Phantom markets

A woman’s effort to assuage her 6-year-old son’s fears of his grandfather’s ghost by selling it on eBay has drawn more than 34 bids with a top offer of $78 [TC: the price is now up to 15K, as of Sunday morning].

Mary Anderson said she placed her father’s "ghost" on the online auction site after her son, Collin, said he was afraid the ghost would return someday. Anderson said Collin has avoided going anywhere in the house alone since his grandfather died last year…

Anderson also put her father’s metal walking cane up for auction so she would have something to actually send the winning bidder. The proceeds from the auction will go to buy Collin a special present, she said.

Here is the full story.  Here is the auction.  Here is an elastic supply of copycats.