Can Ghosts Make You Sick?

  • By Sam Ashford
  • First Published: March 24, 2025
  • Last Updated: September 16, 2025

Can ghosts make you sick?

To cut straight to the chase: Yes, ghosts and paranormal activities can make you sick.

Traditional cultures believe in ghost sickness, whereby a person falls ill when spending time in haunted locations. There are several symptoms of ghost sickness, as well as emotional and mental disorders which can appear when visited by a ghost.

This article will discuss what ghost sickness is, what causes it, and how paranormal investigators can prevent getting sick.

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What Causes Ghost Sickness?

There are different beliefs about what causes someone to become sick when interacting with ghosts. One thing they all have in common is that ghosts make you sick when the ghost did not receive a proper burial, or that they are unhappy about something that happened while they were alive.

Here’s a breakdown of different cultures and what they believe causes ghosts to make you sick.

Navajos beliefs

According to the Navajos – a Native American tribe – someone will become sick when a ghost or spirit attaches itself to someone who’s still alive.

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Spirits require energy to manifest in this realm, and they drain the person’s energy, causing them to become sick. According to Solomon Mutale, a paranormal researcher, “Spirits do take people’s energy. However, only low-vibration spirits do this. These are the spirits you would call ‘evil’.”

There are documented cases amongst the Navajos of ghosts preferring male energy.

According to them, an affected person will:

  • Feel weak
  • Lose appetite
  • Become dizzy and/or faint
  • Experience bouts of nausea
  • Feel anxious or depressed
  • Have frequent nightmares

In extreme cases, human beings can die if the spirit saps all their energy or takes the energy with them into the spirit realm.

But, why does this happen?

The Navajo believe that the spirit that has latched on to the living did not receive the correct burial rites. To “heal” the sickly individual, a spiritual leader must perform a ceremony to release the spirit into the afterlife.

It is also possible to contract this sickness if you attempt to communicate with the dead or if you spend too much time thinking about someone who died.

Ancient Chinese beliefs

In Ancient China, unexplained illnesses were attributed to ghostly interference. Any unusual, serious or unexplained diseases that couldn’t be treated were considered the work of spirits who had not yet received proper burial rituals.

It was believed that these disgruntled spirits were either seeking vengeance or trying to right a wrong they had suffered while still alive.

This can still be seen in modern times in China and Eastern medicine, where traditional methods are implemented to cure ailments. For example, acupuncture focuses on specific points in the body called “baxie“ which can be loosely translated as “eight ghosts”.

Samoan beliefs

The Samoans also believe in ghost sickness.

Their belief is that ghosts can punish living people. Their targets? People who still harbour ill feelings towards them after their death.

According to the Samoans, those who have become sick from ghosts will experience bulging eyes, grimacing, and excitement beyond what is normal (to the point of hysterics).

It’s not so much a sickness as it is a possession.

To “cure” the afflicted, folk medicine is used to remove the ghost from the body.

Common Symptoms Of Illness Caused By Ghosts

Most people won’t become sick when communicating with ghosts, but for those who do, there are some common symptoms that they experience.

Physical symptoms

We’ve already mentioned some of the physical illness symptoms that the Navajo attributes to ghosts, but here’s a more comprehensive list:

  • Fatigue: If you’re constantly tired no matter how much you rest, it could mean a ghost is draining your energy.
  • Headaches: Unexplained, throbbing headaches are common.
  • Nausea and vomiting: If there’s no reason for feeling ill, it might be a ghost making you sick.
  • Stress: Constantly feeling stressed and on edge means a ghost may have latched on to you and your subconscious is aware. According to Paranormal Academy, “The stress caused…can often make someone sicker…”
  • Sleep deprivation: This can be due to nightmares or insomnia.
  • Chills: Sudden chills may be because of cold spots, or because you have a ghost making you sick.
  • Loss of appetite: You may find you no longer feel hungry.

Emotional symptoms

  • Constant feeling of dread: It may indicate the lingering presence of an unseen ghost.
  • Feeling watched: You’ll feel like someone always has their eyes on you, even when alone.
  • Mood swings: Depression and anxiety are common symptoms, as are sudden feelings of exuberance and joy.

Mental symptoms

  • Disorientation: You may feel lost, confused and disoriented because the spirit is affecting your sense of reality.
  • Memory loss: Sudden gaps in memory and struggling to remember events can indicate the influence of a ghost.

How To Cure An Illness Caused By A Ghost

Unfortunately, you can’t just take some medicine and hope the illness goes away. Although modern medicine can treat the symptoms, you’re going to have to treat the cause if you want to be healthy again.

And, the cause is the ghost.

There are a couple of traditional treatments that can help the sick person get better:

  1. Healing ceremony: A spiritual healing ceremony is performed by traditional healers, who use prayer and herbal remedies to treat the sickness.
  2. Purification rituals: These rituals chase away evil spirits. It is done by burning sage and smudge sticks to cleanse the person and their environment.
  3. Eliminating thoughts of the deceased: Certain cultures have “chant groups” that can chase away thoughts of the dead. These groups chant in shifts to offer a layered approach to the person obsessively thinking about their lost loved ones.

Protecting Yourself From Illness Caused By Ghost

Apart from cleansing and healing ceremonies, you can take pre-emptive steps to protect yourself from getting sick:

  • Meditate: This clears your mind and allows you to become attuned to your own, bright spirit.
  • Set intentions: Before communicating with a ghost, make sure to set intentions for positive communications and contacting high-frequency beings.
  • Crystals: Certain crystals, like tourmaline or amethyst, will protect you from dark energy, inviting only positive spirits.

FAQs

Is a possessed person sick?

It depends on who you ask.

Some religious leaders believe that possession is real and that an evil entity has taken over the person’s life. These people will only be healed if the demonic presence is chased away.

However, those with a more scientific thinking pattern blame possession on mental illness or epilepsy where the person can experience seizures.

Is there a scientific reason behind getting sick from a ghost?

Any paranormal investigator with experience will first rule out medical, environmental and psychological reasons behind how they’re feeling if they suddenly come down with a sickness. The real reason may be as simple as having a cold, or not having eaten the whole day – it’s not always a ghost that is to blame.

Altitude sickness – when you breathe in thin air at higher altitudes where there is less oxygen – will impact you the same way as the common symptoms associated with ghost disease.

Another reason you’re likely to hear is that the person is simply suppressing their grief, which then takes a physical shape, making them sick.

Which spirits can cause sickness?

Supernatural sickness can be attributed to many forces, including:

  • Ancestral spirits
  • Malevolent beings
  • Ghosts of loved ones
  • Shaman spirits

An illness can also be caused by someone who casts a dark magical spell – or a curse – on you, causing you to fall ill.

Wrapping Up

Interacting with a ghost can be exciting or scary – but not many people think of the lingering effects once the seance or communication session is completed.

The idea that ghosts can make you sick is not a new one; it dates back to ancient cultures across the world.

The symptoms of illnesses caused by ghosts vary and are often attributed to non-paranormal causes. But, to play it safe, it might be in your best interest to perform some cleansing rituals to remove any ghosts that are trying to stick around.

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Sam Ashford
Sam Ashford - Author

Hey, I'm Sam Ashford! I'm a ghost-hunting expert, writer and founder of SpiritShack. My mission is to help people like yourself learn about spirituality and how to hunt ghosts!