Deviate with Rolf Potts · Monday, September 7, 2026
Rolf Potts recounted an experience in a remote valley in Laos where a woman became possessed by spirits, an event the villagers attributed to the chief not making a sacrifice. Potts contrasted this with Western interpretations of mental illness and highlighted how such experiences in non-modern cultures feel surreal and stranger than fiction.
“For example, I went into this valley, a very remote valley in Laos. I was on magazine assignment. Um, it was an area that they were sort of trying to develop for tourism, a tour operator out of Thailand. And this woman became possessed by the spirits.”
“And everybody in the village is like, oh yeah, the woman is is possessed by the spirits because the chief didn't give a sacrifice when you came into the village.”
“But no, they honestly believed that the spirits had entered her and were speaking through her. Well, that would just so strange. It's you never see that.”