# 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:** 2
**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, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/21 "2012-10-05T11:24:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This. You can’t kill something that doesn’t exist. > > Or are we no longer fighting ignorance, but pandering to it? You may not want to go here… A mod moved this very same question from IMHO to GQ a while back: > [@](#): > > Given the skeptical nature of most of the TM, I doubt that you are going to get polite answers to this question. > > However, since you are looking for factual information, rather than a debate on whether ghosts actually exist, I am going to nudge this over to General Questions. > > NOTICE to ALL: > > The question was asked for a specific answer. Posting lots comments that there are no ghosts is not a legitimate response. If you need to make those comments, open a new thread in GD or The BBQ Pit and simply refrain from posting in this thread. > > [/Moderating] > **[Ghost raising rituals](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=590123)** > > 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... On the plus side, it generated a great pit thread: > **[I have goblins in my pants, please Straight Dope, tell me a factual answer to...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=590128)** > > Seriously. I must have goblins and instead of you proving factually that I’m incorrect in my assumptions, you need to go along with my delusions in a website that’s blah blah blah ignorance. Link LINK I guess this would have been better suited... eta: well, not really the same question, as the other poster was actually trying to kill a ghost, whereas this OP seems more interested in what methods are assumed to exist in various folklore and mythologies, but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/22 "2012-10-05T11:29:20Z")
Discussing traditional or current folklore \*is \*fighting ignorance. FWIW, ghosts can be imprisoned, laid to rest by resolving whatever is keeping the spirit connected to the material plane, or inhaled to absorb the memories inprinted upon the ghost (cite for the last one, Tim Powers’ novel _ **Expiration Date** _) ---
**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, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/23 "2012-10-05T11:37:58Z")
Actually, now that I review the question it does seem legitimate. “Is there any folklore or mythology about how one gets rid of a spirit?” is a reasonable, interesting question. The title just happens to be pose a completely different, eminently risible question. ---
**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, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/24 "2012-10-05T11:49:40Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This. You can’t kill something that doesn’t exist. That’s arguably wrong; authors kill fictional characters all the time. For that matter, Tyrannosaurs do not at present exist, but “would a modern handgun kill one” is still a meaningful question. The problem here really isn’t that “ghosts” don’t exist, but that they are undefined. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/25 "2012-10-05T12:10:50Z")
I thought ghosts were already dead. ---
**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, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/26 "2012-10-05T12:20:57Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That’s arguably wrong; authors kill fictional characters all the time. For that matter, Tyrannosaurs do not at present exist, but “would a modern handgun kill one” is still a meaningful question. > > The problem here really isn’t that “ghosts” don’t exist, but that they are undefined. This is incorrect. Authors don’t kill fictional characters; they write stories about killing fictional characters. The two are not at all the same. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/27 "2012-10-05T12:28:40Z")
When my wife was still working in the dentist’s office a cute little girl was in the waiting room. At one point she asked about the music coming over the sound system, and my wife said it was called “:Unchained Melody”, the little girl said “That’s not “Unchsained Melody”. It’s the musics from _Ghost_!” She thought a minute and said “It was sad when Sam died. It was sad when he died again.” In _Ghost_, at least, you can get rid of a ghost either by the time-honored metghod of completing their uncompleted busines (as pointed out earlier in this thread), or by getting them sucked down to Hell by demons, as happened to the Bad Guy Ghost. (I understand that Mike Jittlov, the Wizard of Speed and Time himself, did the animation of those demons.) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/28 "2012-10-05T12:51:36Z")
It depends on why the ghost is hanging around. As others have mentioned, finding the ghost’s body (or portion of the body, for ghosts that are missing their head or whatever) is often enough to lay the ghost to rest. For ghosts that are tied to a particular location (ie, haunted houses) having a priest or minister or someone exorcize the house sometimes banishes the ghost (but apparently this doesn’t always work). ---
**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, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/29 "2012-10-05T12:54:03Z")
A means of last resorts is to cross your streams. ---
