather than cabbies who frequently encounter the supernatural as they endlessly crisscross Bangkok at all hours, Watcharapol says.
And unlike Kapol's show, which was dominated by the host's larger-than-life reactions, Watcharapol is more low-key and a little tongue-in-cheek.
Now with the influence of Twitter and TikTok, more young people call, says Ghost Radio worker Khemjira Jongkolsapapron.
There has been a shift, with audiences now wanting to not only be scared, and then soothed -- but also entertained.
This isn't a matter of 'still believing' or not, cultural anthropologist Andrew Alan Johnson, whose book Ghosts of the New City examines how recent events have reshaped Thai beliefs, told AFP.
Ghosts become a way to tell stories that are denied elsewhere, he said.
This is especially true in rapidly changing Bangkok, Johnson said, where ghost tales help preserve local memory -- explaining unlucky locations, or feelings of alienation.
Folk belief is incredibly adaptable, in that it seeks to speak to people's everyday experiences, he said.
The Ghost Radio YouTube channel has almost three million subscribers and is sponsored by various local firms as well as pulling income from the themed cafe on the ground floor.
Watched over by an eclectic collection of ghost-themed toys, Khemjira sifts through scores of submissions, weeding out political stories or anything that might touch the kingdom's tough laws against insulting the monarchy.
Not every tale makes it on air, but Khemjira is confident the people telling them believe them to be true.
I think people meet ghosts a lot. We hardly ever hear the same story, she says.
- 'Scared to death' -
As Watcharapol listens upstairs, downstairs his cafe is raucous with young fans and families.
Munching on a tombstone-shaped brownie, 25-year-old policeman and regular caller Chalwat Thungood explained how he shares his colleagues' tales.
His own spooky experience came on a call out to a house. As he arrived he glimpsed the shadow of an overweight man walk into a bathroom.
He struggled to open the door -- until suddenly it gave way.
I found a big man who had been dead for at least five hours. It proved to me that I saw a spirit of the big man walking into the bathroom, he said.
I 100 percent believe that ghosts exist.
Watcharapol refuses to be drawn on whether he actually believes, stating he has to maintain an open mind before admitting he is scared to death of hospital ghosts.
People tune in to his show, he says, to find a like-minded community because sometimes they can't speak to their family about their ghostly experiences.
Lit up by the multiple screens in his plush studio, Watcharapol says: No one can prove it is real except the caller.
And then he grins.