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What Happens To The Spirits Inhabiting a Haunted House When It Moves or Is Destroyed?
Why a viral video on Twitter reminds me of a New Orleans ghost story
The video of a 140-year old Victorian mansion drifting down the street in San Francisco recently bobbed to the surface of my Twitter timeline in a surreal fashion, as if emerging from water. It almost didn’t make sense initially.
I saw Dr. Cheysa Burke (@ChesyaBurkePhD) post it, and what turned my attention away from the house itself was her caption: “If you move a haunted house, does the ghost go with the house or stay on the land?”
Though she obviously isn’t implying the house is haunted, Dr. Burke raises an interesting question and one I have pondered frequently — What does happen to the spirits inhabiting a haunted house when it moves or is destroyed? Do spirits follow the house they haunt or remain on the original land? What about a house that is torn down like the supposed “Demon House” in Gary, Indiana? Do spirits haunt the dispersed lumber and the fixtures, or only the rooms as they existed?
I follow Dr. Burke’s writing on the horror genre, so I commented on the post along with several others. A few people discussed the possibility that a spirit’s memories or final moments can be tied to a specific building or plot of land and therefore they haunt the places where they felt a strong connection. Even author Mikki Kendall offered:
As the comment section revealed, there are a number of ways to consider this issue. For example, there’s a nearly-ubiquitous idea that spirits can’t cross running water, and are confounded or agitated by bodies of water. This idea appeared briefly in the comment section, just as it appears periodically throughout popular culture. Dracula, for example, can’t cross running water unless at low or high tide.
I’ve also heard many paranormal investigators say that sources of running water can agitate spiritual energy. Having lived briefly in a haunted house in Pennsylvania near a small stream I can say this validates my experience. But what about a house that washes away in a flood?
