THE STRANGE complaint of a woman who has been examined and x-rayed at a hospital on Phuket has doctors puzzled and has sparked rumors about mystical powers and political manoeuvreing.

Authaiwan Maneetong, 38, presented herself to doctors at Vachira Hospital on Friday, saying that she had been suffering from stomach pains for three months. She said another, unnamed hospital on Phuket had failed to diagnose her condition.

Later that day, the Vachira Phuket doctors were able to tell Khun Authaiwan that the cause of her problem was the presence of four five-inch nails in her stomach - and they produced x-rays to show her the source of her pains.

Doctors are mystified how the nails could have arrived in her stomach unless she swallowed them. Khun Authaiwan, the well-regarded director of a batik producers' group back in Phatthalung province, told a Phuketwan reporter who asked the vital question that she hadn't swallowed them.

One popular Western folk song begins: ''If I had a hammer . . . '' But it doesn't go on to mention anything about nails. However, sword-swallowers are able to open their throat passage to allow for a long, sharp weapon to be sheathed in their torso, if only briefly.

Khun Authaiwan is standing for election as a local mayor shortly, and her unexplained encounter with the nails may win the support of voters who believe in black magic and unexplained events.