Phi prai (ผีพราย).
            The spirit of a woman who dies during childbirth is called a phi prai. Her child if also dead becomes a phi prai also. She is a terrible phi much feared by the folk for she harms everybody. Precaution is taken through magic to prevent her coming to harm people. If a newborn babe dies, its corpse is placed in an earthen pot, whose mouth is sealed by mystical characters to prevent its setting out and becoming a phi prai. The pot is then buried or submerged in the river. This is the safest way to deal with a fierce phi, if it is caught, to prevent it from coming back. If its mother is still alive and no such precaution is taken, it will come back to take her away. A phi doctor or magician likes to keep such phi, both the spirits of the mother and her child, in his service. How the phi doctor gets hold of the phi prai is fully described in one of the famous works of Thai literature known as the "Khun Chang Khun Phaen'', a popular romance of the old (lays. A phi prai may be used to guard a house from molestation's by other phi or men who come into the house with evil designs. The phi prai may assume the form of a woman being. If the intruder is a young man and good looking, the phi prai sometimes falls in love with him, by turning itself into a young girl and flirting. Woe to the young man if he succumbs to the embrace of the phi. The above description is taken from the said romance, which gives a romantic idea of the good old days. The oil extracted from the chin of a woman who dies of childbirth as already mentioned, is called, "prai oil" (nam man prai). A banana tree that dies during the budding period is called "tai prai" (ตายพราย), that is one that "died as a prai".
            The various kinds of phi already described are all phi either in human form or that originate from the spirit of dead persons with. the exception of the phi khamot or will-o-the-wisp phi. They arise from the fantasy and imagination of the people in the past. These beliefs have survived in many instances in customs, language, and literature and, no doubt, the belief still lingers among the more conservative class of people.