the people of thailand, with buddhist and animist beliefs, also have a vast pantheon of amulets, which are still popular and in common use by most people even in the present day. the belief in magic is impregnated into thai culture and religious beliefs and folk superstitions, and this is reflected in the fact that we can still see commonplace use of amulets and magical rituals in everyday life. some of the more commonly known amulets are of course the buddhist votive tablets, such as the pra somdej buddha image, and guru monk coins. but thailand has an immensely large number of magical traditions, and thousands of different types of amulet and occult charm can be found in use, ranging from the takrut scroll spell, to the necromantic ban neng chin aathan, which uses the bones or flesh of the corpse of a 'hoeng prai' ghost (a person who died unnaturally, screaming, or in other strange premature circumstances), to reanimate the spirit of the dead, to dwell within the bone as a spirit, and assist the owner to achieve their goals. the list of thai buddhist amulets in existence is a lifetime study in its own right, and indeed, many people devote their lives to the study of them, and collection. thai amulets are still immensely popular both with thai folk as well as with foreigners, and in recent years, a massive increase in foreign interest has caused the subject of thai buddhist amulets to become a commonly known topic around the world. amulets can fetch prices ranging from a few dollars right up to millions of dollars for a single amulet. due to the money that can be made with sorcery services, and with rare collector amulets of the master class, there is also a forgery market in existence, which ensures that the experts of the scene maintain a monopoly on the market. with so many fakes, experts are needed for collectors to trust for obtaining authentic amulets, and not selling them fakes.