original story posted yesterday<snip>
A WOMAN who turned to eBay to auction off her father's ghost asked buyers to show some restraint as bidding reached the $US14,000 ($17,923) mark over the weekend in a media-driven frenzy.
"I can't believe this went so far. Please keep the bidding at a minimum," said Mary Anderson in a posting on the online auction site today.
Ms Anderson, who hails from Hobart, Indiana, said the unexpected attention generated by her whimsical eBay sale had "left her a nervous wreck", and that she had cancelled some of the more "outrageous bids".
She reiterated that the purpose of the exercise was simply to reassure her five year-old-son who was uneasy about living in a house that he felt was haunted by his "mean" grandfather.
By way of explanation, Ms Anderson said that her father had died of cancer at home, and towards the end had occasionally become irritated with his young grandson and had tapped him with his walking cane.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11614786%255E13762,00.html