# Why no ghosts in urban violent hoods? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 5, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120 "2013-03-05T21:45:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/1 "2013-03-05T21:45:45Z")
I think that ghosts existing are completely plausible. I’m not saying for sure that they do exist, but for that very reason, I can’t say that they dont. Sometimes I like to watch the ghost…um…chaser(?) shows on sci fi (I think it is). But one of the teams are so rude and antagonistic to the potential ghosts it left a bad taste in my mouth…The poor souls have been through enough. They don’t need douchebags calling them names! Anyway, I always wonder; If ghosts \*\*\*DO \*\*\*exist, in old light houses and prisons and souther plantation mansions ; how come you don’t hear about ghosts in the hood? Shouldn’t Marcy projects/ compton/ South Side of Chicago be overflowing with ghosts? Or do urban ghosts not have “time fo all dat”? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/2 "2013-03-05T21:46:53Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > I think that ghosts existing are completely plausible. I’m not saying for sure that they do exist, but for that very reason, I can’t say that they dont. Ooooh, this might not be the place foryou 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/3 "2013-03-05T21:49:57Z")
People in violent neighbourhoods have enough real things to be scared of, and so don’t have to make up imaginary ones? ---
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/4 "2013-03-05T21:50:02Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Ooooh, this might not be the place foryou 😉 What? Mundane pointless stuff I must share may not be the place for my musings? ---
**Author:** ![SleuFeets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SleuFeets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleuFeets)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/5 "2013-03-05T21:51:30Z")
well said. perhaps ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/6 "2013-03-05T21:54:03Z")
To carry this a bit further - considering how long humans have walked the earth and how many places they have walked, and how many of those places were sites of deaths, violent or otherwise, well, we’d be living in a veritable miasma of ghostliness. And yet… Then again, perhaps it has nothing to do with untimely or unseemly demises - maybe ghosts were just annoying people with issues in life who just couldn’t let it go. Of they’re figments. Either way. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/7 "2013-03-05T22:02:05Z")
Of course traditionally violent areas are chock-full of unsettled spirits. This adds to the psychic hostility of the atmosphere. The very number of ghosts helps disguise them, as if a “can’t see the forest for the trees” situation. A lonesome lighthouse might have only a single entity, which will stand out against the quiet background, but too many manifestations at once just becomes background clutter. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/8 "2013-03-05T22:03:31Z")
I sure as hell wouldn’t argue with a Doctor at Miskatonic University about such things. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/9 "2013-03-05T22:22:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > People in violent neighbourhoods have enough real things to be scared of, and so don’t have to make up imaginary ones? Or it could just be that ghost shows don’t want to go to violent neighbourhoods, and therefore the television viewing public never gets to see ghost chasers yelling rude things in violent neighbourhoods. Which is kind of a pity. That kind of thing might get interesting. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/10 "2013-03-05T22:34:32Z")
Some will show respect for the dead homies. But I think Simplicio is correct, ghosts aren’t that scary compared to living gangsters, drug addicts, crazy people, and kids with guns. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/11 "2013-03-05T22:38:21Z")
Or the gangsters, drug addicts, crazy people and kids with guns are so scary as to frighten the ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/12 "2013-03-05T22:39:23Z")
Folklorist chiming in. There are certainly ghosts in violent neighbourhoods (or at least, narratives about ghosts). If what you’re asking about is, “why don’t I ever hear about them?” then I have to ask how you hear about ghosts. The bit about producers not wanting to film in the 'hood is probably spot on, but also consider that their researchers are probably lazy—they look up on the internet and buy one of those “Ghost Stories of Outer Mongolia” books. They don’t have the budget, expertise, or resources to do fieldwork in those places, and there is more than enough material that they don’t need to. I’ve heard stories of how the violently killed person remains there for his friends as a ghost and haunted houses as well as the usual urban legends. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/13 "2013-03-05T22:45:27Z")
I think it’s mostly that the people who make up ghost stories prefer to set them in traditionally spooky environments like old mansions. The television producers that make up ghost stories want good TV, and they’re trying it first by following the standard “spooky environs” theme. They’ll probably try an urban ghost hunter show sooner or later as long as credulous people believe it or bored people are amused by it. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/14 "2013-03-05T23:07:41Z")
Even ghosts want to get out of the 'hood! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/15 "2013-03-05T23:13:25Z")
> [@Enuma\_Elish](#): > > Even ghosts want to get out of the 'hood! :eek: You can take the ghost out of the hood, but… ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/16 "2013-03-05T23:13:49Z")
“Tonight on Ghosthunters: Bob goes dumpster diving in the haunted alley between 2nd and Main.” Not quite the same sense of tension as exploring a dark basement. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/17 "2013-03-06T00:05:10Z")
> [@SleuFeets](#): > > What? Mundane pointless stuff I must share may not be the place for my musings? Whoosh I mean, _ **WOOOOOOO!** _ ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/18 "2013-03-06T00:30:36Z")
I’m reminded of Dave Chappelle’s observation that Batman never ventured into such neighborhoods: “Robin, I’m _sure_ we left the Batmobile _right here!_” Also of Rick’s advice in _Casablanca_ to Major Strasser, “There are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade”. If superheroes and Nazis won’t go there, why would you expect ghosts? ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/19 "2013-03-06T00:32:16Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:13, topic:652120”] I think it’s mostly that the people who make up ghost stories prefer to set them in traditionally spooky environments like old mansions. The television producers that make up ghost stories want good TV, and they’re trying it first by following the standard “spooky environs” theme. They’ll probably try an urban ghost hunter show sooner or later as long as credulous people believe it or bored people are amused by it. [/QUOTE] This. Plus the folklore of urban areas isn’t as well studied as it could be. There are a lot of ghost stories in the barrios, ghettoes and the hood and a very rich folklore around them. There just isn’t a lot of publicity about them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120/20 "2013-03-06T01:03:57Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > This. Plus the folklore of urban areas isn’t as well studied as it could be. There are a lot of ghost stories in the barrios, ghettoes and the hood and a very rich folklore around them. There just isn’t a lot of publicity about them. On the contrary. The folklore of urban areas is fairly well studied. It’s just that, unfortunately, that information is not accessible to the general public, as it lies unpublished in archives. Some of this is because of the legal difficulties with regard to who owns, and thus who can publish, information collected from person X by person Y for deposit in archive Z. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-ghosts-in-urban-violent-hoods/652120.md?page=2)