Ghost

Ghost
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For other uses, see Ghost (disambiguation).
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Ghost
Hammersmith Ghost.PNG
Engraving of the Hammersmith Ghost in Kirby's Wonderful and Scientific Museum, a magazine published
in 1804[1]
Grouping

Legendary creature

Sub grouping

Undead

Similar creatures

Revenant

Region The Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania
[show]Part of a series of articles on the paranormal
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost (sometimes known as a spectre (British English) or specter
(American English), phantom, apparition or spook) is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that
can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts
vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike
visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in
spiritism as a séance.

The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor
worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices
of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are
generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were
associated with in life, though stories of phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost
animals have also been recounted.[2][3]

Contents [hide]

1 Terminology
2 Typology
2.1 Anthropological context
2.2 Ghosts and the afterlife
2.3 Fear of ghosts
2.4 Common attributes
2.5 Locale
3 History
3.1 Ancient Near East and Egypt
3.2 Classical Antiquity
3.2.1 Archaic and Classical Greece
3.2.2 Roman Empire and Late Antiquity
3.3 Middle Ages
3.4 European Renaissance to Romanticism
3.5 Modern period of western culture
3.5.1 Spiritualist movement
3.5.2 Spiritism
3.6 Scientific view
4 By religion
4.1 Judæo-Christian
4.2 Islam
4.3 Buddhism
5 By culture
5.1 African folklore
5.2 European folklore

5.3 South and Southeast Asia
5.3.1 India
5.3.2 Austronesia
5.4 East and Central Asia
5.4.1 China
5.4.2 Japan
5.4.3 Thailand
5.4.4 Tibet
5.5 Americas
5.5.1 Mexico
5.5.2 United States
6 Depiction in the arts
6.1 Renaissance to Romanticism (1500 to 1840)
6.2 Victorian/Edwardian (1840 to 1920)
6.3 Modern Era (1920 to 1970)
6.4 Post-modern (1970–present)
7 Metaphorical usages
8 See also
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 Further reading
12 External links
Terminology
Further information: spirit, soul (spirit), wikt:anima, genius (mythology) and Geist
The English word ghost continues Old English gást, from a hypothetical Common Germanic *gaistaz. It is
common to West Germanic, but lacking in North Germanic and East Germanic (the equivalent word in

Gothic is ahma, Old Norse has andi m., önd f.). The pre-Germanic form was *ghoisdo-s, apparently from
a root denoting "fury, anger" reflected in Old Norse geisa "to rage". The Germanic word is recorded as
masculine only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would
thus have been an animating principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation and fury (compare
óðr). In Germanic paganism, "Germanic Mercury", and the later Odin, was at the same time the
conductor of the dead and the "lord of fury" leading the Wild Hunt.

Besides denoting the human spirit or soul, both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is
used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of "breath" or "blast" from the earliest
attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, i.e. angels and demons; the AngloSaxon gospel refers to the demonic possession of Matthew 12:43 as se unclæna gast. Also from the Old
English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the "Holy Ghost". The now prevailing sense
of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges in Middle
English (14th century). The modern noun does, however, retain a wider field of application, extending
on one hand to "soul", "spirit", "vital principle", "mind" or "psyche", the seat of feeling, thought and
moral judgement; on the other hand used figuratively of any shadowy outline, fuzzy or unsubstantial
image, in optics, photography and cinematography especially a flare, secondary image or spurious
signal.[4]

The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk (of uncertain etymology); it entered
the English language via the United States in the 19th century.[5][6][7][8] Alternative words in modern
usage include spectre (from Latin spectrum), the Scottish wraith (of obscure origin), phantom (via
French ultimately from Greek phantasma, compare fantasy) and apparition. The term shade in classical
mythology translates Greek σκιά,*9+ or Latin umbra,*10+ in reference to the notion of spirits in the Greek
underworld. "Haint" is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States,[11]
and the "haint tale" is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition.[12] The term poltergeist
is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and
influencing objects.[13]

Wraith is a Scots word for "ghost", "spectre" or "apparition". It came to be used in Scottish Romanticist
literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense of "portent" or "omen". In 18th- to 19thcentury Scottish literature, it was also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted
etymology; the OED notes "of obscure origin" only.[14] An association with the verb writhe was the
etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien.[15] Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures
known as the Ringwraiths has influenced later usage in fantasy literature. Bogey[16] or bogy/bogie is a
term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poet John Mayne's Hallowe'en in 1780.[17][18]

A revenant is a deceased person returning from the dead to haunt the living, either as a disembodied
ghost or alternatively as an animated ("undead") corpse. Also related is the concept of a fetch, the
visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive.

