# Ghost raising rituals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947 "2010-12-21T13:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/41 "2010-12-21T22:20:34Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > @ **villa** , how do you know they’re being disturbed? Maybe they’d be in the mood for a chat if someone properly communicated a “what’s up” to them. Because then maybe you should allow them to choose to make contact if they so wish. And also, you state that if they are malevolent, you will exorcise them. When did you become judge, jury and executioner? What level of due process will your decision involve? If these entities exist, they are more human than not, and therefore deserving of at the very least a fair trial. You aren’t objective in this situation - we would never let a judge preside over a trial of a person accused of breaking into his home, and stealing his flat screen TV. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/42 "2010-12-21T22:21:35Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > It’s because the pandas are fuzzy isn’t it? #@&$#% charismatic megafauna. Cute? I assume you’ve seen [panda sneeze](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlMSSRweLWM&feature=fvw)? They may have cute faces, but mom really let herself go there. She’s sitting on the couch with bon bons a la Peg Bundy, and I bet if she runs out she can lift that gut up to find a couple more. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/43 "2010-12-21T22:23:30Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Because then maybe you should allow them to choose to make contact if they so wish. And also, you state that if they are malevolent, you will exorcise them. When did you become judge, jury and executioner? What level of due process will your decision involve? If these entities exist, they are more human than not, and therefore deserving of at the very least a fair trial. You aren’t objective in this situation - we would never let a judge preside over a trial of a person accused of breaking into his home, and stealing his flat screen TV. How do you know they have the ability to contact me? And I’ll be judicious in my malevolent judgment. If it starts chucking knives at me, I’ll go with evil. Otherwise it can do whatever it wants. I’m an easy roommate. Unless it’s eating my olives. Then it’s gotta go. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/44 "2010-12-21T22:30:43Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Is this an oriental or occidental ghost? This matters. Japanese ghosts at least are usually no Casper. Typically they are the manifestation of extreme sorrow and rage. They are relentless, indiscriminate killing machines. Contact your local shinto priest/Buddhist monk, or, better yet, just run the hell away. Of course, it might just follow you… Best of luck! > > (Note: I personally don’t believe in this stuff, but I’m open to the possibility. At the very least, certain places do give off bad mojo and **WhyNot’s** cleansing ritual seems to me like a wonderful and practical idea in this instance. Whether your house is possessed or not, it will give you a feeling of ownership of your space.) heh. That this might be a J-ghost didn’t occur to me until I read homeboy fellow Japan-dweller **Auto** ’s post here. I have absolutely no experience with ghosts either, but it’s a big thang here. FWIW, I don’t think J-ghosts just happily evaporate when the house is torn down; I reckon they’d be pissed. It’s not like they’re alive and fire/destruction is going to harm them. Candy-ass cleansing rituals 😃 (no disrespect intended) probably won’t cut it with big bad J-ghosts. > [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > That’s the real problem with drunk posting, as I was too lazy to phrase myself carefully. Sorry about that. This was written largely tongue in cheek. I don’t believe in ghosts, but previous inhabitants of my house have said that it’s haunted. I figured I’d get some real ghost rituals from people who have claimed to raise them, and give it a shot, because why not, really? I’m here over christmas with not much else to do. So non-believers can joke all they want, because I’m not serious about it myself. I just figured I’d take a crack at it. > > As for information that might help people give me the advice I need: I live in Japan, where there aren’t a whole lot of christian priests around to help me with this. I do know a shinto priestess, but I’d rather try this myself if at all possible. I don’t think the ghost(s) is malevolent, because I figure I’d have had some problems in the last few years, and I’ve had none. I don’t know what other information I can provide for you, so if you have questions about specific circumstances I’ll do my best to answer them. > > Oh, and my house really is scheduled for demolition in 2012. Japan doesn’t like “old” houses (read: more than 30 years or so), so they’re destroying this one and putting up another in its place. Fortunately in the sticks, they’ve been building these things out of newspaper and gum, so it’s not that hard to take one down. I just don’t know that it’ll be much of an improvement. > [snip] > Anyway, if I die in strange circumstances (and **Autolycus** will read about it in the papers because he lives near me now), you’ll all know that ghosts got me. And that they framed me to make it look like autoerotic asphyxiation. First of all, **Autolycus** isn’t the only one reading the papers here, but if it helps, both he and I will step forward and clear your good name by mentioning that you frequently hung towels from doorknobs, then stuck yer neck in thar to, uhhh, stretch a la [Hide.