Tourism booms, but disputes over origin of Naga fireballs continue in Bangkok

Clashes between believers and non-believers over the mysterious Naga fireballs in Nong Khai and Bueng Kan provinces have gone on for decades. But what is indisputable is the fact that the phenomenon has become a popular annual festival which draws over 200,000 tourists to the two northeastern provinces each year.

Equally predictable is that local people and scientifically minded people trade barbs on social networks or in news media about the origin of the latest fireballs.The mysterious Naga fireballs in Nong Khai and Bueng Kan has become a popular annual festival which draws over 200,000 tourists to the two northeastern provinces each year.

This year, Jessada Denduangboripant, a well-known lecturer and professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Science, even accepted a challenge from a businessman in Bueng Kan to go there next year to prove that the fireballs were not a natural phenomenon, but rather were created by people.