Suea Saming of Chanthaburi

A Chronicle of the Weretiger of Chanthaburi in Thai Folklore

I have previously recounted in my histories of the Suea Saming that, within the settled beliefs of Thai Folklore, there exist two distinct varieties of these Weretigers. The first concerns a beast of the forest which, having preyed upon many men, becomes possessed of a sinister and occult power. A malevolent spirit enters its frame, granting it the semblance of a human soul.

The second variety, which I shall describe for the interest of the reader in this present chronicle, concerns a man of our own kind who, through the study of dark and ancient sorcery, gains the power of Shapeshifting. This allows him to transform his own body into that of a tiger, becoming a formidable Supernatural Being.

Royal Records of the Weretiger in the Reign of King Rama V

This history of the man-turned-beast is not drawn from the idle gossip of the marketplace but is set down within the Royal Autograph Letters of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). This Thai Folklore account was recorded during his royal progress to the city of Chanthaburi in the year 1876 (B.E. 2419). On that occasion, His Majesty embarked upon the royal vessel Akkharat Woradet, traversing the eastern coast of the realm until they reached the city.

At that hour, Chanthaburi was marked by dense and forbidding forests. These woods teemed with every manner of wild creature — elephants, deer, and most particularly, tigers. Indeed, so abundant were these beasts that Chanthaburi was the primary location for capturing them. This abundance imposed a heavy burden upon the Governor, who was constantly tasked with suppressing the tigers to prevent them from harassing the villagers.

The Terror of the Supernatural Being in the Deep Jungle

The ferocity of the tigers in Chanthaburi was, according to the records and oral histories, of a most terrifying degree. It was said that these brutes would venture into the very dwellings of the folk and snatch away victims with callous indifference. It was whispered that when a tiger reaches a great age, it turns to preying upon mankind, finding a human soul far easier to capture than a wild animal.,

This state of affairs cast a profound shadow of dread over the city. The populace was seized by such a loss of spirit that they scarce dared to pursue their livelihoods, fearing that a Suea Saming or a predatory Weretiger might fall upon them at any moment. The fear of this Supernatural Being was ever-present in their hearts.,

A Campaign Against the Tiger Menace

Phraya Chanthaburi, perceiving that the insolence of the tigers had exceeded all measure, determined to act. He summoned a company of skilled woodsmen and distributed firearms among them, commanding them to hunt the beasts.

Those who were not hunters fashioned Chan (tiger traps) with the utmost earnestness. A campaign of great vigour thereafter ensued; it is said that a considerable number of tigers were slain, while others fled into the deepest recesses of the jungle. Thus was the spirit of the people restored, as the threat of the Shapeshifting entity was pushed back into the wild.

Yet, no sooner had the terror of the natural beast subsided than the hearts of the villagers were once more troubled by a new alarm. Reports and whispers began to spread regarding the presence of a Suea Saming within the district of Chanthaburi. It was at this very juncture that His Majesty the King reached the city; and within his Royal Compositions, he set down a record of the events of that hour.

His Majesty recorded the matter in the following words:

“…The populace is held in the grip of a profound dread regarding the weretigers; it is related that within the Khmer realm, there dwelt a master of the occult who fashioned a sacred oil of transformation. Three of his disciples, having stealthily applied this oil to their persons, were metamorphosed into Suea Saming and wandered into the district of Chanthaburi. One among them proved a most bloodthirsty brute, preying upon five souls across the precincts of Phliu, Pak Chan, and Pa Si Sen.

The master, in pursuit of his charges, informed the villagers that should any soul encounter these beasts, they must strike them with a carrying pole or cover their footprints with a coconut shell, that they might be restored to their human form. Yet this remedy is of no avail once a tiger has tasted the flesh of a man; for having thus acquired a sinister potency (Rangkwan Thap), they are forever barred from returning to the world of men.”

Upon perusing these accounts, one is moved by a certain uncertainty as to whether they concern absolute fact or mere fabrication; yet they serve to demonstrate that the belief in the Suea Saming is deeply rooted in the spirit of Thai Folklore. Nevertheless, these events remain within the realm of rumour, for no official record exists to detail the final suppression of those particular beasts. It appears that His Majesty King Chulalongkorn himself was moved by a certain scepticism regarding these whispers.

A King’s Scepticism: The Weretiger of Sattahip

His Majesty recorded another encounter with this supernatural being in the following words:

“…Much like an occasion in former times when we visited Sattahip; the store of freshwater aboard the vessel having been exhausted, I commanded a party of soldiers to fetch water from a pond situated some three sen inland. The local folk warned that a weretiger was then frequenting the district. A monk, who was the beast’s master, had followed it through the night and sat in vigil beneath a sugar-palm beside the pond, hoping to restore his disciple to human form through the art of shapeshifting.

The soldiers were seized by such a mortal dread that they returned to relate the matter to me. I entertained a desire to have the monk brought before me that I might behold his countenance, yet the hour was already late. By the breaking of dawn, he had departed from Sattahip; and whether the tiger had therafter devoured the master, I cannot say.”

The Supernatural Being in Thai Folklore: A Lasting Belief

From these chronicles, we may conclude that there persists a firm belief in the attainment of dark sorcery and the consecration of occult objects capable of rendering a man into the form of a beast. Beyond this history, there exist numerous other legends concerning the Suea Saming which have come to my knowledge — most notably the accounts of monks who undergo such shapeshifting transformations.

These histories of “Suea Saming” the weretiger are of a most capturing interest, and I shall endeavour to relate them for the reader in future chapters. The presence of such a supernatural being continues to be a fascinating pillar of Thai Folklore, blending historical records with the mystical unknown.

The legendary **were-tiger also appears in several adventures from the beloved Thai “Three Comrades” novels by P. Intharapalit (ป. อินทรปาลิต). One such story is ***SAMING: The Were-Tiger of Khao Yai*, a supernatural jungle adventure blending mystery, comedy, and classic 1940s Thai storytelling. Readers interested in vintage Asian adventure fiction, Thai folklore, and supernatural mysteries in the spirited tradition of P. G. Wodehouse may now find the English edition available on Amazon.

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