Haunts are manifestations of spirits or
ghosts created by anguish, despair, and pain, too weak to form into true undead but strong enough to form trap-like hazards. Though their origins are dire, and many are harmful to the point of lethality, haunts themselves may be neutral or even helpful to those who know how to properly entreat them. While haunts can be destroyed, they will manifest once more after enough time has passed. To put a haunt permanently to rest, one must fulfill a particular contrition and appease the restless spirits.
Types of Haunts
Below is an incomplete list of haunts that can manifest on
Golarion.
Baleful Manifestation
Horrific and fear-inducing sensory hallucinations that can take many forms. Shadows shift into monsters, mirrors reflect rotting visages, bile oozes between floorboards, blood drips from walls, dying wails echo through the air, and countless other horrors manifest to the senses of their unfortunate victims. These manifestations are usually the psychic residue of traumatic events rather than a particular spirit and can be put to rest with a hallow spell.
Cold Spot
Colds spots manifest from victims of violence who lacked the strength to manifest as true ghosts. Unlike most haunts, which are stationary, they can roam free within their home structure and manifest as an area of bone-chilling cold capable of killing the ill-prepared. They can typically be put to rest by casting heat metal on an object in the area of manifestation. The object will then absorb the spirits and must be quickly buried on hallowed ground to permanently dismiss the haunt.
Ectoplasmic Miasma
The result of gruesome multiple murders, the spirits of the victims manifest as a single nightmarish amalgam of ectoplasm that harms those it passes through. They can be put to rest by discovering the name of every spirit that makes up its being and calling them out while it rejuvenates, causing the spirits to separate and pass on.
Ghastly Whispers
The crescendoing whispers and ravings of spirits driven to madness elicit a sympathetic affliction in those who hear them. They can typically be put to rest with a holy smite.
Orbs
Lazily floating clouds of glowing lights manifest in these haunts and inspire supernatural fear in those who witness them. Orbs cannot truly be put to rest because they are too diminished to retain a sense of identity that can be appeased or offended. Instead, they are permanently weakened each time they are forced to rejuvenate until they dissipate entirely.
Rapping Spirit
Some of the weakest and most common haunts, rapping spirits manifest as a chorus of knocks and bumps that come from and within walls, floors, ceilings, and other surfaces that instill a disproportionally intense fear in those who hear it. Other haunts that are temporarily destroyed might manifest as rapping spirits while they rejuvenate. With effort, one can establish a system of communication with rapping spirits to gather information from them. They can typically be put to rest by properly interring their mortal remains.
Shrouded Lady
Women who carry spite concerning their lost youth all the way to the grave might manifest as a haunt of spirits that siphon the trait for which they lust from the living. They can be put to rest by presenting a mirror so that they can behold their true appearance and witness the eternal futility of their efforts.
Slamming Portal
Typically manifesting as a protest against intrusion, slamming portals are spirits that close or lock doors, windows, and other methods of entry. While this can bar further passage, they can also serve to bar retreat from deadlier hazards. These haunts can typically be put to rest by sprinkling holy water on the area of the spirits' influence.1
Spectral Carriage
Ghostly carriages manned by cackling ghosts, spectral carriages repeatedly replay their final, fatal accidents, though they also eagerly drag others with them down the road to death. To destroy these powerful and chaotic haunts, one must bring a living mare to the haunt and send it to the Ethereal Plane, where the carriage's horses will give chase and become lost forever.
