I mean, really. I was watching a show on one of the info networks-Discovery I think it was, and people were talking about how they had seen a certain ghost in a haunted house, and were afraid of it. Why? It’s discorporal, what’s it going to do to you? I’m not talking about a poltergeist flinging stuff around, sure, that could hurt, but rather a spirit moving through an old hallway or something. Why be scared?
( For the purpose of this question, we will assume ghosts are real)
Well, I suppose it could take possession of your body. That, or it could drain you of your spiritual energy.
Because they’ve got nothing to lose.
-fh
Perhaps something that could violate so many laws of physics is capable of doing a lot more. Personally I think that many phenomenas are related. There are a great many things that can’t be understood and if you work them together perhaps something starts to make sense. Perhaps ghosts are the cause of spontaneous combustion.
Also if ghosts exist it’s a sign that there’s a greater power in the universe, such as God. And that’s kinda scary. God could be watching me right now for all I know…scary…
The very energy of a ghost is something foreign to our laws of science (I don’t really buy the laws of science, but for discussion sake). They either reflect or admit light, but also do not take up space. In terms of science, there’s nothing I know of that has these traits (someone help me out here…is there?).
I always wondered about this, too. The little old lady next door died last year, and I thought, “well, she was really sweet and funny and nice when she was alive—why would she suddenly turn into a raving evil entity dead?” I wouldn’t mind her dropping in for a nice social haunting at all!
Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? That it would kill me. (How? I don’t know, but it happens in the movies)
Anyway, then I’d be a ghost too. I’d proceed to whomp the sh*t out of it.
If ghosts actually exist, they wouldn’t violate the laws of physics. They would just follow laws of physics that we don’t understand yet.
Assuming there is a God, he is probably watching everything right now. And how do ghosts prove there is a God? If a spirit is here on Earth spookin up my house, it can’t be in Heaven. All ghosts prove is the existance of ghosts, not God.
What is it you don’t buy about the laws of science? They are just rules scientists create that are based on observable and reproducable phenomenon in nature. Like gravity or boiling water. Things always fall down. Water always boils at 100 C. Pretty silly comment.
I addressed this in a horror story I wrote a couple of years ago for our town’s annual Halloween contest. Providentially (or not) it is available on-line. Here’s the URL: http://www.saugus.net/Contests/Halloween1998/adult1.shtml
Actually, the scariest thing about this story is the unobscured photo of my face. Please note that this story is printed under my Real Name, another scary thing.
I think people react with fear because they don’t know what the supposed ghost could do. The lore includes things like manipulating physical items, so why would a person not assume the ghost could manipulate them (i.e. slap them upside the head, trip them down the stairs, etc). Also, there’s the part of the lore that says why ghosts are there - a ghost only haunts if there’s something wrong. The ghost is upset or fixated, etc. Knowing how badly people can react when they are in those moods, and assuming ghosts have powers we don’t understand but can affect us, of course being afraid of them is natural.
The real fun part is figuring out the psychology of why the idea of ghosts is the way it is. Why are ghosts seen as only staying around because they’re fixated or upset? Why wouldn’t a ghost be happy, a la Casper? That’s the way the lore goes.
A lot of what’s scary about ghosts has been lost in the modern folklore. In some cultures (like China), ghosts were a lot like vampires, including the habit of sucking blood. Ghosts were also bad omens, sent over from the Other Side to let you know you were in trouble.
In Greek mythology, ghosts weren’t objects of fear so much as they were pitied. Being a ghost meant you were neither in the real world or the afterlife, but a kind of unhappy twilight. Your shade would walk the earth, unable to rest, until someone living performed a deed to release you from your state.
Poltergeists are probably most responsible for giving ghosts a bad rap. Instead of floating around and startling people, poltergeists were “naughty” spirits intent upon mischief. Of course, when said mischief includes making blood run down the walls of your house, you tend to freak out instead just being annoyed.
