Nope, and I actually have a joke about this that I've been telling for over a decade. Whenever a ghost shows up its always like "Lady Bannister fell from the Third Story Window and now she stalks the halls wearing finery."
So first strike against ghosts? Where the hell are the poor ghosts, eh? Why is it always some fancy fop who tripped down a spiral staircase in some mansion?
Second strike? North America is a potter's field of indigenous graves. Where's the Native ghosts? Why aren't they haunting the Ohio river valley? Lot of fighting and dying happened there, and most of the blood spilled was Native. But no, you're more likely to get haunted by Old Man Cornfarmer who haunts a grain silo or some shit.
Third strike against ghosts? The fact that they haunt property tells me they're a bunch of ghost-capitalists trying to sex up the property value (or just invented by the sellers, to up the property value, or explain why people don't want to live there. "No sir its not the Black Mold, its the Ghost of Miss Jessup haunting your lungs and making you feel lethargic. She can cast Spirit Drain.")
Fourth strike? The only spectre I respect is the Spectre of Communism.
Indigenous people have their own thing with spirits and they don't exactly operate in the same way conventional logic says ghosts do. Being able to see them at a young age is considered a gift in some nations (tribes). I don't really know much else because they're very secretive about that information
I am glad you brought that up, because that is a distinction I didn't really make in the context of my old joke about ghosts. It's a bit semantic but I consider "ghosts" to be more Western/Colonial and "spirits" or "ancestor spirits" to be more in line with the indigenous mindset. My great-uncle was a practitioner of what's called Midewiwin, and those secrets died with him as he didn't pass them on for whatever reason and our 'clan' hasn't truly had a medicine man in over 60 years. Very secretive indeed.
Yeah the indigenous people here are the same way. Western ideas of ghosts seem to be these evil demons that must be exorcised while spiritis tend to be more ambiguous.
Fifth strike: why aren't all ghosts naked? The clothes didn't die. Even if you want to say that they can just manifest them or whatever, why don't they ever change it up? Hasn't some person that was obsessed with fashion died and wanted to keep up? Does it become a "brand" to them at some point?
"The lady in grey haunts this tavern! She's forever waiting for the lover that jilted her over a hundred years ago!"
Sixth strike: rich people would exploit them if they were real. And the military would weaponize them.
They already sorta tried. In Vietnam the USA used these awful recordings of moaning ghosts and spooky sounds to try to unnerve the Vietnamese. Ghosts claiming to be their ancestors.
You do sometimes get the maid who was drowned by the mad lord or the ghost of Jack the Ripper's victim haunting the local pub. Almost always an attractive woman of some sort.
You almost never get "Bob the Accountant who was offed because he discovered an Oil company tax fraud" which is strange because that seems like a real goal for a ghost. Or Frank the farmer who had his cow fall on him.
There’s totally tales of haunted prisons, insane asylums, orphanages, other places were lots of poor people suffered and died. Thing is most of those places end up bulldozed while rich asshole houses tend to remain standing up longer.
Also yeah I’ve heard legends of Indian ghosts. Maybe you hear about it less cuz most indigenous people were nomadic so there ghosts are as connected to a single place?
Nope, and I actually have a joke about this that I've been telling for over a decade. Whenever a ghost shows up its always like "Lady Bannister fell from the Third Story Window and now she stalks the halls wearing finery."
So first strike against ghosts? Where the hell are the poor ghosts, eh? Why is it always some fancy fop who tripped down a spiral staircase in some mansion?
Second strike? North America is a potter's field of indigenous graves. Where's the Native ghosts? Why aren't they haunting the Ohio river valley? Lot of fighting and dying happened there, and most of the blood spilled was Native. But no, you're more likely to get haunted by Old Man Cornfarmer who haunts a grain silo or some shit.
Third strike against ghosts? The fact that they haunt property tells me they're a bunch of ghost-capitalists trying to sex up the property value (or just invented by the sellers, to up the property value, or explain why people don't want to live there. "No sir its not the Black Mold, its the Ghost of Miss Jessup haunting your lungs and making you feel lethargic. She can cast Spirit Drain.")
Fourth strike? The only spectre I respect is the Spectre of Communism.
Indigenous people have their own thing with spirits and they don't exactly operate in the same way conventional logic says ghosts do. Being able to see them at a young age is considered a gift in some nations (tribes). I don't really know much else because they're very secretive about that information
I am glad you brought that up, because that is a distinction I didn't really make in the context of my old joke about ghosts. It's a bit semantic but I consider "ghosts" to be more Western/Colonial and "spirits" or "ancestor spirits" to be more in line with the indigenous mindset. My great-uncle was a practitioner of what's called Midewiwin, and those secrets died with him as he didn't pass them on for whatever reason and our 'clan' hasn't truly had a medicine man in over 60 years. Very secretive indeed.
It's only a ghost if it's from the ghost region of New England, otherwise it's a sparkling spirit.
Yeah the indigenous people here are the same way. Western ideas of ghosts seem to be these evil demons that must be exorcised while spiritis tend to be more ambiguous.
Fifth strike: why aren't all ghosts naked? The clothes didn't die. Even if you want to say that they can just manifest them or whatever, why don't they ever change it up? Hasn't some person that was obsessed with fashion died and wanted to keep up? Does it become a "brand" to them at some point?
"The lady in grey haunts this tavern! She's forever waiting for the lover that jilted her over a hundred years ago!"
Sixth strike: rich people would exploit them if they were real. And the military would weaponize them.
They already sorta tried. In Vietnam the USA used these awful recordings of moaning ghosts and spooky sounds to try to unnerve the Vietnamese. Ghosts claiming to be their ancestors.
https://youtu.be/4d9H_1ygEv8?t=88
That's interesting! I guess it tracks with the whole MK-Ultra thing
You do sometimes get the maid who was drowned by the mad lord or the ghost of Jack the Ripper's victim haunting the local pub. Almost always an attractive woman of some sort.
You almost never get "Bob the Accountant who was offed because he discovered an Oil company tax fraud" which is strange because that seems like a real goal for a ghost. Or Frank the farmer who had his cow fall on him.
There’s totally tales of haunted prisons, insane asylums, orphanages, other places were lots of poor people suffered and died. Thing is most of those places end up bulldozed while rich asshole houses tend to remain standing up longer.
Also yeah I’ve heard legends of Indian ghosts. Maybe you hear about it less cuz most indigenous people were nomadic so there ghosts are as connected to a single place?