The UFO seekers flocking to a remote Thai hilltop in search of Buddhist aliens
Richard S. Ehrlich, CNN | 5 October 2019
Nakhon Sawan (CNN) — A hilltop in central Thailand is attracting UFO seekers who believe extraterrestrials hover above a huge Buddha statue, send telepathic communiques, walk across nearby sugarcane fields and use a crocodile-infested lake as a portal from their planets -- Pluto and Loku.Richard S. Ehrlich, CNN | 5 October 2019
The Buddha statue portrays a mythical seven-headed "naga" snake. Richard S. Ehrlich |
Though it may sound like science fiction, a small group of individuals claims messages from aliens arriving in spaceships include plenty of traditional religious teachings too -- leading them to believe they are actually Buddhist.
It's all happening three hours by road or rail north from Bangkok in Nakhon Sawan -- which translates to "City of Heaven."
Without all the UFO hype, it's just a laid-back small town. But followers believe that if you meditate on Khao Kala hill, outside of Nakhon Sawan, you could hear the talkative silver creatures as voices in your head, speaking whatever language your thoughts usually chatter.
They do offer a disclaimer, saying there is no guarantee you will see UFOs or aliens, which are described as unpredictable, speaking or appearing spontaneously and disappearing after a few hours.
Government attempts to ban gatherings
The group's activities have gotten them into trouble with Thai authorities in recent weeks.
Government officials reportedly grew alarmed when UFO seekers began crowding onto Khao Kala hill to see and talk with aliens, possibly endangering the area's official "protected forest area" status.
Visitors are allowed to climb to the top of the hill and view the large Buddha statue and nearby "Buddha footprint," which are places of public worship. But the law forbids anyone from living or staying overnight in such zones, including previous UFO seekers who pitched tents at the site.
In August, about 40 officials, including members of the Forestry Department, disbanded a group of Thai enthusiasts at the top of Khao Kala, and petitioned a court to ban mass gatherings there.
On September 20, about 30 police and forestry officials confronted Wassana Chuensamnaun, lead campaigner for the extraterrestrials, and about 60 other UFO enthusiasts.
The group, wearing white clothing, planned to have a video made while members "meditated" atop the hill after sunset in hopes of mind-melding with aliens, Wassana tells CNN Travel.
Not wanting to be arrested, the UFO followers regrouped at the bottom of the hill on private property, meditated for a few hours and departed, she says.
"When the UFO spun me, I didn't feel dizzy at all"
As for the origins of the hill's supposed attractiveness to extraterrestrials, believers say it all began in 1997, when retired Sergeant-Major Cherd Chuensamnaun, deep in Buddhist meditation at home, received mental messages from what he insisted were aliens.
He told his family. They scoffed.
"I asked my father to tell the aliens to show themselves," says Wassana, his daughter.
"The next day, the aliens sent energy to spin my brother and brother-in-law."
She says the two men were yanked up from the living room sofa and spun simultaneously, like whirling dervishes, out of the house and into the yard.
"I felt like my legs and my arms had to spin," adds Wassana's brother-in-law Jaroen Raepeth.
"I could not control myself for four or five minutes. I didn't feel afraid. We both spun outside."
Through an upstairs window, Wassana's sister-in-law says she saw a UFO.
"It was about 10 or 15 meters long, at treetop level," adds Wassana.
Asked to re-enact his spinning, Jaroen twirls slowly around the living room with his arms out, but soon falls down and stays on the floor, looking dazed.
"I feel dizzy. But when the UFO spun me, I didn't feel dizzy at all."
Wassana, who quit her job as a nurse to champion the extraterrestrial, says her father continued to receive telepathic messages over the years.
"Before my father died [in 2000], he taught us how to communicate with the aliens," she adds.
Today, she says more than 100 other Thais have this ability after practicing with her. Followers post updates and photos at the family's-linked UFOKaoKala Facebook group and elsewhere, some insisting they too have seen aliens and spaceships in the area.