Is it just me or are almost all ghosts malevolent?

Perhaps it's just a case of "bad PR", but it really seems that most of the ghosts that are reported are mean and spiteful. You hardly ever hear of a case where the person says, "Oh yes...we have a ghost haunting us. but they are quite splendid. It just loves to play with us and is very comical."

Why is this? I think it would be pretty cool to have a nice, fun ghost living in my house. I would actually seek out a ghost to come live at my place if it were of a cheerful sort.

So am I wrong here or are there cases of "good" hauntings?

wouldn't you go mad if you had to walk the earth forever without a physical form?

A lot would.

I've heard a few stories where the ghost is friendly.....its rare though.

reply to post by iNkGeEk


Explanation: S&F

I agree with Grey Magic's post and I generally don't beleive that ghosts are malevolent and are instead completely distraught and don't know how to fix their situation.

Personal Disclosure: I would be more concerned with dangerous polt's [which are not ghosts but instead amanifestation of untamed raw PK activity based in the local human population] and tulpa's [which are bodiless golems made by pure force of will or by seriously dark ritual magic etc]. Ghosts can be communicated with and although they may never leave the place of their occupation.. they are quite reasonable if one allows some give and take just like with anybody else stuck on the prison planet!

reply to post by Grey Magic


I guess I never thought of it that way.

reply to post by OmegaLogos


That's kinda what I'm scared would happen to me. If a ghost came to live at my place, it would end up being some evil mean b@st@rd! Then it would torture my little daughter and then we'd have serious problems.

I wish I could have like a Casper or a Harry Potteresque House ghost at my place.

reply to post by iNkGeEk

My family has told me stories of ghost watching there children.
Nothing bad or anything.
I'm guessing people don't know how to react to ghost, so they are afraid.

I have two different hypotheses as to why most reported intelligent hauntings are unpleasant creatures.

The first is pretty straightforward... people are less likely to freak out over an innocuous ghost. After the initial "oh crap, house is haunted" shock has worn off, the ghost gets to be more like an unobtrusive roommate. Many people only talk about their ghost issues because they need help and are afraid, and people are much less likely to be afraid of something that has never done anything foul to them or filled them with terror in the dead of night. Benign or even positive, friendly hauntings generally go underreported for that reason, unless the people experiencing the haunting become paranormal enthusiasts from the experience or have malevolent spirits haunting the same location.

Secondly, a benign ghost is less likely to do things to attract attention to itself. It isn't looking to scare anyone, or cause any kind of obvious disturbance to the living. It is quite possible for a house to be very much haunted, and very much quiet. Often, the only tell that there is a ghost at all is that they aren't entirely unnoticeable, even to the untrained "eye", and periodically the person unwittingly present in the haunted place will see or feel something out of the ordinary... Whereas a malevolent spirit will often do everything in its power to scare the bejeezus out of people, either to siphon off that abrupt release of negative energy or to convince them to get off of what the spirit sees as its turf, or worse, just because it feels like it and that's the kind of person...er, spirit it is. Malevolence is always more in-your-face than goodness, and spirits are no exception.

I don't think that there are more malevolent ghosts than there are benign ones. I've lived in a fair number of haunted houses, and the spirits by number lean in favor of more benign or even pleasant ghosts than nasty ones as of this posting. However, even though the good ones I've known outnumber the bad ones, I have far more experiences from the nasties and have talked a lot more about them over the years.

So to sum up, I think it's a combination of human nature and ghost nature that make it seem like there are lots more bad spirits than good ones. People are more likely to report (and likewise hear about, due to the increased reporting) of something obviously bad than something quietly good. The ratio of neutral or positive ghosts to negative ones most likely approximates the same values in the living population.

When you know what ghosts are, you will see them as neither positive nor negative. They are one with nature as a reminder of the occult secret that is hidden to most people. You can walk in harmony with them if your heart is pure. And there is plenty of religions that will try to corrupt your hearts to make it easier for them to control you. You must find the truths I talk about yourself, look for the hidden path.

As far as I'm concerned, I would say that ghosts are like humans or any other species neither completly good nor completly evil. If I was a ghost and I would realise that people start to irrationally panic every time I'd go "Boooo!" you can be damn sure, that I would consider this as one of my hobbies^^... I wouldn't see this as malevolent.. I mean, what would the ghost do, if you don't run away while screaming like a little girl?!... If ghosts would really want or be able to attack our lives, I think they wouldn't go "Boo!!" they would just do it!

If ghost meaning unseen entity in general, not all of them are malevolent. It can looks like that cuz the malevolent ghosts is more active and more heard.
In other side, the good one usually always try to be low, even some of them like to following people and help them now and then, big help or small help, mostly try not to be noticed.

But majority of them is neutral, not much involved with human. Some of them can seems as malevolent, but cuz most people dont know what are they doing. Ghost like this usually want to be noticed, or want to be respect and do stuffs to make someone aware of them. And some just doing practical pranks, to scared someone and laugh their head off after that.

In other case, most malevolent ghost not doing things like weird sounding or revealed themself or make things floating in the air. They would just attack, and next thing you know you will get headache or get cold and weak. But some can attack in physical way, like cutting, stubbing or hitting, and can kill even, but this is really rare these days. Mostly if the area didnt have much activity about occult ritual and stuffs.