Great post. I guess I was thinking more of attack the ghost itself. But that is a tried and true way to do it.
Trey said...
I think I was thinking more of the attacking kind of Ghost. So yours and Trey's would be to figure out why it is here and use that.
Neat idea. Something that would be perfect for an Occult Poet in Ghosts of Albion to do!
Salt has a long standing connection to the supernatural. It is also simple to get and use. I am sure there is a connection there.
Then maybe they can move on.
I've heard salt before though, but never tried it so I can't tell you if it really works.
Kill it with fire! Always a good choice.
If the ghost believes, an exorcism should send it away.
Well thought out. So a Spirit Zapper or Spirit Trap in a way.
Death echoes could be dispersed by setting up a counter-noise generator - like the ones in noise-cancelling headphones, but on a room- or house-sized scale. Remember those multiroom speakers that transmitted sound through the house wiring? this would be the lo-fi DIY way of implementing this.
Intelligent/Interactive ghosts would be best handled through negotiation. The trick would be to get them to stay still long enough to have a meaningful chat. So I'm thinking EM Pump combined with Carnacki's electric pantacle with Spirit Box as vocal translator. Then have the conversation - what you want, what they want, how to find agreement, that sort of thing...
Poltergeists as rogue PK in children/teens also fits this model, so ground them via conductive jewelry, cutting their hair shorter, and good old patience as they grow out of this phase should work as well.
You said no supernatural, so I'm going to call the "demonic hauntings" of current TV ghost hunting fashion "anomalous idiopathic EM fields" and recommend Faraday cages around the sensitive spots. It doesn't destroy it, but it does contain it...
Cool. I like this approach. I always figured that it was something that you can bring into your home, salt is something that is like life.
Not a huge fan of calling that sort of thinking"mundane only," but salt's about as mundane as you can get.
The Kripke Trinity - salt, iron, burn the bones - works really well as weapons for adventure stories like SPN, though their meaning and uses in traditional ghost stories is quite different...
So if I am facing a ghost, then a fire hose. I like it!
Either destroying the links of the ghost to the mundane world (if possible) or destroy its mortal remains might work.
The whole reminds him/her that he/she is already dead is tricky because I'm not sure a ghost is willing to listen.
Keithboyle pretty much covered the scientific/technobabble angle.
Another option is running water. According to the Celtic tradition large bodies of water (especially rivers and lakes) are doors into the afterlife, for this reason a ghost can't cross running water. If someone can force a ghost close enough to a river or a stream the proximity might do the trick.
I think I was going with "things I have laying around the house or garage". Granted that also rules out fire and the fire hose. I have a garden hose though and a sprinkler that looks like a turtle for my lawn. I am so screwed.
I threw out the Carnacki reference because, frankly, it's Tim who's asking the question. The real-life analog to what Hodgson described is a Faraday cage - aka the shielding & grounding frame inside the computer that you're using to read these words.
Mongo avoids the [tech] like the plague: even if the terms aren't that familiar, they're not entirely meaningless or made-up if I can help it...
That's only good for guys dress in sheets going "boooooo". ;)
Haha!! Scooby Doo for the win!
Be scarier than the Ghosts. Of course! The Doctor Who Offensive.
Thanks all!
