# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**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 6, 2012, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/41 "2012-10-06T11:08:33Z")
Also, a good method is eating a blinking ball. That will make the ghosts blink for a time you can use to eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/42 "2012-10-06T13:35:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > But to really banish them _requires a moderator!_ No, that’s _trolls_, not ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/43 "2012-10-06T16:29:15Z")
In Ellen Glasgow’s story _The Past_, a ghost is dispatched when the woman being haunted takes the high road and refuses to divulge a shameful secret about the ghost (her husband’s first wife). I think she should have told the secret but then I’m vengeful that way. In another Glasgow story, _The Shadowy Third_, a ghost leaves after extracting vengeance. That story was a lot more satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/44 "2012-10-06T16:42:04Z")
Cripes people (_some of you_). Read the OP, not just the thread title: > [@Patch](#): > > 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:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/45 "2012-10-08T21:47:22Z")
I bet Chuck Norris or bacon could do it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/46 "2012-10-09T02:05:58Z")
Just bury him above head height. They say ghosts stay at the previous ground level (that’s why they’re often in cellars.) ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/47 "2012-10-09T02:48:10Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > 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. I’ll fumble it down the line a bit… Ghosts (from memory here) are in a class of beings that are formed from “ectoplasm” which is defined as matter from the “nevernever” which is another spiritual plane of existence co-existing with ours and intersecting at set points. Any spiritual being (ghosts included) can be damaged enough to destroy them physically in this plane of existence. Ghosts, being more like projections or memories, just spatter into goo and are then gone. It is difficult to reason with them (being projections, not aware that they are dead and the world has moved on, often crazed, and generally suffering from some need to continue to act out violent or painful memories tying them to the world), and most often they simply need to be destroyed. Ghosts are especially susceptible to graveyard dirt and/or consecrated ground, as well as by various holy or spiritual weapons created for that purpose (purpose is a powerful influence in the Dresdenverse). Cites: Harry and Michael vs Agatha in Grave Peril Harry’s “out of body experience” at the end of Grave Peril Mortimer the ectomancer the entirety of Ghost Story ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/48 "2012-10-10T04:38:47Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > 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. Pretty much this. I certainly didn’t expect the topic to take off the way it did. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/49 "2012-10-10T17:30:05Z")
If I recall correctly the ancient Egyptian way to kill a ghost was to erase all mention of the deceased from history. Names, images and statues can be destroyed, making the dead an unperson; this method has been tried by various regimes ever since to remove the memory of undesirables. Without any memory of the dead to go with it, a ghost is just a draughty room or the wind in the trees… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/50 "2012-10-14T20:23:24Z")
[Like this](http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=20) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/51 "2012-10-14T21:20:20Z")
a. Get a wizard to do it. b. Depends on which version of D&D you’re playing, although direct application of many hit points of damage, preferably with magic weapons, does the trick in most versions (if not all–don’t have access to resource materials at work). c. In _The Matrix Reloaded,_ detonating the gas tank of the car they were in seemed to kill them. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/52 "2012-10-14T23:15:21Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Depends on which version of D&D you’re playing, although direct application of many hit points of damage, preferably with magic weapons, does the trick in most versions (if not all–don’t have access to resource materials at work). In most versions of D&D, you need a special spell or potion to apply to the weapon to deal that damage - it’s called “ghost touch” in most versions. Otherwise, you’re either slicing totally ineffectively through space, or else you’ve got some ridiculously low percentage chance to actually hit them. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/53 "2012-10-14T23:24:42Z")
Is there any connection in Japanese mythology to the ghost in _The Grudge_? Is there a way that bitch could have been killed and stopped, or was that all just screenwriter’s imagination? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/54 "2012-10-15T00:06:44Z")
In order of increasing stupidness. Take its picture. If a photograph can capture a soul it should work against a ghost. Capture it in a painting even. Perhaps killing a ghost is tantamount to breaking a spirit. Try putting it on the phone with customer support. You can kill a ghost the same way you can make antifreeze. > [@hrhomer](#): > > 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. I believe that was an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/55 "2012-10-16T10:00:53Z")
Eat a power pill, they turn blue and then you can eat them. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-kill-a-ghost/636771/57 "2014-08-03T18:20:00Z")
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