History Main / HauntedTechnology

* ''Film/TheRing'', with the haunted video tape.
** Parodied on ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' with the [[http://www.xkcd.com/396/ haunted YouTube video.]]

** ''Film/UltramanRBTheMovieSelectTheCrystalOfBond'': The villain of the picture, Ultraman Tregear, uses television and computer screens to travel between dimensions in a rather blatant reference to ''Ringu''. At the climax of the film, he actually shows up to battle the Ultramen team of Rosso, Blu and Geed by phasing himself through a giant screen on the side of a city building.

* ''VideoGame/NanashiNoGame'', for the Nintendo DS, is ''Film/{{Ringu}}'' [-[[RecycledInSpace BUT WITH A]] {{RETRAUX}} RPG!-]

* In one ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip, Megan's [[https://xkcd.com/1316/ diagnosis]] of WalkingTechbane Cueball's bizarre laptop issues is "Your computer is ''literally haunted''.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the episode "Wolf In the Fold", an energy being left the human body it was occupying and entered (and took control of) the Enterprise computer. Spock drove it out with a LogicBomb ("Compute to the last digit the value of pi").
** And there was that ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' ep where the dying scientist took over Data (a possession plot, but Data is a machine).

** "Living Doll": "My name is Talking Tina, and ''I don't like you''."
** "A Thing About Machines" has a whole bunch of machines start rising up in revenge against one man who's been abusing them.
** "You Drive" has a car that starts acting weird in an attempt to get its owner to confess to a hit-and-run accident.
** "From Agnes -- With Love" has a supercomputer named Agnes which becomes a ClingyJealousGirl.
** "The Fever" has a seemingly possessed slot machine that follows the protagonist around, calling his name.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' had a MonsterOfTheWeek that called people on the phone and drove them to suicide.
** A different episode featured a truck possessed by the spirit of its dead, racist owner.
** Yet another had a vengeful spirit of a man who died on powerlines feeding into a Wi-Fi signal, meaning he could attack his victims anywhere a signal reached through anything connected to it. This unique situation allowed him to bypass the usual wards.
* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' episode ''[[Recap/AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason3TheTaleOfTheCuriousCamera The Tale of the Curious Camera]]'' had a gremlin possessing a camera. The camera not only killed people by taking their pictures, but the pictures showed how they would die. By the end of the episode the camera is destroyed [[spoiler:but the gremlin ends up in a computer]].

** The episode "The Idiot's Lantern" involves televisions being 'haunted' by an alien who appears as a motherly woman on the screen. She'd [[spoiler:eat by taking away someone's 'soul', and through that, their face.]]
** And then in "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", there were "data ghosts" in the communicators of River Song's expedition team, which were supposedly echoes of their dying moments.
* ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'' - ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
** Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', with "The Lovematic Grandpa" - a love tester machine haunted by Abraham Simpson.

* The ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode called ''Cigarette Burns'' features a haunted movie.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'' loved this trope, though their technology wasn't usually "haunted" so much as just plain evil:
** "Ghost in the Machine" is about an automated security system that develops a murderous mind of its own.
** "Blood" has machines telling people to kill other people triggering it through their phobias. Subverted as it is implied that the government was using chemicals to cause mass paranoia in a controlled experiment and perhaps some people were actually sending the messages.
** "Wetwired" explores a device planted in a TV set sending viewers subliminal signals and inciting their worst fears. This is a subversion since people placed it there.
** "Unruhe" features a type of creepy photography that can capture what's inside people's minds.
** "Kill Switch" is similar to "Ghost in the Machine"; it's about a software that goes rogue and tries to kill anyone who destroys it. Humorously, the only way to deactivate it is to insert the kill switch which plays to the tune of The Platter's "Twilight Time".
** "First Person Shooter" presents a female video game character in a realistic 3-D game that starts killing people -- in the game and with effects in real life.
** Perhaps a reference to "Talking Tina" above, in "Chinga", where Scully is [[BusmansHoliday attempting a vacation]] when she runs across a doll that seems able to control humans around it. Usually to perform violent acts against themselves.

* In the ''Acid Rain World'' toyline from Hong Kong has a faction of mutants known as the Soil Ghosts. One particular infantry unit from Soil Ghosts are the Belaks. A Belak is a humanoid robot that is used to house the remains of a fallen legendary warrior and it's believed that the warrior's spirit steers the robot and the presence of the spirit makes the Belak's energy gun hit even harder.

* ''VideoGame/VirtualOn'' has the BonusBoss Jaguarandi, who appears without warning if you take too long for the first round of fights. It's stated to be the soul of a boy trapped in the system, now animating a warped, extremely powerful version of the standard Raiden Virtuaroid.

* ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Johnny and the Dead]]'': Two mechanically skilled "post-senior citizens" manage to attune a broken television set to the ghosts of its long-defunct workings, allowing its glass-bereft screen to receive a broadcast of ''[[Series/{{Neighbours Cob]][[Series/HomeAndAway bers]]''.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has a lot of these, and their effects range from the lethal to the benign. Some examples include:

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'''s Makuta were a race of beings capable of possessing soulless bodies and machines. This ability was also the main point of their EvilPlan. Their leader, Makuta Teridax, spent some time masquerading as the guard-robot Maxilos, then went on to become a god by possessing the body of Mata Nui [[spoiler: the HumongousMecha [[GeniusLoci which housed their entire universe]]]].
** Mata Nui, in turn, [[spoiler: does this to the ''other'' HumongousMecha in the series, which is an FlawedPrototype. He later uses this to [[UpgradeVsPrototypeFight face off with Makuta at the very end of the story]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', Dante and Lucia encounter a species of demon called the infestants, which have the power to merge their bodies with technology, and must do battle with several infested tanks and an infested helicopter that the infestants are controlling.

* Creator/ManlyWadeWellman's short story ''The Theater Upstairs'' (first published in 1936) is an early instance of this, with a [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday movie theater that wasn't there yesterday]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking exists despite local ordinances forbidding movie theaters from being built above ground level]] showing a talkie adaptation of Creator/GuyDeMaupassant's horror story ''The Horla'', starring Creator/RudolphValentino -even though the protagonist is pretty sure Valentino died before any sound films were made. The protagonist also tells us that, afterwards, he has never been able to find anyone else who has seen this movie, or any other evidence that it exists.

[[folder:Films]]

* The spooky toaster from ''WebAnimation/NeuroticallyYours'' is the current page image. Foamy bought it from Amityville, and it spits out something different than what you put in; for example, put in white bread, you get wheat toast, wheat bread becomes pumpernickel toast, pumpernickel bread becomes blueberry muffins, and bagels become pork chops. But [[SchmuckBait don't use waffles]]; the seller warned of something about toasted human hands.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Church and Tex spend most of the series as ghosts possessing robot bodies. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheRecollection Reconstruction]]'', which reveals that Church [[DoingInTheWizard was never really a ghost to begin with]], but an A.I. instead. The same is heavily implied to be true for Tex. It's later revealed that their first bodies were actually unwilling human subjects, Private Jimmy in Church's case. So, yes, when Caboose shot Church with Sheila, he actually did kill someone.]]

* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} [[SdrawkcabName Rotom]], first introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', is an Electric/Ghost-type that can possess electronics. It's first found in a TV set, and ''Platinum'' allows it to possess an oven, lawnmower, fridge, washing machine and fan to change its form, moves and (from Gen V onwards) type. ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' [[InvokedTrope invokes]] the trope by having the player's Pokédex be designed to house a Rotom, which possesses it and acts as its A.I. Sadly, this form can't actually fight; it merely acts as a FairyCompanion (''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' gives the Rotom Dex more unique functions, however, such as being able to use Z-Moves more than once and giving special items that can be used in and out of battle, making it more useful than in the original games). ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' takes it further by introducing all sorts of Rotom-operated technology, including smartphones (with Pokédex functionality), storage [=PCs=], and even bikes. One League Staff employee even gives you a entire ''catalogue'' of all of Rotom's forms after you defeat him in battle so that you can change its form and type anywhere you go.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', a mysterious late-night television channel somehow murders people on foggy nights. If you happen to watch it on those nights, you can see who the victim will be.
* Week 6 of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' takes place inside an AffectionateParody of dating sims... at least, until you defeat [[BitchInSheepsClothing Senpai]] twice. For his third song, [[spoiler:the malevolent Spirit of one of [[BigBad Daddy Dearest]]'s victims [[OrificeEvacuation explodes out of his head]] and tries to claim Boyfriend's body to take revenge.]]

* ''VideoGame/NanashiNoGame'', for the Nintendo DS, is ''Film/{{Ringu}}'' [-[[RecycledInSpace BUT WITH A]] {{RETRAUX}} RPG!-]
* ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' has a few collectible artifacts that are haunted machines such as an RC car and a microwave.
* ''VideoGame/GhostMaster'' has ghosts that specialise in making technology spark and jump.
* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' features lots of possessed and haunted technology, which should be expected in a possessed and haunted town.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}}'' had the electricity Ixupi, which possessed things like a UFO-shaped lamp and an electric chair.
* ''[text] -- A Summer Story'' by sakevisual [[spoiler:has your character's mobile phone. It's receiving messages from a dead boy.]]

