Phnom Sampeau (Killing Caves)

Phnom Sampeau is a hill west/southwest of the city of Battambang containing multiple natural caves that have long been used as Buddhist temple spaces and, during the late 20th century, as sites of mass execution by the Khmer Rouge. According to published accounts, victims were killed at the rim of daylight shafts or ceiling holes above caves and their bodies disposed into the cave passages. Travel and reference sources report that men and women were placed in separate caves and that clothing was left in another cave. Human remains (skulls and bones) recovered from the caves have been assembled into memorial displays within cave chambers alongside Buddhist images such as a golden reclining Buddha. In recent decades Phnom Sampeau has been developed as a stop on Battambang tourist itineraries: visitors climb steps to temple areas, view memorials and bone displays, watch large bat colonies emerge near sunset, and observe macaque monkeys on the site. Memorial structures described in sources include a large glass-sided memorial case and a fenced assembly of remains, reflecting the site's role as a place of mourning and public memory. The sources consulted treat the site's significance primarily as historical and commemorative; no specific supernatural entities or verified paranormal phenomena are reported in the provided material.