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide_(musician)) You’re welcome! Seriousry, [harae is the way to go.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harae) It’s commonly done, doesn’t piss Mr. Ghost off, and gives everyone a nice warm sense of closure. I’d call in the Shinto priestess just for the whole experience, myself. Here, exorcism is done as a matter of course (if someone jumps from their apartment window, for example, the management company will, without fail, call in a Shinto priest to do an exorcism) and there’s none of that Exorcist scary shit in thar. PS. When are we doing a Japan Doper meetup anyway? Get **HokkaidoBrit** in here too, etc. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/45 "2010-12-21T22:32:05Z")
Even if you think you are being fair, you have to see how you aren’t a person who can give the accused due process in this situation. I’m sorry - I think the only fair option is to move out until a full trial can be arranged, after maybe 2 or 3 years of discovery. ETA Oh, you are in Japan. Have at it then. I was presuming we were awarding American style constitutional rights to these beasties. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/46 "2010-12-21T22:36:04Z")
Ha, it’d get a better trial from me than from the Japanese legal system. That shit is scary! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/47 "2010-12-21T22:36:38Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > . If you had pandas in your garden you wouldn’t be so cavalier about the possibility of exterminating them, would you? It’s because the pandas are fuzzy isn’t it? #@&$#% charismatic megafauna. No, it’s because their Sith overlord would open a can of whoop-ass on you. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/48 "2010-12-21T23:00:36Z")
> [@flight](#): > > There is only one sure-fire method, fire. Apply liberally to the infected area. Nope. Borley Rectory burned down and they STILL had trouble with floating bricks and what not. I don’t believe in ghosts in the slightest now, but I read a WHOLE LOT of parapsych back in the day. As you’ve intimated, I’d advise hanging in there unless you start picking up on some malevolent stuff (which is kinda like pornography–you’ll know it when you see it). If malevolence does find its way into your situation, I’d try moving out, honestly. I’ve heard a lot of belief systems on getting rid of entities. They don’t work very well, largely because (in my own skeptical opinion, retrofitted to fit the thread) your fears and anxieties are what’s fueling the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/49 "2010-12-21T23:01:32Z")
> [@KinkiNipponTourist](#): > > PS. When are we doing a Japan Doper meetup anyway? Get **HokkaidoBrit** in here too, etc. Let’s get on that 早く！ It’s vacation time for some of us I’m sure. Would somebody give us the honorable action of starting a thread? P.S. No ghosts allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/50 "2010-12-22T02:00:38Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > My house is haunted. I need a way to raise and confront the ghosts to see what my next step should be. Benign ghost will get to stay with the house until it is destroyed in 2012. Malevolent ones will need to be exorcised. > > I need surefire methods here, people! Arson. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/51 "2010-12-22T02:48:16Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > I’d just spray one of those bathroom air fresheners, and leave it at that. Actually, I would try the opposite tactic. A diet of beer, beans, sausage, cheese, cabbage and broccoli. ---
**Author:** ![iamnotbatman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/52 "2010-12-22T09:53:07Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > I realized a long time ago that the universe is so vast that it makes very little sense for ghosts to remain for long in this little pale blue dot of ours. Can ghost’s go faster than the speed of light? If so, they could be alien ghosts. Proof of extra terrestrial death-forms! ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/53 "2010-12-22T11:35:29Z")
> [@iamnotbatman](#): > > Can ghost’s go faster than the speed of light? If so, they could be alien ghosts. Proof of extra terrestrial death-forms! If you believe in ghosts, wormholes shouldn’t present a problem to your worldview. ---
**Author:** ![lisalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/0ea827/32.png) [@lisalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisalan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/54 "2010-12-22T14:40:39Z")
Play Celine Dion music REALLY REALLY LOUD:D Doesn’t hurt to try it? Actually yes it does. Sorry I couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/55 "2010-12-22T15:01:12Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > \*\*Ghost raising rituals \*\* You’ll need several wagon loads of un-dead Amish, but they can get it done all in one day. “Ya. You be careful out amongst them English.” “Why’s that…?” “Brrrraaaaaaaaiiiins…!” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947/56 "2010-12-22T16:21:21Z")
> [@iamnotbatman](#): > > Can ghost’s go faster than the speed of light? If so, they could be alien ghosts. Proof of extra terrestrial death-forms! [Aside] Old idea already 🙂 , in the classic Manga/Anime Lum([Urusei Yatsura](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urusei_Yatsura)) the creator Rumiko Takahashi grabs from the ghost and monster folklore of Japan and turns the para-normals into aliens, with crazy and funny results. (Lum is a female Oni, that is a demon or devil) [/aside] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-raising-rituals/564947.md?page=2)