Shadowsoul Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? I'm very skeptical about ghosts and the like. One psychological theory/idea which made a lot of sense to me was simply that the human mind is a very suggestible thing and some people, those who report strange sounds, ghostly touches or 'presences' are simply more suggestible than usual. Certain aspects of our environment, darkness, quiet, knowledge of previous 'supernatural' events in that place, etc. serve to set off these minor hallucinations. Evidence for this theory was gathered in a test in which a virtual room was constructed from various famously spooky places such as the underground rooms beneath Edinburgh. Then a group of people who were 'sensitive' to hauntings and the like i.e. they had had spooky feelings and experiences in spooky places, were given headsets that allowed them to explore the virtual room. They got a lot of the same feelings and shocks that they did in real haunted houses. In a similar way, when I was playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines on the PC, there was this one level set in a haunted house. I remember thinking to myself - yeah right, my character is a Vampire, a ghost is not going to bother me. And why would it? This was only a game. I could save anytime I wanted and in fact I don't think my character died once during the whole level. But I still jumped out of my skin at every shock and was pretty glad to finish my mission and get the hell out of there. Of course that doesn't really explain long or involved sightings of ghosts and spectres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? I blame Hanna Barbera. Who would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those darned kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? In a similar way, when I was playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines on the PC, there was this one level set in a haunted house. I remember thinking to myself - yeah right, my character is a Vampire, a ghost is not going to bother me... Wraith: The Oblivion. They might well bother you indeed.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowsoul Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? True that. I did play some tabletop Masquerade at one point. My GM for that game told me that one group of Wraiths could come back from the dead, with Vampiric Disciplines. And that was just one of the things they could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Who would've gotten away with it too' date=' if it weren't for those darned kids![/quote'] That's meddling kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted July 1, 2011 Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Cant say what it was, but it did make me consider things like ghosts. College: Playing a pinball game in the breakroom with a friend after a night class before going home. The ball got stuck, so I had to tilt it to get it going again. Well, the game shut down as expected. All except for these 2 dummy heads that were part of the theme. Their eyes stayed on. And everytime I moved to the other side of the room, their eyes would shift towards me, yet when my friend did it they wouldnt. When we went to opposite sides of the room, they followed me not him. Very freaky. Cant say why, maybe a glitch, maybe not, but it seemed too coincidental the eyes followed me everytime. (and I wasnt exactly a fan of ventriloquist dummies to begin with) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted July 1, 2011 Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? A glitch - related to a gremlin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted July 1, 2011 Report Share Posted July 1, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? It's all about profiling http://www.youtube.com/user/sonicdrivein#p/a/u/0/U2HyT92htiM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2HyT92htiM&feature=player_profilepage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted July 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Personally I have never considered ghosts to be evil. Simply misunderstood. I have had several personal experiences with ghosts and never have they been in any form that seemed in any way evil. It would actually be more like that of a living human. Even in fiction, there seems to be several different depictions of how ghosts are, not all the classic form that haunts stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Weapon Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Ghosts are dangerous because after all they're unkillable by normal means, have strange powers and are close to the dead side anyway, so they might be able to pull you through to it. Ghosts weren't neccesarily seen as malevolent just dangerous. Plus since they're the sort of people who don't let go they are hard to reason with and might just be insane in any case (why wouldn't death send you a little crazy?) so naturally people want to steer clear. That doesn't mean they're evil, just undesirable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted November 22, 2011 Report Share Posted November 22, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? It's one's like this that give all there rest a bad rep: http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Gran_disturbed_by_sex_pest_ghost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? In my game world, ghosts (all of the undead, in fact) exist in violation of every law of god, man, and nature. They're also known as "strangers," because they aren't from here and they don't belong here. Their very existance is a blight, and all right-thinking creatures are repulsed by them. There's also the fact that they can spread their curse, sometimes even just by seeing one you could be cursed to become one. So yes, they're evil. But that's just my game world. I can easily see another campaign where they're neither good nor evil, or even purely good (ancestor spirits come back to advise their descendents, for instance). Sounds more like they're persecuted than evil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Even in D&D I've seen good-aligned or sympathetic spirits/ghosts, etc. Even liches. But the game has always had a tendency towards evil absolutes, it was really bad in the 90's(?) I think it was then where the publishing rules for people who wanted to write official D&D products had things like "Lawyers in general have to be good" and some weird stuff like that. But I'm digressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Even in D&D I've seen good-aligned or sympathetic