# Is there a way to kill a ghost? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771 "2012-10-05T02:38:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/1 "2012-10-05T02:38:54Z")
I finally got around to watching Cabin in the Woods the other week. Among the various creepy critters available for the killing floor was a ghost. Now, I know there’s enough variety in what was available that it seems odd to focus on just the one entity, but given the prevalence of ghost stories vs, say, killer mermaids, I was wondering how one goes about stopping/killing a rampaging killer ghost? Is there any folklore or mythology about how one gets rid of a spirit? Is it all about the exorcisms, or is it too wide of a subject for there to be any common answers ([much like vampires](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/37/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-a-vampire))? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/2 "2012-10-05T03:04:06Z")
Whew! WAY too wide a question. There are about as many kinds of ghosts as there are human cultures and societies. A very common motif is that you can “lay” a ghost by relieving the tension that prevents it from “moving on.” One tradition, for instance, is that a ghost is restless because its human remains haven’t been properly buried. Bury them, and the ghost goes away. Sure as anything, someone is going to come along and say, “There are no such things as ghosts,” which, of course, implies there’s no way to kill them. (Um… The ghost, that is.) I once wrote a short fantasy story in which a lab tech invents a kind of lens-and-bright-light arrangement that lets you see ghosts clearly, and, if you turn up the wattage way high, lets you burn them. A kind of “ghost phaser.” The nasty bit about the story was what happens if you fire the weapon at a living person. (It kills their soul…) However, I’d recommend trying to make friends. It might be a cheerful ghost, like Casper, in which case, there are lots of very nice possibilities. He could help you find buried treasure, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/3 "2012-10-05T03:08:38Z")
Close your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/4 "2012-10-05T03:14:20Z")
You usually can’t. Even the Ghostbusters just imprisoned them. You have to banish them usually. Poltergeists and wraiths and other spirits are tied to one place. Just leave. But don’t steal the wraith’s gold. If it’s a Ringwraith, you’d better get a sex or race change, and get a special weapon. Or in fantasy settings, often you need a weapon that can hit the incorporeal (everything else passes through). So enchanted or silver weapons. Some don’t like sunlight. And umm… you can lay the ghost if you want, like _the Entity_. I’ll do something else that doesn’t involve describing my invisible rapist’s face to the cops. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/5 "2012-10-05T03:20:55Z")
Since ghosts are already dead, then no, you can’t kill them. You’re too late. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/6 "2012-10-05T03:43:50Z")
Vacuum it up, then reverse the vaccuum into your freezer. If Tom and Jerry are to be believed, just make a cocktail from the ice. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/7 "2012-10-05T03:54:38Z")
Yeah, I know it’s rather broad, but I was curious about what’s out there. Thanks for the ideas. I’d forgotten about the whole “moving on” bit, which is interesting. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/8 "2012-10-05T04:25:19Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > A very common motif is that you can “lay” a ghost by relieving the tension that prevents it from “moving on.” One tradition, for instance, is that a ghost is restless because its human remains haven’t been properly buried. Bury them, and the ghost goes away. > [@Patch](#): > > Thanks for the ideas. I’d forgotten about the whole “moving on” bit, which is interesting. Re-read Lord of the Rings. A whole bunch of warriors from an earlier Age cannot find rest because they died as cowards (if I recall the details right). Ages later, Aragorn recruits the restless spirits to fight alongside him. (Already being dead, they needn’t be cowards any more.) After that battle is won, with their help, Aragorn bids them to rest in peace, and they leave. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > You usually can’t. Even the Ghostbusters just imprisoned them. You have to banish them usually. IIRC, the Ghostbusters did in fact eventually have to kill them (or the entire universe, whichever happens first) by :eek: _crossing the beams!_ The expected demise of the universe apparently didn’t happen, but I guess the ghosts went away. But to really banish them _requires a moderator!_ ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/9 "2012-10-05T04:55:21Z")
I’m pretty sure my ex’s cooking would do the trick. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/10 "2012-10-05T05:00:42Z")
Get it to possess Rick Moranis, and then beat him to death. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/11 "2012-10-05T05:01:39Z")
Several _Magic Missile_ spells from a high level Magic User should do the trick. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/12 "2012-10-05T05:02:15Z")
Burn their bones according to Sam and Dean ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/13 "2012-10-05T06:02:49Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > Burn their bones according to Sam and Dean Bobby hears that and interrupts: That’s _salt and_ burn—idjits! ---
**Author:** ![JLRogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@JLRogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JLRogers)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/14 "2012-10-05T06:12:56Z")
As this was posed to GQ and not IMHO, the correct answer is that we have no evidence of the existence of ghosts, therefore the question is meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/15 "2012-10-05T06:18:06Z")
Don’t kill it, try to **patch** it up with the ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/16 "2012-10-05T06:24:32Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Sure as anything, someone is going to come along and say, “There are no such things as ghosts,” which, of course, implies there’s no way to kill them. (Um… The ghost, that is.) I think it also means _anything_ will kill them. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/17 "2012-10-05T06:30:44Z")
According to the well researched documentary series “supernatural”, you can stave them off with salt, and kill them by burning their remains. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/18 "2012-10-05T07:02:38Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I once wrote a short fantasy story in which a lab tech invents a kind of lens-and-bright-light arrangement that lets you see ghosts clearly, and, if you turn up the wattage way high, lets you burn them. A kind of “ghost phaser.” The nasty bit about the story was what happens if you fire the weapon at a living person. (It kills their soul…) I’m reminded of Greg Bear’s _Psyclone_, in which it turns out that extremely powerful bursts of the right kind of energy can produce badly damaged, “mutilated” ghosts. It takes a second application to actually destroy them. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/19 "2012-10-05T10:32:44Z")
According to Ren & Stimpy, [poison works.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdlVcPxTd6k#t=7m51s) Notable aftereffect: it brings the person the ghost used to be _back to life_. “I’ll see _you_ on the next shot. _Ha!_” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/20 "2012-10-05T11:19:27Z")
> [@JLRogers](#): > > As this was posed to GQ and not IMHO, the correct answer is that we have no evidence of the existence of ghosts, therefore the question is meaningless. This. You can’t kill something that doesn’t exist. Or are we no longer fighting ignorance, but pandering to it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771.md?page=2)