P 'ban (or Phibaan)

ogre · Thailand · Southeast Asia

Phi Ban, Thai ผีบ้าน, is the guardian spirit of a village or household in Thai and Lao animist belief, propitiated so the settlement stays protected. The input's giant, man-eating ogre traits belong instead to the yak (ยักษ์), the ogre of Thai temple art and the Ramakien—a conflation of two distinct beings of Thai folk religion.

Open in the interactive archive →