# How do ghosts follow people home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389 "2014-06-22T21:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earth001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@Earth001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earth001)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/1 "2014-06-22T21:01:19Z")
I often hear stories on how ghosts can sometimes follow people home or they can stalk them and such. I would like to know how can ghosts do this? ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/2 "2014-06-22T21:05:16Z")
When you’re fictional, you can pretty much do what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/3 "2014-06-22T21:08:49Z")
Unless we have a ghost posting here, the answer to this must remain speculative, so let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator PS. The ghost stories I am familiar with don’t usually involve a ghost “following someone home.” In folklore, ghosts are usually tied to certain places which they haunt and don’t leave them. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/4 "2014-06-22T21:11:34Z")
It’s a spirit thing, you wouldn’t understand. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/5 "2014-06-22T21:14:17Z")
I think the OP may be thinking of poltergeist instead of ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/6 "2014-06-22T21:24:43Z")
Okay, I’m going to actually take a shot at this. Ghosts exist in a spiritual plane so they aren’t bound by physical limitations. You or I can’t zip across the country in seconds, but what’s time and distance to a ghost? When you’ve already made the crossing from the world of the dead to the world of the living, getting from New York to Los Angeles is trivial. As for where ghosts appear, you shouldn’t assume they’re tied to a location. They can just as easily be tied to an event. So if they get murdered in a house, they might stay in that house. But they might follow the murderer instead. Or maybe the weapon used to kill them. Or the detective who’s investigating the crime. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/7 "2014-06-22T21:44:17Z")
Assuming that ghosts exist, and assuming that they have motility, volition, and senses (which usually go along with the assumption that they exist), why wouldn’t they be able to follow someone if they so choose? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/8 "2014-06-22T22:29:36Z")
Okay, I’ll try. Using the most detailed and popular current rendition of ghost lore, _ **Supernatural** _, ghosts are generally tied to our world by a combination of unfinished business and a physical object. The unfinished business is usually rage or revenge, which causes them to manifest themselves and interact with the world. The object is most commonly their own corpse or bones, which is why you oughtn’t disturb a grave, but can also be object that was important to them in life, like a flask or other owned thing. If you bring home Mrs. Johnson’s heirloom hairbrush, you might bring home Mrs. Johnson, too. Salting and burning the physical connection is the only sure way to get rid of them. Traditionally ghosts can’t pass spilled salt, as they have to obsessively count the grains, so this is probably where this idea came from. Obviously, ghost rules vary by culture. Apparently Tibetan ghosts can be captured or killed, and the Thai Phi Tai Hong might even sleep with you, so you’ve got that going for you. Romans believed you could use a ghost to enact a curse, so maybe the ghosts that you’ve got following you have been set on your trail by your enemies. I should point out that Bible literalists should believe in ghosts, since Saul summoned Samuel from beyond the grave (I Samuel 28:3–19 KJV). But in reality land, they can’t follow you, for the reasons already put forward. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/9 "2014-06-22T22:58:36Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > I often hear stories on how ghosts can sometimes follow people home or they can stalk them and such. I would like to know how can ghosts do this? Bicycles. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/10 "2014-06-22T23:01:24Z")
One more hypothesis: ghosts are creations of the perceiver’s mind. So wherever the person seeing or feeling the ghost goes, the ghost can appear. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/11 "2014-06-22T23:02:17Z")
The same way [sharks follow their prey.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws:_The_Revenge) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/12 "2014-06-22T23:29:45Z")
G(host)PS ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/13 "2014-06-23T02:14:16Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > I often hear stories on how ghosts can sometimes follow people home or they can stalk them and such. I would like to know how can ghosts do this? I won’t answer until you explain why you think its difficult for a ghost to follow you home. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/14 "2014-06-23T02:33:25Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Bicycles. Mirrors. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/15 "2014-06-23T02:52:10Z")
Ghosts have insubstantial and phasing qualities. They have a speed of 4, as compared to the average Human, who has a speed of 6. You should easily be able to outrun a ghost. Just don’t walk slow and go straight to your house. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/16 "2014-06-23T02:56:14Z")
Ghosts are emergent manifestations of the persistent Quantum energy phenomena that the living person formerly was – and still is. They have no definite location or momentum, but instead consist of a superposition of all possible locations and momenta over space and time. So, they are simultaneously everywhere and anywhere at any time and all times, just like other Quantum systems. When a haunted person sees (that is, observes) a ghost, then of course the ghost’s time/position wave functions collapse, just as happens in other well-understood(?) Quantum systems, and the ghost is seen to manifest itself at a certain place and time. But this could happen randomly at any of the places and times that were present in the original superposition, according to the various probabilities of the ghost being at those specific places and times. This explains the seeming randomness of ghost sightings. The association of ghosts with various physical objects in the “real” world happens because of the way the formerly living person was entangled with the object. This could especially be so if, for example, the entangled object was Mrs. Johnson’s heirloom hairbrush. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/17 "2014-06-23T03:13:02Z")
Charles Fort in _Lo!_ explained ghosts by teleportation. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/18 "2014-06-23T03:13:32Z")
What does this have to do with video games? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/19 "2014-06-23T03:23:29Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Charles Fort in _Lo!_ explained ghosts by teleportation. I love Fort! I get the impression he didn’t believe a word he wrote and was just trolling the woosters for laffs. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389/20 "2014-06-23T11:58:53Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What does this have to do with video games? Apparently ghosts played a lot of video games in the 1990’s, and will do so 50 years in the future. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-ghosts-follow-people-home/691389.md?page=2)