Holly Mann vs. the “Holy Man”
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Have you ever had one of “those” weeks that left you feeling exhausted mentally and physically? Imagine this strange scenario: You’re living in Thailand, outside of the touristy areas and you drive by a gas station to see a homeless foreigner sitting hunched over, clearly starving and alone. Well, I’ve seen this foreigner sitting in the exact same spot for well over a month and a half (outside of the entrance to Jet Gas station near the airport outside of Chiang Mai).
It’s odd to see a homeless foreigner like that because normally the Thai authorities would remove him or have him move elsewhere, get help or support in some way. It’s quite common to see poverty in Thailand among the thais, burmese or locals, but I’ve never seen a foreigner like that.
Last week Monday I decided to pull over and talk to him. I stopped there in the morning right before dropping Josh off at school. I approached the man and asked him if he needed any help, if he was ok, or if I could do anything. He said nothing. He stared at the ants, not moving a muscle. His hair was long and dirty, he had a long beard, looked like he was in his mid-30s and stunk pretty badly. His legs looked like they had some type of rash or scarring, it was black in color and ants were crawling all over him. He still did not move. I tried to get his attention and kneeled a little lower to try to catch eye contact but it did nothing.
So lastly, I attempted to give him 200 baht (about $6.00 dollars US, which is a lot for Thailand) and he still did not move a muscle. I put it in his shirt pocket. He was wearing a dirty old blue jumpsuit that had a big hole in the crotch, exposing his not-so-private parts! So, the guy was in a rough spot obviously. I thought it could have been quite serious; every possible scenario ran through my strangely concerned mind! I thought maybe he had a stroke, a car accident, brain damage or maybe was just in a deep depression. I thought he was dissociating himself, closing inward and looked as though he was in a near-vegetative state. It was so strange. He seemed to have a peaceful demeanor, and even Josh mentioned that he looked like Jesus. In Josh’s words: “That is God.”
Josh, my little bright 3-year-old son came up with a solution for our new street buddy. He told me, “Mom, we have tools. You build him a house ok. Build God a house.” It was so cute to hear his simple solution. If it were only that easy! So the next day I returned to the gas station. I saw the day prior that so many concerned people left him food, drinks, bread and fruit. The stuff sat in the exact same position, untouched by him (but covered in ants). His health seemed to be deteriorating as the days past and I drove by him. I felt horrible, as though no one cared and no one would assert enough effort to get him some help (it seemed that he could not get it himself). So after a few days of worrying, I decided to call someone. I attempted to contact the Thai Red Cross by email, but it was returned as an erroneous message. Then I spoke with a couple of Christian friends and I thought they may help. They seemed too busy and so I contacted my mom’s Christian Church that she attended in Chiang Mai. I spoke with a lady who said that someone had just contacted them about the same man. As I was on the phone, they decided to send out a man named Dan. He offers help to people in need around Chiang Mai and I was glad to know that they were going to try to help the homeless foreigner. The Pastor from the Church took my name down and I hung up. I decided to go over there to introduce myself to Dan and to offer some help. I spent hours and hours with Dan and the homeless man.
It became apparent to me that he had a level of awareness; I saw him make eye contact several times, look up at people as they passed by and look at his surroundings. I just wanted him to snap out of this trans-like state he was in. I was honestly afraid that I’d drive by one morning and he’d be lying there dead. I wanted to get him help if he wanted it or could not get it for himself - because he probably has some loved ones somewhere wondering where he is at and if he is ok. So I spent hour after hour with this homeless man, trying to talk to him, trying to communicate and get a response, reaction, get him to drink some water. I was alone with him so many times as Dan and several others hunted around the premises looking for a passport or any ID from this man. When I was alone with him I put my arm around him, I put my hand on his, I told him he could trust me and that I would help him if he could just blink his eyes to tell me ok. Or if he could nod his head to tell me he needed or wanted our help. But he did nothing.
