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iving as a foreigner in Chiang Rai, the northernmost part of Thailand, I realized that this city is surrounded by a strong sense of “something” that, at first, I could not explain but feel. This sense became clearer as I followed the rescue of the trapped soccer team, the Wild Boars or moo pa, in the Tham Luang Nang Non caves in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai.

For weeks, 12 boys and their coach were trapped inside a dark cave with extremely limited access to food, drinking water and air. After soccer practice, the group entered the cave, which they had visited earlier, with enough supplies for a five-hour trek.

As the sudden monsoon rains began, water flooded several chambers and blocked the exit. On June 23, parents reported their sons missing. Aside from the boys’ handprints and belongings left at the mouth of the cave, nothing else had been found.

Tham Luang Nang Non means “the reclining lady’s big cave”, believed to be inhabited by Jao Mae Nang Non, a princess of the Lanna Kingdom, who, as the legend goes, was impregnated by her commoner lover and committed suicide after she was forbidden to be with him.

She sought refuge inside the cave while fleeing the king, her father, until her lover returned with some food, but the man was killed by the king’s soldiers, as writers recite.

She stabbed herself to death. Her reclining body became the mountains, her blood became the famous Mae Nam Mae Sai River and her genitals, the cave. She is now the sacred spirit ruler of Chiang Rai’s mountainous area.

Southeast Asia is rich with myths and supernatural explanations behind the origin of a place, including mountains. Influenced by Brahmin, Buddhist and animist traditions, in Thailand caves are believed to have spiritual powers.

Caves are places of danger, but also of possibility. To find the lost boys, Thais sought answers and help from mythical creatures. According to reports they came to a shrine near the cave, prostrated, lighted candles and prayed in front of a statue of a young woman wearing a pink traditional outfit, surrounded by flowers and other offerings — the princess.

Before the boys were found alive, locals told me they believed the princess’ spirit played a role in their disappearance. The locals said they needed to communicate with the cave’s ruler to find the boys. They asked for help from a monk from Tachilek district, Myanmar, a border town with Mae Sai, who was believed to be the reincarnation of the princess’ lover. As the monk communicated with the princess, he said the boys and the coach were alive, however, the princess would ask in return that a person stay with her.

More and more senior monks and holy people arrived to hold vigils at the cave. Thai authorities appealed to the cave’s spirits by setting up shrines, burning incense, offering food and drinks, including giving away a boiled boar’s head, a symbol of the soccer team’s name.
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