# How long do ghosts live? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848 "2018-01-04T13:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/1 "2018-01-04T13:58:10Z")
When we moved into our house 7 years ago we quickly discovered the place came with a resident ghost. Specifically, we moved in with a very mellow poltergeist who was into loosening the screws on doorknobs a couple of turns and giving us tiny little cuts on our hands and arms. It occurred to us last night we haven’t noticed any such activity for several months and I fear the worst. Perhaps the reason the signs were so low-key is because he was getting old and was simply too tired to get up to any real mischief. Strangely, we miss him. (and yes, I totally assumed the ghost’s gender. I am a bad person.) Which leads to the question: The absence of recordable, reproducible, and predictable evidence of ghosts has led many to conclude they do not exist. However, this has not stopped a lot of folks from becoming experts on the subject. Among such experts, or even aficionados, is there anything resembling a consensus about how long a spirit will endure in this world once it is brought into existence? Certainly, very powerful spirits may be immortal or at least not suffer a weakening ability to interact with the physical world, but more “common” ones, ostensibly the remnant of ordinary people or animals, may have a more limited effective duration. About how long is that? ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/2 "2018-01-04T14:03:29Z")
By definition, the answer will be a negative number. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/3 "2018-01-04T14:11:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > By definition, the answer will be a negative number. I was going to comment something along those lines, but since it was General Questions, I did not. Glad you did though. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/4 "2018-01-04T14:25:34Z")
\*\* Casting anti-snark wards and smudging against wisecrackers \*\* Yeah, it’s a tempting and entertaining target. Nevertheless, I would like an answer. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/5 "2018-01-04T14:27:13Z")
> [@B-Rad](#): > > \*\* Casting anti-snark wards and smudging against wisecrackers \*\* > > Yeah, it’s a tempting and entertaining target. Nevertheless, I would like an answer. > 🙂 OK, 8 months, plus or minus 9 months. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/6 "2018-01-04T14:29:55Z")
If you want an answer from folklore, then the usual reason for a ghost is because the deceased had some sort of unfinished business. And the ghost lingers for as long as it takes for that unfinished business to be resolved, be it a week or a thousand years. So without knowing the exact circumstances of your ghost, it would be impossible to say. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/7 "2018-01-04T14:30:44Z")
According to this > **[The Tower of London - Your Ghost Stories](https://www.yourghoststories.com/famous-ghost-stories/tower-london.php)** > > The Tower of London - Your source for real ghost stories. Submit your paranormal experience! the ghost of Thomas Becket, who died in 1170, has been reported to haunt the tower of London. So a long time. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/8 "2018-01-04T14:37:08Z")
It depends on the reason that a spirit chooses to linger in the vale. Ghosts are single-minded, and have a single regret or sorrow or desire for revenge that holds them in this world. Once that single purpose is somehow resolved, [they no longer remain](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html).[SUP]1[/SUP] However, limiting and complicating that is the fact that ectoplasm itself has a half-life of approximately 37.3 years. So all ghosts fade with time until they are essentially undetectable whether or not their goals are realized.[SUP]2[/SUP] [SUP]1[/SUP] From Japanese traditions. [SUP]2[/SUP] Pulled out of my ass. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/9 "2018-01-04T14:40:30Z")
It is not a factual subject, but I recall reading most long term ghost fade after a few hundred years. They are out numbered by short term ghosts though. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/10 "2018-01-04T14:43:15Z")
As this is GQ, I will give a fact-based answer. Ghosts live until someone moves into the house they are haunting who has not heard that there is a ghost in the house. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BlueMerle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@BlueMerle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMerle)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/11 "2018-01-04T14:45:02Z")
At room temp. only a matter of days. Refrigerating will extend that to a few weeks. They do freeze really well. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/12 "2018-01-04T14:56:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It depends on the reason that a spirit chooses to linger in the vale. Ghosts are single-minded, and have a single regret or sorrow or desire for revenge that holds them in this world. Once that single purpose is somehow resolved, [they no longer remain](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html).[SUP]1[/SUP] This was confirmed in the well-known Patrick Swayze [documentary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_(1990_film)). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/13 "2018-01-04T15:02:56Z")
Ghosts are a prime example of confirmation bias. A few years ago a group of students in Edinburgh carried out a fairly scientific experiment. There are some famous haunted places in that city and many visitors on the conducted tours report sightings. This is what the students did: They took some tourists to some different but similar places, without telling them, to see if anyone saw ghosts. There were roughly the same number of sightings as usual. They told some tourists that the proper places were closed for safety reasons but took them there anyway. There were a few sightings but nowhere near as many as normal. They assumed that the normal situation - tourists in the right place expecting and seeing ghosts was the third part of a double blind test. They would have needed to do this a large number of times for true validity, but the results of their single experiment were fairly compelling: _ **People tend to see ghosts if they expect to see them.** _ ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/14 "2018-01-04T15:03:26Z")
> [@BlueMerle](#): > > They do freeze really well. Frozen ghosts make a refreshing Summer treat. I prefer Ghost in the Waffle Cone. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/15 "2018-01-04T15:08:59Z")
Since even if there is a consensus among “experts” it will be based on non-factual information, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/16 "2018-01-04T15:09:31Z")
Ia I understand they are timeless and immortal souls in their ‘home’ realm - but do age as the soul progresses, and is renewed young again, but to a more evolved soul, when they live in mortal flesh they age as a person age as that is what they are. When they die they are usually frozen at the physical age of death, and enter the realm that we experience as ghosts, which is a realm that they died but didn’t accept their death so are frozen in our world but without a physical body (as we detach from it at the moment of passing). So in a ‘ghost state’, as long as it takes for the ghost to accept it has died and goes to the light, to their ‘home’ realm of spirit, and possibly rentering a physical world. ---
**Author:** ![BlueMerle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@BlueMerle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMerle)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/17 "2018-01-04T15:15:12Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Frozen ghosts make a refreshing Summer treat. I prefer Ghost in the Waffle Cone. Yes, they do have a lovely piquant aftertaste. Try some in your coffee. 😋 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/18 "2018-01-04T15:21:53Z")
Two questions, both urban myth related. Has anyone moved out of your house recently? You called the ghost a poltergeist and in the current legendarium, those are more likely to be connected to a person than to a place. Has anyone aged out of teen-hood? Poltergeists are popularly considered to be powered by teenage frustration and angst. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/19 "2018-01-04T15:33:50Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > OK, 8 months, plus or minus 9 months. I think you need to divide by zero to get the proper answer here. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848/20 "2018-01-04T15:36:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Since even if there is a consensus among “experts” it will be based on non-factual information, let’s move this to IMHO. With all due respect: consensus within an area of research, whether you as a scientist can stomach the subject being treated “scientifically” or not, is an objective consensus. I’m no physicist, but I understand string theory is a line (heh) of thought with no observable evidence to support it. Nevertheless, I have a feeling a related thread would not suffer the indignity of exorcism from the GQ page. I don’t mean to be a little bitch about it, but jeez, dude. Nevertheless, I believe I have been able to divine a satisfactory answer through the false positives and other noise. I thank the teeming, er, dozen or so, for their input. > [@Yllaria](#): > > Two questions, both urban myth related. > > Has anyone moved out of your house recently? You called the ghost a poltergeist and in the current legendarium, those are more likely to be connected to a person than to a place. > > Has anyone aged out of teen-hood? Poltergeists are popularly considered to be powered by teenage frustration and angst. Dang, my now-18 y/o daughter was a bad cutter when she went to live with her mom full-time about a year ago, and remains to this day a general agent of chaos. This gives me something to think about. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-ghosts-live/805848.md?page=2)