If you are atheist, you may want to skip this section of my little story! So Dan and I decided to pray for this homeless man. We knelt down near the homeless man and Dan put his hand on the homeless mans hand. I decided to grab Dan’s hand and also put my other hand on the homeless mans. I prayed for him with all my heart that he would be ok and that he would be healed from whatever it was he was into. I’m a Christian, and my honest perspective was that he was into something quite evil and into deeply. With that aside, Dan prayed and I did silently. Something strange happened to me physically when we started to pray and it was quite frightening. My eyes or eye lids were flipping/fluttering or twitching like crazy - both of them, non-stop. The only way to make it stop temporarily was to open up my eyes, so I did that. The second I closed them again it happened again. It scared me - we finished praying for him - and he still sat there expressionless, staring at the ants.
Minutes later, another foreigner pulled up on a bicycle. His name was Matthew and he was a 37-year-old from the UK. Then an hour or two after that, another foreigner (from Italy) and his Thai wife pulled up. They were deeply concerned for this man and said that they stopped by every single day trying to help him. The Italian man was so concerned he said that he spoke with the homeless man so many times, and the last time even became angry and yelled at him, but still not a word was spoken. It was such a long day and just got stranger as the hours past. I spent a lot of time with Matthew, digging through rubble, garbage, dead fish and crap behind where the homeless man was sitting. There was an old shack that used to be a bathroom, so we rummaged through there looking for a passport or any document to show where the man was from. Matthew was very good with the homeless guy, trying to get him to open up to him (or us), joking around with him, pretty much begging him to give us a sign so we can stop worrying about him. We were so adamant about helping him because a Thai woman and another Thai man pulled up and they called the police. So this homeless foreigner was a soon-to-be jail mate in the local prison if he didn’t move his butt off of that gas station premises. We told him that if he wanted to be alone or meditate or live off the land somewhere, that we could take him. We told him we’d take him right away before any police showed up. The guys tried to get him to stand, but he would not. We pleaded with him so many times.
This thai woman was hilarious, she named the guy “John” and kept asking him if he wanted marshmallows or chocolate. She went into the gas station and came out with a little marshmallow snack and tried shoving it in his mouth. She was very rough with that thing. I was getting uneasy watching the whole thing. She pointed out to us and to him that in the Thai culture this just isn’t going to work out for him being there. It’s bad for him, bad for others and the gas station has repeatedly reported him. The cops were coming for him!
I decided to take a couple of pictures of him in case they were needed or to post them online to report this man as “found” or search for missing foreigners in Thailand. For some odd reason when I took his picture the camera gave me an error that said, “Card Error,” and the photos would NOT save.
Then as I sat there with the homeless man and Matthew, we looked up to see yet another man show up. This man was nicely dressed, well-spoken and extremely kind. It turns out that he is the Honorary Consul for Germany (in Chiang Mai). He personally came out to offer help, evaluate the situation and find a solution finally. The homeless man was German, according to some police who had seen him earlier and taken down his details. I spent more time with Matthew and the Consul and he had arranged for the police to pickup the homeless man and transport him to the Mental Institute down the road. There he could get evaluated, treated and a good nights sleep for a few days before taking further measures.
After spending my entire day there, I left to go pickup Josh. I wreaked of this guy, which was not a big deal but I felt so exhausted mentally and physically. Very hungry as well - which is why I can’t imagine being that man, sitting there not eating for so many hours in the scorchingly hot sunlight. After picking up my little man Josh, I was on my way home when I was the lights from the ambulance, police motorcycles, and a big scene with lots of people outside of the gas station. I swung my car around and parked behind the ambulance. I saw that there was a stretcher on the ground placed in front of the homeless man. Immediately the Consul and Matthew approached my car, fuming and shocked with their recent discovery.
