What is a Haint? Everything You Need to Know About These Southern Spirits

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Plus, find out what "haint blue" means and how it's used
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Haints are ghostly spirits trapped in the world of the living, unable to pass on. Although they were popularized by the popular 2025 film, Sinners , their history dates back to the arrival of African Americans in the American South centuries ago. In this article, we explore what haints are , how to spot and ward them off , their history in the American South, and more. We also spoke to psychic medium Kelly Ferguson for additional insights, including how to communicate and coexist with haints.

A Brief Overview of Haints

According to psychic medium Kelly Ferguson, haints are restless spirits who are trapped between the world of the living and the dead. They originate from Southern American Gullah Geechee folklore and are said to haunt homes by entering through doors and windows, which is why some people paint those areas “haint blue.”

Section 1 of 6:

What is a haint?

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  1. Ferguson explains, “A ‘haint’ is a term used in spiritual folklore to describe what we might commonly call a ghost or spirit. The word is most often associated with Southern American culture, particularly—but not exclusively—the Gullah Geechee communities of Georgia and South Carolina. Traditionally, “haints” are viewed with a negative connotation, often thought of as malevolent or mischievous spirits. In some folklore, haints are considered restless souls caught between worlds, which can lead to hauntings.” [1]
    • Appearance: Most of the time, haints are invisible. When they do appear, they’re said to resemble regular people, but with a more pale, ghostly look to them. According to Ferguson, “Haints can appear in ways similar to other ghostly or paranormal activity. Experiences may include:
      • Visual sightings such as figures, shadows, or fleeting movements.
      • Objects moving on their own.
      • Unexplained voices, footsteps, or sounds.
      • Sudden feelings of a presence nearby.” [2]
    • Haints also roam around areas they were associated with during life, like battlefields or workplaces. Ferguson continues, “Some hauntings are location-based, while others may seem to follow a particular person. How—or if—you notice a haint often depends on your personal level of belief and your intuitive or energetic sensitivity. People who are more clairvoyant or empathic might notice subtle signs that others dismiss as coincidence or imagination.” [3]
    • The Gullah Geechee people are a community of African Americans that spans across North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. They preserved African traditions when they were brought to America as slaves.
    • Are haints and ghosts the same thing? A haint is a specific type of malicious ghost that likes to cause trouble around homes. All haints are ghosts, but not all ghosts are haints!

    Meet the wikiHow Expert

    Kelly Ferguson is a respected Psychic Medium and Shamanic Healer based in Toronto, Canada. She is known for her highly accurate psychic and mediumship readings.

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Section 2 of 6:

Origin of Haints

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  1. 1
    Haints originate from Gullah Geechee culture. The Gullah Geechee community is an African American community that spans across the coastal areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. [4] They have preserved many African traditions since they were initially brought over as enslaved people, and believed in malevolent spirits called haints. [5]
    • There isn’t much known about how haints came to be within Gullah Geechee culture, as the belief in spirits goes back to ancient times.
  2. 2
    Haints are a part of hoodoo, an African American practice of spirituality. Hoodoo combines West African folk traditions, European folklore and magic, and Native American practices. Rather than a religion, hoodoo is considered a set of magical practices that are employed to protect one from spirits, encourage healing, and influence various outcomes in one’s life. [6] Haints are spiritual figures in hoodoo, being wrapped in with African American folk traditions.
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Section 3 of 6:

How to Spot Haints

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  1. When you suspect that there’s a haint in your home, feel for shifts in the air, like sudden temperature changes or wind coming from nowhere, or breath being breathed on your face. Some haints exist to take your breath, and feeling these things can be a sign that they’re present. [7]
  2. When you suspect that there’s a haint in your home but don’t feel any immediate signs, like air shifts or random breaths, search for other signs of a haunting, like falling items, misplaced furniture, and doors opening and closing out of nowhere. If they happen consistently without any natural explanation, you may have a haint on your hands. [8]
  3. Someone who is gifted with clairvoyance can see more than what meets the average person’s eye, like spirits, ghosts, and haints. [9] So, if you suspect that you have a haint haunting, visit a clairvoyant person, like someone you’re close to, a psychic medium, or someone who has prior experience with spirits, and ask them to give you a reading.
    • Depending on who you go to, they may ask a few questions or simply read your palms to determine whether or not you’re haunted by a haint.
    • Ferguson says, “The idea of living with spirits can feel intimidating, but haints—like most ghosts—aren’t automatically dangerous. Their energy can be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on their own experiences and personalities. Most of the time, spirits are simply energetic imprints or echoes of the past.” [10]
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Section 4 of 6:

