Pay the ghost meaning?


OK, so maybe I miss something, but I don't get the meaning of "to pay the ghost". Assuming the ghost is that woman burned at the stake in 1670 or so, how can one (in a situation similar to the one in the movie) pay her? Pay in what? Money? She's a spirit, she doesn't need any kind of money. If not money, what then? Pay what? When? And how?

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it was explained in the movie that the burned woman took 3 kids every halloween as a payment for their own children who were also burned. personally, what i didn't get is why the kids asked "CAN we pay the ghost?" ... it's like asking "can i go with the witch?"

stupid, stupid movie.

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