Turns out, right as the police were starting to physically remove the homeless man from the curb to the stretcher, he stood up and started speaking fluently and coherently!!! Not only that, but his kind, soft and meek demeanor quickly altered into a snotty, cocky, rude attitude towards the police, the Consul (which is shocking), to Matthew and myself. We were there to help him and gave him every opportunity to tell us to get the heck out of there and leave him alone. He wanted to attention. The German Consul seemed upset and felt bad that we all wasted so much effort and time with this man. I saw him approach the homeless man (with cops surrounding them) to tell him, “Why don’t you say a hello to Holly over there.” It was horrifying and crazy to see him in any other position other than hunched over like a stroke victim on the curb! To see him standing and look right at me while I was holding Josh was really weird. When the Consul told him to say hello to me, the homeless man (his name is Stephen) looked at me holding Josh in arm and waved an evil wave, with one finger at a time and a smug look on his face. I said nothing. I felt angry and tired. Then Matthew approached Stephen and told him to give the 200 baht back to me. As soon as Matthew turned around to walk back to where I was standing, Stephen hit his chest, spread his arounds out and then pointed at his pocket while looking at me. He was basically telling me if I want my money back then I should walk up to him with my son in my arms and grab it out of his pocket. That got me more upset but I just looked at him and did nothing. Matthew told him off a little, advising him that if he’s on some path to being holy that this is not the way to do it. If you are so spiritual you would not be hurting so many people to achieve your own spirituality. I agree with all of that.
So, I felt the need to take his picture because the camera wouldn’t work earlier. I wanted some proof of the crazy day or this man who caused such concern and chaos for the month. So I walked right up to where he was standing, in close proximity I took his picture. My camera once again said, “Card Error.” And the picture did not work or was not saved. So I was really frustrated and to test my camera out I took pictures of other people around there - and every one worked. Every picture worked except for his. So I tried to make a short video and that worked - so here it is:
To conclude this extremely long post about Holly Mann and the “Holy Man” - I just wanted to say that I do not regret offering a helping hand. I know the man was a fraud and taking advantage of the love and care of surrounding citizens. I know he was selfish and rude and deranged in some ways, but what an experience we all had. The Consul said in his 8 years of working in Chiang Mai, he’s NEVER seen anything like this before. I’m happy to have met the Consul, Matthew, the Italian Man and his wife and several other extremely kind and caring people.
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Wow, if this isn’t a great example of “So this is the thanks I get for trying to help?”, I don’t know what is! I’ve often felt guilty for not offering to help people that sit outside store parking lots begging for money, etc., so I admire you for going to such efforts just to try to help someone who seemed in need.
The weird thing is how extremely familiar that guy looks to me…almost as though I’ve seen him myself. :O (Although, Delaware is a LONG way from Thailand!)
But I think the most haunting detail about this story is how your camera was unable to take his picture - yet able to take anything else. Hmmm…now just who really was this guy?!
Hey, perhaps your son was on the right track after all. Maybe Jesus sometimes does a little random spot testing on the world to see how many people are willing to help a mysterious stranger. I don’t know though…I’d like to think HE would be nicer than it sounds like this guy turned out to be! lol
Thanks for the comment! It was such a strange experience! A few days later I went to get gasoline at the gas station and the attendants told me that the man went back there, stayed for a little while and then took off walking towards Hang Dong. (That’s my city!) Maybe I’ll see him around here too.
About the camera, it was very odd I could not take his picture. I’m a photographer so it drove me crazy that it would not save and the error message kept popping up. The small pic above I ended up taking off of my computer screen while viewing the video.
I wonder what is really going on with Stephen. 
This seems truly strange. I wonder why he wanted you to take the money back personally, he obviously did not want to hurt you or Josh in my opinion. And the digicam situation is extremely random. Especially when you took pictures of other people. What are the odds of that just being a simple coincidence, as many times as you tried.
Strange days.
Dan
UPDATE (for anyone who cares)!!! I drove to pickup Josh last week and saw Stephen sauntering along. I honked the horn several times until he looked up at me. I smiled and waved (not in a mean or sarcastic way either). Whatever anger or annoyances I felt for him before were gone. He still had that sad peaceful look on his face. Wandering through life - trying to get some love it looks like. Haven’t seen him again since then but it seems to me that he lives in my neighborhood.
No longer at the gas station though.
