By Doug Quist © Udonmap.com
// Khamchanot, Ban Dung Udon Thani Province (Magazine Issue 5 April/May 2008) Page 44
Since 1989 Khamchanot has received national attention. In that year, Jam Jun, an Udon Thani company that exhibits movies in rural areas received in their office an elderly couple seeking to make arrangements for an exhibition of movies. The couple instructed Jam Jun to go to a designated place for which they provided directions. They were to arrive in the evening hours and be ready to show movies at 9:00 p.m. and, most significantly, the movies should stop at 4:00 a.m.
The Jam Jun Company, a crew of about 7 people, arrived at this location punctually on the agreed date and set up their movie projector, screen, etc. The audience on this evening was comprised of a small group of listless individuals who watched the movies stoically, neither laughing at the comedy nor showing any emotion during action, drama or suspense sequences. The Company stopped the movies at 4:00 a.m. as requested, packed up their equipment, collected their pay from their aloof hosts and set off for Udon Thani.
Shortly after departing, the crew decided to stop for cigarettes and refreshment at a store in the Ban Wang Thong area. When the shopkeeper and neighbors saw the Jam Jun truck packed with film equipment, they casually asked where they had been. The crew described the location. The villagers were flabbergasted. They wanted to know how a movie screen and projector could be set up in an area so densely packed with trees and just who it was that watched the movies. To their knowledge no one lived in that area. And most perplexing of all: if movies had been shown throughout the night, they would have indeed heard the soundtracks as they were within earshot of that
location and that location was in fact Khamchanot. But instead the villagers heard nothing.
The story spread throughout the area that ghosts or spirits had indeed been The Jam Jun Company’s audience that evening at Khamchanot. As the story was told and retold it developed into local folklore. Within the past couple of years the incident has been exploited Hollywood style into a movie called “Pi Jong Nong” (The ghosts hire a movie). This accounts for a larg percentage of visitors who come to Khamchanot and possibly keeps others away. Perhaps it is akin to the “Blair Witch Project” Thai style.
When you visit Khamchanot keep an open mind. Don’t expect a western style theme park with squeaky clean facilities suitable for suburbanites and their kids.
The admission is free and the temple and Naga monument were made possible by donations. If you simply stroll through Khamchanot, shrug your shoulders and say, “that’s it?” – think again. Be thankful you’re visiting an area that hasn’t been exploited to the extent of Roswell, New Mexico with little ET icons sprouting up everywhere. The souvenir shops at Khamchanot are modest and devoid of a carnival atmosphere. This may be due to the proximity of Temple Siri Sut Toh and reverence to the Naga.
Photos By Mureng © udonmap.com