spirits/ghosts, etc. Even liches. But the game has always had a tendency towards evil absolutes, it was really bad in the 90's(?) I think it was then where the publishing rules for people who wanted to write official D&D products had things like "Lawyers in general have to be good" and some weird stuff like that. But I'm digressing. I wonder who wrote that rule.... Lucius Alexander the palindromedary notes that Lucius won't wonder very long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted December 19, 2011 Report Share Posted December 19, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? I'm going to add that in the Old Testement, King Saul went to talk to the phrophet Sammuel, except Sammuel is dead at this time. So Saul seeks out a witch incognito, and promises no harm to her. So now we have a King, who is Divinely appointed, lying and giving sanctuary to a witch, who are to be killed on the spot. Now she summons Sammuel who isn't evil, but he isn't pleased to be awakened either. He asks Saul why did he disturb his sleep. So the take away here is ghosts are brought about by necromatic magic which is not of God hence its evil. Side note, I think its implied, anybody that was dead that God brought back wasn't a ghost but a living person again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothere Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Well perhaps the basic question is wrong. After all nice people who die peacefully are never included in ghost stories. Except for the occasional I saw my relative smiling at me at the foot of my bed story and the next day I heard they sdied bit. Perhaps the question should be why are all ghosts annoyed. You could break ghosts into four groups. 1. the leave me alone, and get out of my house- The lady who wited for her sailor lover to return my be content to sit quietly at the window for eternity waiting for him to return. Though that dosen't mean she won't decide to eat the hearts of adventurers who storm in for no reason. 2. The needy- O.k. so pushing you down the stairs, aand stealing the sword you need to kill the dragon isn't nice. But for the first time in 50 years someone is talking to them. 3.- the angry- I got murdered you idiot, I don't want to get over it. 4. the evil That pretty well covers every evil ghost from evil ghost stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted December 20, 2011 Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? I wonder who wrote that rule.... Lucius Alexander the palindromedary notes that Lucius won't wonder very long It wasn't just lawyers but authority figures. Kings, people in power. It was kind of interesting. COrruption in stories was possible but had to be taken care of quickly and not allowed to fester. I wish I could find the rules. At the time I'd entertained fantasies of writing for them and this document made me change my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted December 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? There is something else that needs to be considered: over time people will either intentionally or not alter these ghost stories to make them more interesting to thier audience. Since that audience will never be the same twice, the story will never be the same twice, hence the huge variety of stories that exists (in addition to the sheir number or people that exists in the world since it began). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted December 23, 2011 Report Share Posted December 23, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? I'm going to add that in the Old Testement' date=' King Saul went to talk to the phrophet Sammuel, except Sammuel is dead at this time. So Saul seeks out a witch incognito, and promises no harm to her. So now we have a King, who is Divinely appointed, lying and giving sanctuary to a witch, who are to be killed on the spot. Now she summons Sammuel who isn't evil, but he isn't pleased to be awakened either. He asks Saul why did he disturb his sleep. So the take away here is ghosts are brought about by necromatic magic which is not of God hence its evil. Side note, I think its implied, anybody that was dead that God brought back wasn't a ghost but a living person again.[/quote'] Of course, I think it goes without saying the witch is evil, the ghost is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: All ghosts evil? Oh and considering its Christmas time, Scrooges ghosts weren't evil either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Re: All ghosts evil? Of course' date=' I think it goes without saying the witch is evil, the ghost is not.[/quote'] Why does that go without saying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: All ghosts evil? Oh and considering its Christmas time' date=' Scrooges ghosts weren't evil either![/quote'] Nah, they were evil. They broke him with sleep deprivation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: All ghosts evil? Why does that go without saying? Well, the ghost was Samuel who had a history of being one of the better Judges in the pre-king era for Israelites. The witch forced a resting spirit back into the living world (would that be spiritual slavery?). I dont quite understand where you are going with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: All ghosts evil? :confused:Well' date=' the ghost was Samuel who had a history of being one of the better Judges in the pre-king era for Israelites. The witch forced a resting spirit back into the living world (would that be spiritual slavery?). I dont quite understand where you are going with this.[/quote']I'm not going anywhere with it. I just didn't understand why that was a given. Biblically speaking witches were evil and to be killed but not everyone holds to that. so you consider all mediums evil even when they summon or converse with "good" spirits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: All ghosts evil? I'm not going anywhere with it. I just didn't understand why that was a given. Biblically speaking witches were evil and to be killed but not everyone holds to that. so you consider all mediums evil even when they summon or converse with "good" spirits? I was focusing on the one particular case. (in which case the witch seemed to have forced Samuel back to the world of the living regardless of Samuel's wishes) But, to answer your question the good/evil of it, in my opinion, would depend on the willingness of the spirit. They were/are people after all, not for amusement/profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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