* In the Azshara region of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' there is a short Horde chain focused on attempting to deal with a possessed excavation vehicle. The exorcism does not go as intended...

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' with a cursed microwave that produces endless brimstone burritos, and a cursed keg that dispenses cups of "beery blood."

* The Dark Presence in ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' can only attack its victims through taking control of real life objects. Most of the time it's satisfied with just possessing humans, but during the course of the game the player also faces some haunted technology, even having a boss fight against a ''combine harvester'' at one point.

* ''VideoGame/VirtualOn'' has the BonusBoss Jaguarandi, who appears without warning if you take too long for the first round of fights. It's stated to be the soul of a boy trapped in the system, now animating a warped, extremely powerful version of the standard Raiden Virtuaroid.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler:Mettaton is touted as being a robot entertainer with top-notch artificial intelligence, but it's later revealed that he's actually a ghost who was allowed to inhabit a robot body to pursue his dreams of fame.]]
* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'''s protagonist is trapped inside a run down computer in Limbo, forced to play a terrible EndlessRunningGame. This game happens to be programmed by Satan, [[StylisticSuck and it shows]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Imscared}}'' turns ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou YOUR COMPUTER]]'' into this, downloading text files to your computer explaining that White Face has become an entity playing with you.
* ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary'' has a medieval version in the Tree of Men, the apparent result of an entire dungeon's worth of torture tools coming to life through sheer hatred and forming a semi-coherent jumble you must fight as a boss, with its newest victims still hanging from hooks.

* The eponymous toy from ''VideoGame/{{Tattletail}}'' is implied to be either a highly-advanced AI or some sort of otherworldly monster inhabiting a mechanical body. [[spoiler: Mama Tattletail, especially the VHS tape that comes with her, is ''definitely'' unnatural.]]
* After Jill is arrested in Area 5 of ''VideoGame/DrillDozer'', she is rescued by the Drill Dozer being powered by the Red Diamond (or more specifically, her mother's ghost inside the Red Diamond).

Done well, this can be a powerful source of [[ParanoiaFuel Paranoia]]. Done badly, it becomes {{Narm}}tastic NightmareRetardant.

* ''Film/GhostsOfWar'': The soldiers are actually in a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII computer simulation to help them recover from almost being killed in an explosion. [[spoiler:The vengeful spirits of the Helwig family are in it as well, attacking them for [[BystanderSyndrome letting them get tortured to death by [=ISIS=] soldiers in the real world.]]

* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' had a gremlin possessing a camera. The camera not only killed people by taking their pictures, but the pictures showed how they would die. By the end of the episode the camera is destroyed [[spoiler:but the gremlin ends up in a computer]].

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric The Curse of Fenric]], a 1943 code-breaking device, revolutionary technology of the day, begins translation of a viking inscription, and is commandeered by the [[EldritchAbomination incorporeal entity]] innate to the inscription to complete their incantation, mobilising the titular curse.

* ''WebAnimation/EverythingIsBroken: In part 3 Evil Pinkie Pie and LG Creepybloom are shown to be able to posses televisions.
** In part 9 Evil Pinkie Pie is also shown to communicate with subtitles on the screen to Flippy.

* [[spoiler:Subverted]] In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', where Church and Tex spend most of the series as ghosts possessing robot bodies. [[spoiler:Reconstruction reveals that Church was never really a ghost to begin with, but an AI instead. The same is heavily implied to be true for Tex. It's later revealed that their first bodies were actually unwilling human subjects, Private Jimmy in Church's case. So, yes, when Caboose shot Church with Sheila, he actually did kill someone.]]
* As a Rotom gijinka, [[Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars Rota]] can possess electronics. She likes to sleep in fridges.
* The haunted ''Majora's Mask'' cartridge of WebVideo/BenDrowned. [[spoiler:And, thanks to people downloading Thetruth.rtf, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the Internet as well.]]]]

* Parodied in ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall''. Over an awkward dinner, Peter and Aldous mock Sarah for taking a role in a movie where cellphones killed their owners. This is a parody of ''Pulse'' (mentioned below), which [[Creator/KristenBell the actress playing Sarah]] [[SelfDeprecation starred in the American remake of]].

* This is more or less the whole point of the movie ''Film/{{Pulse}}'' and its American adaptation.
* ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' features some haunted technology, specifically a TV screen that shows static and talks to the youngest child in the family, and the whole series is thought to be cursed.

[[folder:Folk Lore]]