**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, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/30 "2012-10-05T17:16:09Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Get it to possess Rick Moranis, and then beat him to death. When’s the last time you’ve seen Rick? Maybe someone already thought of that? > [@Oakminster](#): > > Several _Magic Missile_ spells from a high level Magic User should do the trick. Cloudkill might work. No, ghosts don’t have lungs, but cast a particularly attractive cloud of poisonous gas and the ghost may fall in love. A few weeks later, the ghost doctor will return with a terrible diagnosis: Spectral Syphilis. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/31 "2012-10-05T19:27:31Z")
I was at a Christmas part last year where I was introduced to well- dressed, put together woman in her forties. After I asked, she said that her profession was clearing haunted houses. I put on a big smile and was about to make some chuckle-worry comeback, but when I was about to I saw she was serious. She lives upstate NY, comes down to the city for about six weeks a year, and her annual nut is covered. I didn’t press her on the details of her work. Do haunted houses necessarily contain ghosts? ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/32 "2012-10-05T19:51:32Z")
“Kill” is a strange term, when maybe “dispatch” is meant ? You can help a “ghost” to “move on,” that is to move away from the strong fixation/attachment that keeps it “earthbound.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/33 "2012-10-05T19:58:59Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Poltergeists and wraiths and other spirits are tied to one place. When I was a kid, I was quite interested in such things, and, AFAIRemember, poltergeists were tied to a person, not a place, and usually a child (often female) going through puberty. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/34 "2012-10-05T20:00:05Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Do haunted houses necessarily contain ghosts? I think it is both scientifically and mathematically safe to say that for every genuine haunted house there is at least one genuine ghost in it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/35 "2012-10-05T20:03:37Z")
If I recall correctly, in the Harry Dresden series, ghosts aren’t the traditional “souls” that were once living people. Rather, they are a sort of projection of what the person once was… or something like that. In any case, I believe in that universe they _can_ be killed, though I don’t remember exactly how. Maybe someone who knows those books better can pick up my fumble and run with it. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/36 "2012-10-05T20:11:28Z")
[**Photographic proof**](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Rolls-Royce_Silver_Ghost_at_Centenary.jpg) of a ghost. ---
**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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/37 "2012-10-05T20:13:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Tyrannosaurs do not at present exist, but “would a modern handgun kill one” is still a meaningful question. The word “would” is crucial here. It’s the difference between “How do you kill a ghost?” and “How would (or could) you kill a ghost?”. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/38 "2012-10-05T20:44:43Z")
Atomic Robo’s lightning-gun usually does the trick. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/39 "2012-10-06T07:43:36Z")
[Ghosts in Tibetan Culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_in_Tibetan_culture): Wiki: There is widespread belief in ghosts in Tibetan culture. … When a human dies, after a period of uncertainty they may enter the ghost world. A hungry ghost (Tibetan: yidag, yi-dvags; Sanskrit: preta, प्रेत) has a tiny throat and huge stomach, and so can never be satisfied. Ghosts may be killed with a ritual dagger or caught in a spirit trap and burnt, thus releasing them to be reborn. Ghosts may also be exorcised, and an annual festival is held throughout Tibet for this purpose. Some say that Dorje Shugden, the ghost of a powerful 17th-century monk, is a deity, but the Dalai Lama asserts that he is an evil spirit, which has caused a split in the Tibetan exile community. Also: hungry ghosts are “…a metaphor for people futilely attempting to fulfill their illusory physical desires.” ## So anyway: ritual daggers are the way to go. **Corpse Princess** In the anime [Shikabane Hime](http://www.anime.com/Shikabane_Hime/) ghosts (or Shikabane) exist when a human dies with sufficiently intense regrets or obsessions. They turn murderous. Practically speaking they can only be killed by… another shikabane! Which has teamed up with a Buddhist Monk of a particular sect! With their favored weapon! Which could be a pair of Ingram MAC-11 machine guns! Or brass knuckles! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/40 "2012-10-06T08:26:15Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The word “would” is crucial here. It’s the difference between “How do you kill a ghost?” and “How would (or could) you kill a ghost?”. The question the OP is asking is “what are some mythological methods of killing a mythological ghost.” Surely you agree that werewolves are supposed to be killed by silver bullets, and vampires are killed by a stake through the heart? OP just wants to know what is supposed to kill ghosts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771.md?page=3)