How strange? I’ve seen holy men (Sadhus sp?) in India and Nepal and many a psychotic and schizophrenic person. I think this person was quite mentally ill regardless.
I once ran into a man in Columbus Ohio—very dirty—digging thru garbage and he had total word salad….meaning he talked alot but it all was totally disconnected and meaningless. I think this was a case of profound schizophrenia.
Your heart was in the right place. I’m delighted to hear you mention Jesus/Christianity, etc. I’m Catholic and love it though I’m probably not a very good one.
I was in the Philippines recently and saw this very down and out, dirty, obviously mentally ill woman and I tried to give her a few rupees and she gestured for me to get away…she would not take the rupees ??
You may have put yourself a bit in harm’s way? Were you ever afraid of the man? Overall you did the right thing (over and above).
Very interesting story!
Link (very new member)
Hi Holly,
Great to hear there are other people who will help a stranger in need, and not regret being “fooled” if that should happen.
You may think I’m a nut case for saying this, but for what it’s worth:
Given your feeling of “evil” , the strange effects you experienced around this man, along with his odd behaviour & the fact that he doesn’t seem to eat, it strikes me as possible that he could be possessed by some sort of evil entity. If so, it’s not a good sign that he has moved to your city and is responding to your outreach. Drawing the curious (or compassionate) and unsuspecting victim in can be the first step toward demonic possession. You may want to obtain spiritual protection for yourself and your son before having any further interactions with this man.
I could be completely wrong and if so, chalk it up to superstition. On the other hand, better safe than sorry - right?
I just caught this story. It seems more like a dream. Very intriguing with the potential to be developed into a movie script. It’s amazing how life can present us with strange experiences when we least expect them. Holly, you have a blessed heart, and you’ve no doubt passed on that spirit of compassion to Josh.
That strange turn of events could scar the soul of any caring person. But, perhaps there’s a message to the madness, and a lesson to be learned: ‘Don’t talk to strangers’?
Just kidding. Thanks for sharing that great story. It will not likely be the last time something of that strange sort happens again.
Dillusional people may be dangerous but Stephan doesn’t seem the type from all that you described.Digital camera malfunction of this type is rare but explainable:his ‘aura’ is highly magnetized;most watches will stop while near him.Chemical imbalance to extremes causes this including his behaviour and can be drug controlled but not cured (like bipolar disorder ).Your eye fluttering during prayer can be as a result of his stress flowing thruogh you while your eyes are closed because your personal conciousnes changes slighly when you close your eyes in a public place.
PS:excuse the spelling errors.
Holly I just read this post. I really should be posting articles on Alternative Energy but anyway, here I am …
It’s completely what I expected since I started reading the post. And what you said about the “Aura” - it’s quite real, nothing even mystical about this. People do have certain fields and energy around them and it can and has been scientifically proven. This man was evil and it affected your camera.
Have you ever noticed that around certain times of people, machinery “always breaks?” Or computers “always have problems?”
Hi Dave, I haven’t been on this particular post in a while but I just read your nice comment. Thank you. Thank you for telling me I have a blessed heart and have passed it onto Josh. I tend to live like this and it can cause me a lot of personal pain (when it comes to relationships anyway). But I cannot change my nature, deep down I am who I am. I believe in change, but no matter how scarred I have become (which is pretty badly scarred, from things so much worse than what he did) - I cannot and would not want to change the care I have for people. I try to be careful in who I trust or help, but sometimes the people who need the most help are those who are the most “messed up” and they can really harm the hearts of others. But in the end, maybe being a light to them will truly help them change to be who they want to be. I sound like I am preaching here…sorry! I don’t know who I am preaching too but you really got me started! LOL
Thank you for the comment! Take care.
Hi Anna,
lol. I am just assuming. We seem to have lived similarly odd lives. 
