Why Vietnam's War Ghosts Still Matter

Introduction

Vietnam’s war ghost stories are not mainly about haunted battlefields or frightening apparitions. They are about the painful gap left when someone dies far from home, cannot be identified, or is never properly buried. In a country where family remembrance and ancestor rites have long been central to social life, the loss of a body can feel like the loss of a relationship itself. The result is a body of stories in which the dead are said to linger, not because they are malicious, but because the living still owe them recognition, a name or a place to rest.

This makes Vietnam’s war ghosts an unusually revealing piece of Fortean culture. The claims range from dreams and spirit encounters to mediums who say they can locate missing soldiers, yet the deeper mystery is not whether ghosts objectively exist. It is why violent conflict, missing remains and interrupted mourning continue to generate experiences and traditions that many families regard as emotionally real, even when they cannot be independently verified. Anthropological research suggests these ghost narratives function as a way of negotiating grief, justice and memory in a landscape where hundreds of thousands of war dead were never fully accounted for.[Cambridge University Press & Assessment]cambridge.orgUniversity Press & Assessment Ghosts of War in VietnamCambridge University Press & AssessmentGhosts of War in VietnamJune 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

Missing bodies and wandering souls

The mechanism behind many Vietnamese war ghost traditions begins with absence rather than apparition.

Twentieth-century wars left vast numbers of people dead without known graves. Some were buried anonymously, some were hastily interred on battlefields, while others simply disappeared. Without a recognised burial place, families often lacked somewhere to make offerings, commemorate anniversaries or symbolically welcome a relative home during important festivals. This practical and emotional problem became closely associated with traditions describing restless or wandering spirits.[Le Monde.fr]lemonde.frLe Monde.fr Vietnam is haunted by 'dead souls' left over from warThe Union for Informatics Application (UIA), led by Vũ Thê Khanh, evaluates individuals claiming to have extrasensory abilities to assist…

Anthropologist Heonik Kwon argues that these ghosts should not be understood simply as supernatural folklore. Instead, they represent social relationships interrupted by violent death. In his research, the wandering dead appear repeatedly as reminders that obligations between generations remain unfinished. Ghost stories therefore become less about fear than about responsibility.[Cambridge University Press & Assessment]cambridge.orgUniversity Press & Assessment Ghosts of War in VietnamCambridge University Press & AssessmentGhosts of War in VietnamJune 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

This helps explain recurring themes found in testimonies and local traditions:

Whether interpreted literally or symbolically, these stories share the same underlying mechanism: an incomplete transition from violent death to remembered ancestor.

Why graves matter more than ghosts

The importance attached to burial can seem surprising to readers accustomed to horror traditions in which ghosts exist mainly to frighten people.

In the Vietnamese context, however, the grave performs several functions at once. It provides a physical location for remembrance, restores a person’s place within the family and offers reassurance that social obligations have been fulfilled. When that place is missing, ghost traditions provide an alternative language through which unresolved grief can be expressed.

Researchers studying post-war memory note that the question is often not “Is the ghost real?” but “What remains unfinished?” A reported apparition may point towards an unknown burial site, unresolved family conflict or the continuing emotional burden of disappearance rather than serving as evidence of a supernatural haunting.[Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage Journals Rethinking Traumas of WarSage JournalsRethinking Traumas of War - Heonik Kwon, 2012…

Mediums, graves and disputed remembrance

One of the most unusual consequences of this tradition has been the continuing use of spirit mediums in attempts to locate missing war dead.

From the 1990s onwards, some families, veterans and organisations consulted individuals claiming to receive information from deceased soldiers. These mediums sometimes described landscapes, villages or landmarks where remains might supposedly be found. Their work attracted considerable public attention because conventional military records were often incomplete and many battlefields had changed dramatically since the war.[Le Monde.fr]lemonde.frLe Monde.fr Vietnam is haunted by 'dead souls' left over from warThe Union for Informatics Application (UIA), led by Vũ Thê Khanh, evaluates individuals claiming to have extrasensory abilities to assist…

Supporters argue that such practices occasionally appeared to produce remarkably specific leads. Critics counter that successful cases can result from prior knowledge, suggestion, selective memory or coincidence, while unsuccessful searches are easily forgotten.

The controversy became particularly intense after a widely publicised fraud scandal in 2013. One celebrated medium was exposed after supposed human remains proved to be animal bones, severely damaging public confidence and encouraging greater reliance on forensic methods such as DNA identification. Even organisations willing to investigate claims of unusual abilities increasingly stressed scientific verification before accepting discoveries.[Le Monde.fr]lemonde.frLe Monde.fr Vietnam is haunted by 'dead souls' left over from warThe Union for Informatics Application (UIA), led by Vũ Thê Khanh, evaluates individuals claiming to have extrasensory abilities to assist…

Whose dead are remembered?

War ghost traditions also expose political divisions that survived long after the fighting ended.

Official remembrance has historically focused on communist war martyrs, while many soldiers who fought for South Vietnam remained excluded from state narratives. Yet anthropological studies repeatedly note that family ritual often ignores these political distinctions. Once someone has died, relatives may regard them simply as family members whose spirits deserve peace.

