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harry potter - Can ghosts affect the physical world?


In the movie production and book Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, we see ghosts floating through walls, without affecting them (i.e. smashing through them and leaving rubble behind).


In the movie production Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we see Moaning Myrtle surprise Ron Weasley as he asks why they're brewing Polyjuice Potion in the girls lavatory. After revealing herself, Myrtle does a demented loop-de-loop around the lavatory and then dive into the toilet.


Yet later, both in the book version and in the movie version of The Goblet of Fire, we see Myrtle soundlessly enter the prefects bathtub without displacing water.



Therefore, can ghosts (not poltegeists, who as we know can) interact with the physical world, and have an effect upon their surroundings?






Answer



The answer is a very definitive yes, they can indeed interact with physical matter but, as the Harry Potter Wikia notes, they can "pass through solid objects without damaging themselves or the material, but create disturbances in water, fire and air".


This description seems pretty consistent with both the books and the films.



Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over and dived head first into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight; from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets







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