Typology
Anthropological context
Further information: Animism, Ancestor worship, Origin of religion and Anthropology of religion
A notion of the transcendent, supernatural or numinous, usually involving entities like ghosts, demons
or deities, is a cultural universal.[19] In pre-literate folk religions, these beliefs are often summarized
under animism and ancestor worship.[20]

In many cultures malignant, restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits involved in
ancestor worship.[21]

Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to prevent revenants, vengeful spirits of the dead,
imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either include
sacrifice, i.e., giving the dead food and drink to pacify them, or magical banishment of the deceased to
force them not to return. Ritual feeding of the dead is performed in traditions like the Chinese Ghost
Festival or the Western All Souls' Day. Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world's
burial customs. The bodies found in many tumuli (kurgan) had been ritually bound before burial,[22] and
the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in rural Anatolia.[23]

Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls
were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[24]

Ghosts and the afterlife
Further information: Soul (spirit), Psyche (psychology), Underworld, Hungry ghost and Psychopomp
Further information: Ghost Festival, All Souls' Day, Day of the Dead and Ghost Dance
Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird
or other animal, it appears to have been widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body
in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various

ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people
in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.

Fear of ghosts
Main article: Fear of ghosts

Yūrei (Japanese ghost) from the Hyakkai Zukan, ca. 1737
While deceased ancestors are universally regarded as venerable, and often imagined as having a
continued presence in some sort of afterlife, the spirit of a deceased person which remains present in
the material world (viz. a ghost) is regarded as an unnatural or undesirable state of affairs and the idea
of ghosts or revenants is associated with a reaction of fear. This is universally the case in pre-modern
folk cultures, but fear of ghosts also remains an integral aspect of the modern ghost story, Gothic
horror, and other horror fiction dealing with the supernatural.

Common attributes
Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle
material. Anthropologists link this idea to early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person
(the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in
colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[20] This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical
meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by
analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as synthesising Adam, as a
living soul, from the dust of the Earth and the breath of God.

In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance
(vengeful ghosts), or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost
has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "fetch" is a
related omen of death.[25]

White ladies were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or
suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is
the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an
individual family line or regarded as a harbinger of death similar to a banshee.

Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the Flying
Dutchman. This theme has been used in literature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.

Locale
See also: Haunted house
A place where ghosts are reported is described as haunted, and often seen as being inhabited by spirits
of deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural
activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past
such as murder, accidental death, or suicide — sometimes in the recent or ancient past. But not all
hauntings are at a place of a violent death, or even on violent grounds. Many cultures and religions
believe the essence of a being, such as the 'soul', continues to exist. Some religious views argue that the
'spirits' of those who have died have not 'passed over' and are trapped inside the property where their
memories and energy are strong.

History
Ancient Near East and Egypt
Main article: Ghosts in Mesopotamian religions
Main article: Ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture
There are many references to ghosts in Mesopotamian religions – the religions of Sumer, Babylon,
Assyria and other early states in Mesopotamia. Traces of these beliefs survive in the later Abrahamic
religions that came to dominate the region.[26] Ghosts were thought to be created at time of death,
taking on the memory and personality of the dead person. They traveled to the netherworld, where
they were assigned a position, and led an existence similar in some ways to that of the living. Relatives
of the dead were expected to make offerings of food and drink to the dead to ease their conditions. If
they did not, the ghosts could inflict misfortune and illness on the living. Traditional healing practices
ascribed a variety of illnesses to the action of ghosts, while others were caused by gods or demons.[27]

The Hebrew Bible contains few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with forbidden occult
activities cf. Deuteronomy 18:11. The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel (I Samuel
28:3–19 KJV), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit/ghost of Samuel.

Egyptian Akh glyph – The soul and spirit re-united after death
There was widespread belief in ghosts in ancient Egyptian culture in the sense of the continued
existence of the soul and spirit after death, with the ability to assist or harm the living, and the
possibility of a second death. Over a period of more than 2,500 years, Egyptian beliefs about the nature
of the afterlife evolved constantly. Many of these beliefs were recorded in inscriptions, papyrus scrolls
and tomb paintings. The Egyptian Book of the Dead compiles some of the beliefs from different periods
of ancient Egyptian history.[28] In modern times, the fanciful concept of a mummy coming back to life
and wreaking vengeance when disturbed has spawned a whole genre of horror stories and films.[29]

Classical Antiquity
Further information: Shade (mythology) and Magic in the Greco-Roman world
Archaic and Classical Greece
Ghosts appeared in Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, in which they were described as vanishing "as a vapor,
gibbering and whining into the earth". Homer’s ghosts had little interaction with the world of the living.
Periodically they were called upon to provide advice or prophecy, but they do not appear to be
particularly feared. Ghosts in the classical world often appeared in the form of vapor or smoke, but at
other times they were described as being substantial, appearing as they had been at the time of death,
complete with the wounds that killed them.[30]

By the 5th century BC, classical Greek ghosts had become haunting, frightening creatures who could
work to either good or evil purposes. The spirit of the dead was believed to hover near the resting place
of the corpse, and cemeteries were places the living avoided. The dead were to be ritually mourned
through public ceremony, sacrifice and libations, or they might return to haunt their families. The
ancient Greeks held annual feasts to honor and placate the spirits of the dead, to which the family
ghosts were invited, and after which they were “firmly invited to leave until the same time next
year”.*31+

The 5th-century BC play Oresteia contains one of the first ghosts to appear in a work of fiction.

