# Do you think human ashes can haunt people? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413 "2018-03-12T04:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/21 "2018-03-12T17:02:39Z")
There is a small chance that the dead person has become a [preta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preta) and is unable to rise to the higher realms. If his/her dislike/affection/love/anger for you was particularly intense, it is possible that the will of such a preta could harm you in physical/psychological/psychic ways. Yes, even the intense affection of a person who has now died (especially one who died suddenly/violently) can become a sort of hate and rebound negatively on you. That is why it is of particular importance (in Hindu traditions) to perform the funeral rites with great care and technical correctness. If a funeral was conducted, with the correct rites prevalent in your tradition, there is little opportunity for a preta to bother you, or even to form in the first place. Though, we do not retain the ashes of a dead person in the house. As part of the [final rites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antyesti), they are immersed in a river. I do not believe that the ashes are a source of trouble; it may be the nature of the person and the nature of the death itself. Or, as many posters have said, it may be purely psychosomatic. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/22 "2018-03-12T18:07:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my buddy Joe’s wife asked me to arrange whatever details/permits/etc were needed to disperse Joe’s ashes at his favorite lake, the park ranger dude said it wasn’t permitted. He also pointed out that if we were discrete, nobody would object. > > Everyone had tears; it was a breezy day and Joe managed to get in people’s eyes. “Goddamit, Walter! You fuckin’ asshole. Everything’s a fuckin’ travesty with you, man!” ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/23 "2018-03-12T18:26:21Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Though, we do not retain the ashes of a dead person in the house. As part of the [final rites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antyesti), they are immersed in a river. I do not believe that the ashes are a source of trouble; it may be the nature of the person and the nature of the death itself. Burn 'em, then drown them! Now _that’s_ what I call hate. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/24 "2018-03-12T18:49:22Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Burn 'em, then drown them! > > Now _that’s_ what I call hate. But, we wait till they give up the ghost themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/25 "2018-03-12T19:05:57Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I agree that there is no evidence to support the existence of literal “haunting” as a real phenomenon. > > However, if it bothers you emotionally enough to have the ashes around, the stress of it could make you sick. The remedies to this are either to move, to persuade the other party to get rid of the ashes, or to persuade yourself that you really don’t believe in this and you don’t care if the ashes are there or not. None of those is probably an easy option. Yes, exactly. Ghosts are very likely not real. But the emotional issues involved could make a “haunting” real enough in its own way. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/26 "2018-03-12T19:48:23Z")
Drive out into the country and take a shovel. At leest 50 miles from home. Dig a pit at least a foot deep and drop them in there. Go home and be thankful that’s the last you’ll ever see of that ash hole. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/27 "2018-03-12T19:59:39Z")
Even if we were to speak in terms of the “spirit world”, folks who were put to rest properly, tend not to “haunt” people. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/28 "2018-03-12T20:30:23Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > There is a small chance that the dead person has become a [preta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preta) and is unable to rise to the higher realms. Employ a fashionably dressed individual to carry out the offending ashes. We call said person a preta porter. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/29 "2018-03-12T20:51:49Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Or it could be Lupus. It’s never Lupus. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/30 "2018-03-12T21:04:41Z")
Your worrying could be what making you feel sick , if your heath issues do get worse it wouldn’t harm to see a doctor to rule out any health issues that happened to show at the same time the ashes arrived . LOL! I love #26 post ! ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/31 "2018-03-13T14:40:48Z")
Why not just get a grave site in the local cemetery and bury them there? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/32 "2018-03-13T17:22:34Z")
Have you tried running around your house waving your arms and shouting “boogety boogety” ‘Cause otherwise, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/33 "2018-03-13T17:45:03Z")
You know the Op has asked a serious question and has asked us for help. Snarky posts to show off that you are the most sceptical poster on the boards arent really helping. Look, even if gosts do not exist the word “Haunt” has no less than two other meanings that apply. _“be persistently and disturbingly present in (something). “cities haunted by the shadow of cholera” be persistently in the mind of (someone). “the sight haunted me for years””_ ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/34 "2018-03-14T10:57:36Z")
Cat. Get a Cat. You’ll know if you’re haunted or not. So I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/35 "2018-03-14T12:17:52Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You know the Op has asked a serious question and has asked us for help. > > Snarky posts to show off that you are the most sceptical poster on the boards arent really helping. Is there any woo at all that is so wooey that you won’t be its advocate? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/36 "2018-03-14T12:59:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It doesn’t seem to have harmed Keith Richards. Dammit! Thunder stolen! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/37 "2018-03-14T13:03:45Z")
When come back to thread, bring [ectoplasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectoplasm_(paranormal)). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/38 "2018-03-14T14:17:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It doesn’t seem to have harmed Keith Richards. Words to live by. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/39 "2018-03-14T16:54:02Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Is there any woo at all that is so wooey that you won’t be its advocate? I am not supporting “woo” and if you actually bother to READ you’d see that: Look, even if ghosts do not exist the word “Haunt” has no less than two other meanings that apply. "_be persistently and disturbingly present in (something). “cities haunted by the shadow of cholera” be persistently in the mind of (someone). “the sight haunted me for years”"_ “Ghosts are very likely not real. But the emotional issues involved could make a “haunting” real enough in its own way.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413/40 "2018-03-14T18:04:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “Ghosts are very likely not real. But the emotional issues involved could make a “haunting” real enough in its own way.” But do you really think that the OP is using one of those other meanings for “haunting”, or do you just want to be pedantic about it? (Myself, I think that the OP is being haunted by [the ghost of a scrapped MRI machine](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722978).) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-human-ashes-can-haunt-people/810413.md?page=3)