It is said that they can only be exorcised or expunged by returning to them that which they desire in their afterlife. Usually this is some favorite possession that was connected somehow with their death. Some spirits become ghosts, however, because of being dominated by a stronger spirit soon after their passing to the other side, and yet others have it thrust upon them as penance for misdeeds committed. In most cases ghosts cannot harm mortals directly, but they can frighten them into doing things that are both stupid and fatal. Ghosts also haunted the surface of the Land of the Dead.