Our ancestors were plagued by ghosts and night terrors, so it is not surprising to know that there are many superstitions that show how to scare off ghosts. The most common way to scare off ghosts, as shown in movies, is to hold up a symbol of your faith. However, as movies are also starting to show, this does not always work. Here are some lesser known ways to get rid of ghosts.
1. Lilies
To keep ghosts out of your house, plant lilies around your home. Do not bring the white blooms into your home, though, because that will bring in death.
2. Stream
If you feel that you are being followed by a ghost, go stand in the middle of a stream and make the sign of the cross with your fingers. The ghost will leave you alone to find easier prey.
3. Mountain Ash
Hang mountain ash branches by your front and back door on Good Friday. This will prevent ghosts and evil spirits from entering your home for the rest of the year.
4. Silver Bullet
In Kentucky, one way to get rid of a ghost is to shoot it with a silver bullet.
5. Feather Duster
In Kentucky, the way to keep a ghost from entering your house is to put a feather duster in your doorway
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6. Sudden Warm Breeze
If you feel a sudden warm breeze on a cool night, a ghost has just passed by. To make certain that it doesn’t attach itself to you, light a match. The smell of sulfur will keep it away.
7. Talk to It
Many people believe that the easiest way to deal with a ghost is to talk to it directly. If you are having problems with a ghost, you are supposed to ask it what it wants. People say that the ghost will either answer you or leave entirely.
8. Crucifix
You can hold up a crucifix to rid yourself of a ghost, however it is said that this only works if the ghost was a Christian when it was a person.
9. Salt
Salt is a purifying element that has been in use for well over 2000 years among the religious. It repels, expels, and rids a place or person of negativity and returns it to a clean slate. To get rid of a ghost, some believe that throwing salt at the apparition will dispel the ghost. Another method used is to prevent ghosts from entering a room or house by sprinkling a line of salt across doorways and windows. Anything or anyone placed within a circle made of salt is protected.
10. Sieve
The other week I was reading up on some African American ghost tales and there was a story of a man who was being haunted in his sleep. To combat the night hag, he placed a sieve over his face when he laid down for sleep and he was able to sleep without any haunts. At the time, I tucked the sieve bit away until the other day when I was reading up on ghost superstitions. Again, the sieve is mentioned as a way to stop ghosts. The lore states that if you hang a sieve on your door, any ghost that tries to enter your home will have to count each hole in the sieve, but a ghost can never accomplish this because it can’t count higher than two.
Sources:
Read, Carveth. Man and His Superstitions. 2d ed. Cambridge [England: UP, 1925. Print.
The little giant encyclopedia of superstitions. (1999). New York: Sterling Pub.
Thomas, Daniel Lindsey, and Lucy Blayney Thomas. Kentucky Superstitions. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1920. Print.
Webster, Richard. The Encyclopedia of Superstitions. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2008. Print.