How to Ward Off Haints

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  1. Paint the ceiling of your porch and window frames haint blue . According to Ferguson, “One of the most well-known traditions for keeping haints away comes from Gullah folklore: painting porch ceilings, door frames, or window frames a shade of light blue, sometimes called “haint blue.” The belief is that spirits cannot cross water, and the blue colour either mimics water or the sky (the heavens), tricking the haint into moving on or crossing over.” [11]
  2. Originally from West Africa by way of the Gullah people, the tradition of making “bottle trees” by placing bottles around the branches of trees is used to trap haints and evil spirits. According to Gullah folklore, haints are attracted to the shining clink of the bottles, and once they enter, they are trapped until sunrise, when the sunshine can destroy them. [12]
    • If you want to ensure that the haints are trapped in the bottle, put lard in the bottleneck.
    • Alternatively, cover the bottle and drop it in the sea (or your nearest bottle of water).
  3. According to Gullah legend, haints get distracted by repetitive tasks, like counting coins and broom bristles, or reading newspapers. So, whether you’re haunted by a haint already or simply trying to protect your home, find some old newspapers and line your wall with them to distract the haint overnight. They won’t be able to finish reading the papers by the time the sun rises. [13]
  4. Like the newspaper trick, this method distracts the haint by presenting broom bristles or grains of rice for it to count. According to legend, by the time the haint is done counting all of the bristles of the broom, grains of rice, or whatever else you put by the door for protection, it will be burned by the rising sun. [14]
  5. According to legend, burning sage and cleaning your house afterward cleanses it of haints. Start by burning sage in each room, then mop all of your floors with a mixture of pine and camphor. After mopping the floors, sprinkle salt across the doors, windows, and corners of your house. [15]
  6. Hanging mirrors by the door is thought to ward off evil spirits by trapping and distracting them in their own gaze. Although this method doesn’t ensure that the haint won’t enter your home, it gives you a good shot at keeping your home protected until you can enact more permanent methods of protection, like bottle trees or haint blue porches. [16]
  7. 7
    Consider communicating with the spirit directly if you’re comfortable. Ferguson says, “Many hauntings are simply energetic misunderstandings. By approaching these situations with respect, calmness, and an open mind, it’s possible to create harmony and coexist peacefully with a haint.” [17] If you’re interested in reaching out to the spirit yourself, Ferguson recommends that you:
    • “Set energetic boundaries: Call upon a protective energy you trust, and ask for guidance and safety in your space.” [18]
    • “Communicate respectfully: Speak to the spirit directly. Let them know they are welcome to share the space as long as there is mutual respect. For example, state that breaking objects, disturbing sleep, or scaring anyone is not acceptable.” [19]
    • “When in doubt: Speak to an experienced professional in this area, whether a psychic, medium, shaman, priest, or other relevant source of spiritual support for guidance, instruction, or assistance if required.” [20]
    • Ferguson continues, “Other spiritual practices include calling on a trusted source of protective energy, like your spirit guides, guardian angels, Archangel Michael, or divine figures such as Jesus or Buddha, to bless and protect your home.” [21]
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Section 5 of 6:

Haints in Pop Culture

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  1. The 2025 horror film, Sinners , discusses many aspects of African American spirituality and hoodoo, from rootwork and ancestral connections to mojo bags and haints. In the film, Annie (played by Wunmi Mosaku) suspects the monsters that invade the juke joint to be haints. But she finds out that they’re actually vampires, thanks to their desire for blood and their pale, sickly appearances. [22]
    • In the film, Annie’s character practices hoodoo and voodoo , providing Smoke (played by Michael B. Jordan) with a mojo bag and protecting her home with haint blue.
  2. Haints are briefly referred to in To Kill a Mockingbird when Jem tells Scout that “a hain’t lives there” as they pass Arthur “Boo” Radley’s home. In the novel, Radley is painted as a monster by the town and has a sickly, thin appearance with grey, seemingly blinded eyes, causing the children to believe he’s a haint. [23]
  3. The tradition of South Carolinians painting their porches, window frames, and other parts of their houses haint blue has been reported on by a vast number of publications, from Apartment Therapy and Southern Living to The Charleston Post Courier and Today . The publications discuss the historical value of the tradition and where to find historic homes with haint blue porches, among other things.
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Section 6 of 6:

More Southern Folklore

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  1. 1
    Boo Hag A boo hag is a type of spirit that drains your energy and life force, like vampires. What differentiates them from vampires is the fact that they drain your life force by drawing your breath from you while you sleep, while vampires drink your blood. They are skinless, red creatures that are said to keep you alive just enough so they can continue to steal your breath. [24]
    • Their breath siphoning is said to induce a sleep full of dreams and leave you exhausted in the morning, even if you got a full night’s rest.
    • According to legend, if you struggle against a boo hag, they may steal your skin.
  2. 2
    Holler Magic Also known as Appalachian folk magic and granny magic, holler magic is a set of spiritual beliefs that hail from European folk magic, combining it with Native American and African folk influences (albeit less than hoodoo) to inform their traditions of healing and harming. It is practiced by those who live in the Appalachian region. [25]
    • Holler magic is mainly practiced by the grannies (older women who served as midwives, healers, and teachers of ancestral knowledge).
  3. 3
    Two-Toed Tom According to legend, Two-Toed Tom is a terrorizing alligator who once roamed the swamps of Florida and Alabama. Also known as Two-Toe or Red-Eye, the alligator sported red eyes, a massive 14-foot height, and lost all but two toes after one of its feet was caught in a steel trap. The monster reportedly ate livestock and terrorized humans for over two decades. [26]
  4. 4
    Flying Africans Flying Africans are legends from the Gullah Geechee mythology that reportedly flew back to Africa by jumping overboard in suicide attempts to avoid being enslaved. The legend goes back to 1803, when the Igbo people walked into the water at Igbo Landing to avoid being enslaved. Some believe that they actually flew, while others take the flight as a metaphor for resistance. [27]
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      References

      1. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      2. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      3. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      4. ↑ https://www.nps.gov/places/gullah-geechee-cultural-heritage-corridor.htm
      5. ↑ https://southcarolinalowcountry.com/the-haints-of-the-south-carolina-lowcountry-history-and-mystique/
      6. ↑ https://www.ulc.org/ulc-blog/voodoo-vs-hoodoo-whats-the-difference
      7. ↑ https://youtu.be/SV7umCpwP08?si=ljsdb1Uz0xytW6xP&t=229
      8. ↑ https://youtu.be/SV7umCpwP08?si=ljsdb1Uz0xytW6xP&t=229
      9. ↑ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/clairvoyant
      1. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      2. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      3. ↑ https://www.southernthing.com/southern-traditions-designed-to-repel-haints-and-spirits-2647848290.html
      4. ↑ https://www.southernthing.com/southern-traditions-designed-to-repel-haints-and-spirits-2647848290.html
      5. ↑ https://www.southernthing.com/southern-traditions-designed-to-repel-haints-and-spirits-2647848290.html
      6. ↑ https://www.southernthing.com/southern-traditions-designed-to-repel-haints-and-spirits-2647848290.html
      7. ↑ https://youtu.be/gnJwWXT5pek?si=aMNb3XwoEpLTVYYn&t=261
      8. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      9. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      10. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      11. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      12. ↑ Kelly Ferguson. Psychic Medium. Expert Interview
      13. ↑ https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/movies/2025/04/23/sinners-movie-haint/83211263007/
      14. ↑ https://mockingbirdgrand.wordpress.com/2019/02/10/haint/
      15. ↑ https://youtu.be/gnJwWXT5pek?si=g8_I9kgs-uCRBVU5&t=366
      16. ↑ https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/appalachian-folk-magic
      17. ↑ https://twotoedtomfest.com/the-legend-of-two-toed-tom/
      18. ↑ https://www.thecollector.com/flying-africans-folklore/

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