This creates an important tension. State memorial systems classify the dead according to political history, whereas family mourning tends to emphasise kinship and shared humanity. Kwon describes these as different systems of remembrance that sometimes overlap but do not always recognise the same people.[Cambridge University Press & Assessment]cambridge.orgUniversity Press & Assessment Transforming ghosts (Chapter 6Cambridge University Press & AssessmentTransforming ghosts (Chapter 6) - Ghosts of War in VietnamJune 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

Recent reporting illustrates that this divide has softened in some places but has not disappeared entirely. Restoration work at former South Vietnamese military cemeteries and efforts by families to identify neglected graves show that remembrance itself remains contested, even as attitudes gradually change.[Le Monde.fr]lemonde.frLe Monde.fr Vietnam is haunted by 'dead souls' left over from warThe Union for Informatics Application (UIA), led by Vũ Thê Khanh, evaluates individuals claiming to have extrasensory abilities to assist…

Sceptical readings and cultural force

None of this means that reports of war ghosts provide evidence that spirits objectively exist.

Psychologists point to several well-understood mechanisms that can shape such experiences. Bereavement dreams are common across cultures. Memory becomes especially vivid during periods of unresolved grief. Ambiguous events are more likely to be interpreted as meaningful when families desperately seek missing relatives. Confirmation bias can reinforce stories that appear successful while unsuccessful cases receive little attention.

Historians add another layer. The sheer scale of wartime destruction means uncertainty itself becomes culturally significant. Where records are incomplete and landscapes have changed, stories naturally fill the gaps left by missing documentation.

Yet reducing every account to error or wishful thinking also overlooks why these traditions endure.

Ghost narratives provide a framework for speaking about moral debts that ordinary historical language struggles to express. They acknowledge that many losses remain unresolved decades after the fighting ended. They also allow communities to discuss difficult questions—Who deserves remembrance? Can political enemies share the same dignity in death? What happens when history cannot return a missing person to their family?—through the emotionally powerful language of haunting.[cambridge.org]cambridge.orgUniversity Press & Assessment Ghosts of War in VietnamCambridge University Press & AssessmentGhosts of War in VietnamJune 5, 2012…Published: June 5, 2012

For that reason, Vietnam’s war ghosts occupy an unusual place within the country’s Fortean landscape. Their enduring fascination comes less from claims of paranormal encounters than from the profound human reality that produced them. The mystery lies not only in stories of wandering spirits, but in the unfinished mourning that continues to give those stories meaning decades after the guns fell silent.

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Further Reading

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Browse more on Amazon:Ghosts of War in VietnamVietnam, a historyAfter the Massacre: Commemoration and Consolation in Ha My and My Lai (Asia: Local Studies/Global Themes)

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Endnotes

1. Source: cambridge.org
Title: University Press & Assessment Ghosts of War in Vietnam
Link:https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ghosts-of-war-in-vietnam/DDC5E3701CB5A02F652B8FDFFD9E30FF

Published: June 5, 2012

2. Source: cambridge.org
Link:https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asia-pacific-journal/article/ghosts-of-the-american-war-in-vietnam/8E941B8214C56449D64AE6015E4CDA98

3. Source: cambridge.org
Title: University Press & Assessment Transforming ghosts (Chapter 6)
Link:https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/ghosts-of-war-in-vietnam/transforming-ghosts/F5FAEF2D6208EFBBACE4B4728E36BFE2

Published: June 5, 2012

4. Source: assets.cambridge.org
Title: 12, 35 Agamben, Giorgio 24, 148 Alphen, Ernst van 173 Amer
Link:https://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/80619/index/9780521880619_index.htm

5. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Title: Sage Journals Rethinking Traumas of War
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5367/sear.2012.0101

6. Source: lemonde.fr
Title: Le Monde.fr Vietnam is haunted by ‘dead souls’ left over from war
Link:https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2025/05/02/vietnam-is-haunted-by-dead-souls-left-over-from-its-war_6740824_117.html

Additional References

7. Source: nybooks.com
Link:https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/11/20/vietnam-dead-souls/

Published: November 20, 2008

8. Source: ebooks.com
Link:https://www.ebooks.com/en-gb/book/332157/ghosts-of-war-in-vietnam/heonik-kwon/

9. Source: historynewsnetwork.org
Title: His book, After the Massacre: Commemoration and Cons
Link:https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/heonik-kwon-the-ghosts-of-the-american-war-in-viet

Published: January 24, 2008

10. Source: youtube.com
Title: When the U.S. used the Undead to Attack the Vietcong (The Vietnam War)
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCM4VPAID0g

11. Source: youtube.com
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bupNjabfOI

12. Source: youtube.com
Title: LIVING WITH GHOSTS
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2LtdaYZEYQ

13. Source: youtube.com
Title: Operation Wandering Soul – Psychological Warfare Gone Wrong
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0LWbtXaFUQ

14. Source: books.google.com.cu
Title: google.com.cu Ghosts of War in Vietnam
Link:https://books.google.com.cu/books?id=w7rbnAEACAAJ

Published: August 22, 2013

15. Source: books.google.com.vn
Title: google.com.vn Ghosts of War in Vietnam
Link:https://books.google.com.vn/books?hl=vi&id=HTxicHed0fcC

Published: March 6, 2008

16. Source: dod.overdrive.com
Link:https://dod.overdrive.com/dod-navy/content/media/162304

Published: March 6, 2008