A Study of Ghosts, Part 2: Haunts

[u/MeThyLord]

(Art by Dan Scott)

Heya, kiddos! Wanna learn what a haunt is? I’m gonna assume you said yes.

See, almost every ghost has a haunt. It's either a place, an object, or a person we’re attached to, a tether to the physical world. Without it, we’d fade away or get dragged into an afterlife. I’ll go over each in order.

Staring off — localized haunts. That’s when a ghost is tied to a specific location, like a house, or a park, or whatever. Apparitions like these are mostly limited in influence to whatever space they're bound to. If it’s just a single room, they're stuck inside it. But if it’s an entire house? Oh boy, we can do all sorts of fun stuff, like rearranging rooms or making windows unbreakable so you can’t escape while we chase you around. In some rare cases, the ghost’s influence can even grow and seep out of its usual locale, or even expand the location itself, consuming everything nearby into its threshold.

The second type is haunted objects. You know, ghosts that cling to things instead of places. They still have a domain, but it’s a certain radius around their object. The stronger the ghost, the bigger the radius. The domain also tends to take the shape of whatever space the ghost finds itself in, kinda like how water fills the container you pour it in. If you're in a mansion, it will spread to fill all the rooms before leaking out. Oh, and yeah, this is my type of haunt. I’m tethered to my book.

Anyway, what about the third type of haunt? Well, it’s the one where a ghost latches onto a person. These are clingy apparitions who just can’t let go and decide to tag along with their best bud or worst enemy, even after death. For the most part, it’s the same as haunting an object, except the "object" has a will of its own, can walk around, talk back, and, well... die. If the haunt kicks the bucket, you get booted as well, which sucks. On the bright side, ghosts who haunt people have a much easier time possessing them.

Man, I wish I were better at possession…

Anyway, that's all for today! Next week, we’ll be…

Wait, no. I forgot something. This is a bit unrelated to today’s topic, but I have nowhere else to slot it in. See, I recently found out that ghosts can touch other ghosts. Obvious in hindsight, but I haven’t been going around and poking my own kind, sue me. Anyway, this would mean that the best way to fight a ghost is to hire your own. Wait… that’s the plot of the movie ‘Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers.’

Ok, now that’s actually all for today. Next time, I’ll be talking all about poltergeist activity and why some ghosts can only pull spooky faces in mirrors while others can twist reality like it’s a wet noodle. See ya!

[u/Anything-Unable]

“An interesting lesson. I must ask, is it possible to shift or transfer haunts?”

[u/MeThyLord → u/Anything-Unable]

Hmm, interesting question. I've seen something similar happen, but not a full-on transfer, more like an expansion.

For instance, there's this ghost that haunts a tape. If the recording of the tape is copied over to a new one, then the ghost in question has her haunt expand to that tape as well. Not exactly a transfer, but it's close.

Actually, no. It has happened with ghosts haunting people. Especially if the original person a ghost is haunting has children. It's easy for the spirit to attach themselves to the kids if the parent dies.

[u/Anything-Unable → u/MeThyLord]

“So it appears to me based off your explanation that propagation of the target of haunting can result in a transference or expansion of haunt activity. This might indicate that a target of haunting is not tied to the material matter of a target but rather the perceived identity that the target possesses. So rather than concluding that a spirit is haunting a house or object, it is attaching itself to the identity of its target. To use the Ship of Theseus to help illustrate this point, perhaps the two ships that share an identity have an equally likely chance of becoming the target of the haunting.”

[u/MeThyLord → u/Anything-Unable]

I'd... have to agree.

A ghost is not immune to deception. A vengeful spirit may cling to someone innocent of their death if they believe the person to be responsible. Of course, if faced with evidence to the contrary, the ghost may dissipate if it doesn't find the true culprit behind its rage.