I just saw a really crappy movie (The Thirteeen Ghosts). It made mw wonder though, is there a documentaed case of a ghost actually wreaking harm upon the living?
It seems unlikely…ghosts are supposed to be immaterial, so it is hard to imagine an image being able to harm someone. Second, I have heard that ghosts are the spirits of people who have died and are UNAWARE of their passing! Hence, they hang around their former abodes, and frighten people who happen by. According to some belivers, the ghost is not even aware of the human prescence. Finally, what is the motivation (of a spirirt) to cause someone to die? Is it because they are lonely and want some company?
All very confusing, but as I say, don’t waste your time with this awful movie!
As that would require a documented case of a ghost existing, I think we can say that the answer to your question is, “No.”
Depends on what you mean by “ghost.” Parapsychologists recognize a class of entity called “Poltergeists” (literally, “noisy ghosts”) which harm people quite often.
However, poltergeists are a separate class of entities and are actually more powerful and more malevolent than just yer run-of-the-mill ghost. Be that is it may, they’re quite troublesome, throwing things at people, sometimes attacking people with bites & scratches. In a few cases they have been known to sexually assault women and girls. YMMV
Another class of entity is the parapsychologist; these also are more powerful than their fictional companions, the ghost and the poltergeist. They are very troublesome, throwing spooky stories around, sometimes attacking real scientists. In a few cases they have been known to assault the truth in order to justify their research.
to begin, i do not believe in ghosts or the existence of the paranormal… so a ghost would/could not harm me…
but, take a kid or anyone else with a firm belief in ghosts… fear of ghosts on a dark night all alone at home would inflict a decent amount of mental harm, in my view.
so yes, [belief in] ghosts, in specific circumstances, can cause trauma and harm to people. this could manifest in physical harm if, for example, said kid runs down the stairs in terror because he heard some noise that he assumed to be a ghost and hurt himself on the head or something…
Now that all of the hair splitting is done, yes, ghosts have harmed people. They are known as Poltergeists. These ghosts throw things, have been known to bite people and pinch them. Now, there is no proof of any of them ever existing, but incidents have happened that have been blamed on poltergeists but never actually proven to be them.
As everyone else said, there have been reports of ghosts “harming” people (Scratches, bites, etc.), but I’ve never heard of a ghost accused of KILLING someone, if that’s any help.
I think the TV show “Sightings” is in syndication on the Sci-Fi channel, and they had a story or two on ghosts scratching people. You might want to check that show out, if you get Sci-Fi.
Ranchoth
Ouch. My ignorance meter is pinned at 10, and it hurts.
For purposes of GQ, ghosts (including poltergeists) do not exist until a reputable peer-reviewed scientific journal says they do.
So, with the exception of belief-induced instances as above (thanks, xash, the answer to your question is “no.”
How exactly would someone go about verifying and documenting that someone was killed by a ghost, anyway?
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So you admit in your post that there is no proof of poltergeists existing, yet you are comfortable definitively saying that “yes, ghosts have harmed people?”
I would appreciate a cite if that’s possible, and a link to the Art Bell website ain’t gonna cut it either.
Ghosts, like space aliens, have never harmed people. Not coincidentally, they also share the trait of not existing.
Didn’t Patrick Swayze rough up a photographer, once?
IMHO, the most common lore in fiction (since there’s no way to know if ghosts exist, nor poltergeists which aren’t supposed to be ghosts anyway, but unintentionally expressed manifestations of telekinesis-usually by a teenager) is that ghosts can’t harm you, but they could make harm yourself trying to get away from them. You could try to run away from one and fall out of a window in your haste to back up, things like that. Movies like Thirteen Ghosts, ** The House on Haunted Hill** and ** The Frighteners** deviate from that, but since it’s fiction…
While I personally do think it’s somewhat plausible that ghosts exist, until they’re proven to, one can’t really give you a factual answer to your question.
I sure would like to see some cites for all, or any, of this, Rasta. Or were you speaking tongue-in-cheek?
Considering that there are no such things as either poltergeists OR ghosts, it would seem to be moot which were considered more powerful in the mythology. But we’re dealing with facts here at the SDMB, not mythology. So if you’re talking about the mythology, you should say, “…In the mythology”.
Cite, please.
Also, I’m sorry, but here at the official website of the Fight Against Ignorance, posting a presumably serious and informative answer to a General Question, which post is “All About Poltergeists” ( :rolleyes: ) and then putting in a “YMMV” as, what, some sort of disclaimer, just doesn’t cut it. (Would it fly to post “All About UFOs” and then put in “YMMV” as a disclaimer? I don’t think so.)
Let’s see some cites, please, and like Mr. Bix said, not from Art Bell, thank you so much.
And Omnivore can help you find your cites, can’t you, Omnivore (don’t think for a minute that I didn’t notice YOUR post, either…)
These statements would seem to be directly contradictory. First it’s “yes, ghosts and poltergeists have harmed people”, then it’s, “There’s no proof that ghosts or poltergeists exist”. So which is it? They can’t harm people if they don’t even exist…
We’re in General Questions now, not MPSIMS, and you have made the statement, “Ghosts have harmed people”.
Cite, please.
And not from Art Bell.
A ghost once touched my butt and threw a picture of my mother in the garbage.
No, that was me
Oh yeah, welcome to my sig!
The ghost in question was female.
Yeah, 'cause UFO stands for unidentified flying object. It doesn’t say anything about being aliens or whatever. One can document UFOs. One can have a lot of fun making UFOs for other people to document.
I agree that alien abductions, poltergeists, gods, etc shouldn’t be YMMVd in GD.
It’s taking longer than we thought… it’s taking longer than we thought… it’s taking longer than we thought… it’s taking longer than we thought…
(On the plus side, I finally found a thread where the use of the :smack: smiley is appropriate)
My cats name is Ghost and she scratched me once.