h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are a few things that I think should be utterly removed from human society burned if necissary. Those damned boards are one of them. They have started more destructive cases then any thing else I know of. People claim theres a "safe" way to use them but frankly I've met lots of people who are confused about viscious attacks because they to knew the safe way to use the board. Generally speaking about 90% of all the cases DVDR gets involved with starts with one of these things.

The basic problem with the board is that it acts like a beacon to spirits. Any spirit can show up that pleases and say any thing they want. People say you can protect yourself but honestly that defeats the point of the board. Its like leaving your front door open when you go out with a big sign saying only nice people allowed in no theives please. You can try it but it won't do a lot of good. For an example of exactly what these things can do I recommend a trip to the video store's horror section. Pick up the movie "The Exorcist" and watch carefully. While a few points are overly dramatized(heads don't do 360 degree turns on people who survive) it is generally a very accurate depiction of possesion(owing both two the jesuit preists who advised on the movie and the fact it was based on a documented case) and every thing in the movie starts with a board(as in the original case).

Ok enough ranting regarding my personal pet peeves. In regards to the nature of ghosts they can't pass over this is true. But it is because they will not allow themselves to pass over not because some supernatural force prevents them from doing so. Some can be forcibly held here by more powerful spirits(a great reason for not summoning spirits to a haunted house) but in general they have free will. The barriers are psychological only(which is also the case in regards to spirits being able to leave a specific location they are only restricted by will).

So I'm guessing that such an example could be that if you are very guilty/sorry for something and want to try to put it right, you could stay as a ghost that way?

That sounds plausible to me.

Yes thats a good example and certainly does happen. Some ghosts are terrified of being judged for there sins real or imagined so stay to escape Hell(the damned don't get an option of staying on Earth they can return if a demon brings them back but thats another matter and a complex one). Other times they don't want to leave because of a strong tie to a person or place, or an inability to accept the reality of the fact they are dead. Ghosts are common in cemeteries in part because some people keep hoping its all a mistake and they'll be able to reenter there body and resume a normal life. Perhaps the oldest of all reasons is that they were improperly buried.

I read that book, the Lazarus Syndrome, all about people who have been buried by accident and things like that *shudder*