So miss, about the camera thing. It drove me nuts. I have had some really scary spiritual things happen as of lately. And, honestly I am Christian and believe in Jesus. I am accepting of people of all religions. Link mentioned that he was a Christian but “not a very good one,” to that - I don’t know if anyone is. I don’t go to church or anything so some would say I am not a good Christian either. I just wanted to say that Josh prayed for my friend last week. Josh is 3 years old now and has been introduced to God by me, but I think last week was the first time he ever really truly prayed (because my friend was sick). It was so precious to see and hear him. Now he prays for everything, like he is asking santa clause for a present or something! LOL. He wanted to go to Bangkok last week but there were riots and government problems. So he said, mom we’ll just pray. He said, “Dear God please make Bangkok safe, thank you amen.” It was cute! LOL. Ok I just wanted to mention a weird thing that happened. There was one other thing that happened (that was more than weird, and extremely frightening and I will post that at a later date). But the following morning after he prayed, my cat was inside my office and wanted to get out. I thought he saw a bird or something but it was not a bird. I looked out the open window and heard a rattle and saw a snake jump up towards the cat. I honestly was terrified as I thought it was a rattle snake. I still don’t know, but it was either that or a cobra of some sort (they are actually common in Thailand). I saw its head flare outward like a cobras. It attacked the cat - the cat just wanted to play with it like it plays with lizards. Please understand, I have never had a fear of snakes. But to hear a rattle gave me chills to the bone. I tried to throw stuff at it (and the cat) to get the cat to run away. But the snake ended up going into a hole near the side of my house. I have never seen anything like this in 8 years of being in Thailand (on and off). But the other thing is, I took out my camera and wanted to take a picture of it. It seemed to have worked, but then I saw I got that darn “Card error” message again and none of the pictures saved. Once again, just like with Stepehen. Just wanted to share that with everyone. My neigbor either killed it or closed up the hole. It made me afraid to have josh go in the yard at all.
Thanks for posting here. You more than anyone can relate to this because God only knows you have probably had similar experiences.
Hi Holly,
I think Kathee has got the general idea as to what could be happening here. I’m also a Christian and have run into guys like this both on the street here in Perth, Australia and also during my 3 years working at Teen Challenge - a Christian based program for youth and adults with life control problems (You might know of the story the Cross and the Switchblade?).
Although we should not actively look for trouble demonic activity does occur and we know while God does not take a holiday - neither does the devil.
For us as Christians though, while we need to be aware we don’t need to be afraid and we have weaponry to deal with this kind of “pestering”.
Sounds like you have some caring Christian friends over there - would definitely be a good move to hook up with these guys and share with them what has been going on and get them praying with you. Also see if you can get yourself along to a good church so you can get that support you need (I know it can be tough sometimes - especially if we might have been hurt or feel we don’t fit in but we all need each other and we are family - warts and all - that’s why we need Jesus).
Also the Bible has lots to say about overcoming and how to deal with this kind of stuff - and then some.
I’ll be keeping you in my prayers too.
PS I read the end of the Book - WE WIN!
Hi Mark!
it was refreshing to hear your words. 
Thanks for the comment. Prior to this man, I had never been in contact with an odd situation like that. But since that happened, it has definitely increased my awareness of the spiritual battles going on in my life and around me. It’s ok how it worked out. And it’s ok (even if the guy was evil or whatever the situation) because like you said - we did win. We cared, gave him our love and compassion and an opportunity to let us help him (and prayed for him). He chose not to accept it - but he will definitely not forget us and our words. (we talked to him for hours and hours! lol). I’m also glad that I didn’t take the money back from him (that I gave him). I think that was another small test - to see if I would get upset and go get it (which maybe in the past I would have). But I let it go - and I am glad. Thank you againf or commenting Mark
Hi Holly,
We never know what may happen further down the track - what is important is that someone cared, seeds were planted and you offered an opportunity for change in the right direction.
Sometimes it takes a while for something to grow. One person plants, another reaps later (and God makes it grow).
One thing big on my heart is kids and orphanages - starting small with a new sponsor child through Compassion (was great to get a letter from them and hear that my last sponsored kid has completed schooling, got a driver’s licence etc).
There is something special about taking time to sow into the lives of others, I believe God sees that and honors a giving heart.
Have a blessed day.
Mark.
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