I think Guy Propski brings up an interesting point–why has almost every traditional culture since the dawn of time been so freaked out by the idea of the dead coming back? East European vampire legends, Irish wakes (the dead man sees yer all so happy now that yer gone, he won’t feel obliged to come back), traditional funerary garb (wearing veils so that the dead won’t recognize your face and come back to haunt you), American Indians and others refusing ever to speak the name of a person who has died, etc. Makes you wonder about two things: (1) Why were these cultures so convinced that the dead returning was such a serious dangeer, and (2) why was it a dangerous thing to have happen?
What about the Hindus? They believe in reincarnation so they believe in people coming back from the dead (so to speak). It doesn’t seem like they have a problem with this.
Also, just because people are afraid of malignant spirits, does that mean they are afraid of all dead people? Seems like plenty of cultures had a good relationship with the deceased who were content. But there were also the discontented dead and for whatever reason they are the ones we think about today.
A commmon feature of neurological injury & disease is an associated sense of fear, panic or horror.
A visual, auditory, tactile or other form of halucination is also a symptom of neuro conditions.
Could this be an explaination of “ghosts” and of the fear “they” generate?
I like science fiction, fantasy & horror stories. I think that one of the greatest authors in American history was Edgar Allen. But I do not accept the “supernatural”. “Supernatural” is a null term. That which is outside of natural law does not exist.
Paul Barber’s excellent book Vampires, Burial, and Death deals with this very issue. Barber’s theory is that people in pre-literate societies lack understanding of things like the spread of germs, but they can tell that death is often contagious. This leads to a belief that people who are already dead can somehow cause the living to die as well. Barber also suggests that a poor understanding of the decomposition process is responsible for widespread superstitions about undead creatures.
Back to the OP, I remember reading some scholarly work about ghosts years ago that said that ghosts aren’t really dangerous, it’s running away from ghosts that’s dangerous!
As C.S. Lewis pointed out, there’s a world of difference between being told “There’s a hungry tiger behind this door” and “There’s a ghost behind this door”. The difference is what Lewis termed the nuministic- that is to say, the uncanny, the “something from outside” what we consider ordinary reality.
I know next to nothing about India, but I don’t think a belief in reincarnation precludes an intense fear of ghosts. Traditional Chinese society was/is predominantly Buddhist and acknowledge the existence of reincarnation. Nonetheless, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a society that’s more fearful of ghosts and of death in general. When I was teaching English in Taiwan (as a prelude to getting a real job), I thought that ghost stories might be a good topic for English conversation. Never had a conversation topic fall flatter than that one. After talking to them later on after class, it became clear to me that these adult students didn’t want to talk about ghosts because they believed they were real and something to be feared.
I dunno, you may have loved your Grandma intensely, but if one day, ten years after her death, the phone in your apartment rang one day, and you picked it up and you heard her instantly-recognizable voice croak, “Billy, I miss you so much”, tell me that the hairs on the back of your neck wouldn’t stand up and that you wouldn’t likely shriek and slam the phone down.
And then, just as you’re start rationalizing to yourself that it must have been a wrong number, or someone playing a practical joke, your eye wanders and you notice that the phone jack isn’t actually plugged into the wall . . .
They want to steal all your Scooby snacks. Zoinks!!!
Yeah, but you know that it will turn out that it’s really the owner trying to scare people away so that he can cash in on some insurance scam. And he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for these meddling kids.
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*Originally posted by msmith537 *
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I was referring to a physical world and the spiritual world. Different rules apply to each…probably. And we know little about the rules of the spiritual world. It would at length be related to our physics, though…so my mistake. Thanks for belittling me.
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Most religions will tell you the existence of a spirit is some how linked to a greater deity. It doesn’t definitely prove it, but then again nothing is ever definitely proven.
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I made some fairly bad points before, but this is in no way an invalid comment. In the end, it comes down to personal belief, as much as a belief in God or a total idiotic belief in science, but logic will generally not add up and leave you wondering about what’s really happening. I believe this world doesn’t exist. Of course, this can’t be proven, but you also can’t prove that the world does exist…or maybe you can…you’re free to try. I’ve found that there are way too many paradoxes in logic to believe that these things are true. Some fundamental law of this universe is wrong.