auction to exorcise father's ghost

This is a fascinating little vignette. No question that the non-existence of the alleged ghost is taken for granted but this is a psychological tool to rid a child of his fears. My issue is whether it will work -especially if the child gets to know of the ploy as ploy. It's a risky project; what if the boy 's imagination doesn't play ball and the story goes on that the ghost has refused to go -or more interestingly refuses to be sold into slavery? What if it does go but the boy wants to write to the new 'owner'? And os on ....

And then what of the difference of perception between the boy who thought his grandfather [or at least the ghost] to be mean and the mother who states him to have been "the sweetest and most caring man ...". Hmmm, aren't we glad we're not having to unravel that situation?

More than all of this, though, is the cultural comment waiting in the wings; if buying is the way we acquire things that enhance our life then selling becomes a way to exorcise things from it ... the true commercialisation and consumerisation of the supernatural is truly underway! -Even if under the guise of a post-modern irony. Don't bother wth the priest folks; just sell the souls of your dead into slavery. If Nike could only work out how to get them to sew ...
CNN.com - Woman auctions father's ghost on eBay - Dec 4, 2004