eBay/wfatzinger

With technology advancing so quickly, a MacBook from 2007 might be nearly obsolete for most of us, but if you're a ghost from the early 20th century, it makes for a downright swanky place to chill. That's the basic pitch behind the auction of a "haunted" Apple computer on eBay that's already going for more than $6,200 as of this writing.

According to seller "wfatzinger," (who has no real history to speak of on eBay -- spooky, I know), the 13-inch white 2007 MacBook "works great and may also be haunted by a ghost or specter. (Computer is NOT haunted by a demon or "devil man" negative entity.)"

In fact, it seems that this OS X poltergeist is actually quite helpful. The product listing claims that the owner returned home to find that the haunted computer had vacuumed the den and left a love note.

Apparently, according to the, um, rather unusual listing, it writes with a pen and paper, which makes sense once you know that the spirit was electrocuted in 1902 after being framed for the murder of his wife -- clearly he's not going to be as skilled with a word processor, making you wonder why it didn't haunt something a little more analog.

"Whether he was giving me a hand cleaning the garage, helping my son (Thames) perform a rap song at a middle school talent show, or acting as a crucial sounding board when Barb and I had that rough patch last autumn, this ghost has been a rock solid friend and constant companion," the posting reads.

The whole thing reads like it was lifted from a Wikipedia entry on "ghosts in pop culture," including the spooky music and Edgar Allen Poe works that mysteriously appeared on the system after it was left in a graveyard overnight, and the reference to a mysterious psychic that confirms the laptop is haunted before disappearing into the ether herself.

The notion of a ghost helping out with the middle school talent show feels lifted from a sitcom, and there was a pretty hilarious scene involving a vacuuming ghost in the 1986 made-for-TV movie "Mr. Boogedy."

I actually hope there's more than just clever disguised pop culture references here. It would be great if the computer really is haunted and the thousands of dollars people are willing to pay to find out is well spent.

But reason tells me there is a more simple explanation for weird tunes, stories and other strange behavior taking over a computer from 2007. This computer isn't haunted, it's one of the last servers that still holds a copy of my old MySpace page.