Roman Empire and Late Antiquity
The ancient Romans believed a ghost could be used to exact revenge on an enemy by scratching a curse
on a piece of lead or pottery and placing it into a grave.[32]

Plutarch, in the 1st century AD, described the haunting of the baths at Chaeronea by the ghost of a
murdered man. The ghost’s loud and frightful groans caused the people of the town to seal up the doors
of the building.[33] Another celebrated account of a haunted house from the ancient classical world is
given by Pliny the Younger (c. 50 AD).[34] Pliny describes the haunting of a house in Athens by a ghost
bound in chains. The hauntings ceased when the ghost's shackled skeleton was unearthed, and given a
proper reburial.[35] The writers Plautus and Lucian also wrote stories about haunted houses.

In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples that he is not a ghost following the
resurrection, Luke 24:37–39 (some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term
"spirit"). In a similar vein, Jesus' followers at first believe him to be a ghost (spirit) when they see him
walking on water.

One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts was Lucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD. In
his tale "The Doubter" (circa 150 AD) he relates how Democritus "the learned man from Abdera in
Thrace" lived in a tomb outside the city gates to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits
of the departed. Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despite practical jokes perpetrated by
"some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in black robes with skull masks to frighten him.[36] This
account by Lucian notes something about the popular classical expectation of how a ghost should look.

In the 5th century AD, the Christian priest Constantius of Lyon recorded an instance of the recurring
theme of the improperly buried dead who come back to haunt the living, and who can only cease their
haunting when their bones have been discovered and properly reburied.[37]

Middle Ages
Ghosts reported in medieval Europe tended to fall into two categories: the souls of the dead, or
demons. The souls of the dead returned for a specific purpose. Demonic ghosts were those which
existed only to torment or tempt the living. The living could tell them apart by demanding their purpose
in the name of Jesus Christ. The soul of a dead person would divulge their mission, while a demonic
ghost would be banished at the sound of the Holy Name.[38]

Most ghosts were souls assigned to Purgatory, condemned for a specific period to atone for their
transgressions in life. Their penance was generally related to their sin. For example, the ghost of a man
who had been abusive to his servants was condemned to tear off and swallow bits of his own tongue;
the ghost of another man, who had neglected to leave his cloak to the poor, was condemned to wear

the cloak, now "heavy as a church tower". These ghosts appeared to the living to ask for prayers to end
their suffering. Other dead souls returned to urge the living to confess their sins before their own
deaths.[39]

Medieval European ghosts were more substantial than ghosts described in the Victorian age, and there
are accounts of ghosts being wrestled with and physically restrained until a priest could arrive to hear its
confession. Some were less solid, and could move through walls. Often they were described as paler and
sadder versions of the person they had been while alive, and dressed in tattered gray rags. The vast
majority of reported sightings were male.[40]

There were some reported cases of ghostly armies, fighting battles at night in the forest, or in the
remains of an Iron Age hillfort, as at Wandlebury, near Cambridge, England. Living knights were
sometimes challenged to single combat by phantom knights, which vanished when defeated.[41]

From the medieval period an apparition of a ghost is recorded from 1211, at the time of the Albigensian
Crusade.[42] Gervase of Tilbury, Marshal of Arles, wrote that the image of Guilhem, a boy recently
murdered in the forest, appeared in his cousin's home in Beaucaire, near Avignon. This series of "visits"
lasted all of the summer. Through his cousin, who spoke for him, the boy allegedly held conversations
with anyone who wished, until the local priest requested to speak to the boy directly, leading to an
extended disquisition on theology. The boy narrated the trauma of death and the unhappiness of his
fellow souls in Purgatory, and reported that God was most pleased with the ongoing Crusade against the
Cathar heretics, launched three years earlier. The time of the Albigensian Crusade in southern France
was marked by intense and prolonged warfare, this constant bloodshed and dislocation of populations
being the context for these reported visits by the murdered boy.

Haunted houses are featured in the 9th-century Arabian Nights (such as the tale of Ali the Cairene and
the Haunted House in Baghdad).[43]

European Renaissance to Romanticism

"Hamlet and his father's ghost" by Henry Fuseli (1780s drawing). The ghost is wearing stylized plate
armor in 17th-century style, including a morion type helmet and tassets. Depicting ghosts as wearing
armor, to suggest a sense of antiquity, was common in Elizabethan theater.

Renaissance magic took a revived interest in the occult, including necromancy. In the era of the
Reformation and Counter Reformation, there was frequently a backlash against unwholesome interest
in the dark arts, typified by writers such as Thomas Erastus.[44] The Swiss Reformed pastor Ludwig
Lavater supplied one of the most frequently reprinted books of the period with his Of Ghosts and Spirits
Walking By Night.[45]

The Child ballad "Sweet William's Ghost" (1868) recounts the story of a ghost returning to his fiancée
begging her to free him from his promise to marry her. He cannot marry her because he is dead but her
refusal would mean his damnation. This reflects a popular British belief that the dead haunted their
lovers if they took up with a new love without some formal release.[46] "The Unquiet Grave" expresses
a belief even more widespread, found in various locations over Europe: ghosts can stem from the
excessive grief of the living, whose mourning interferes with the dead's peaceful rest.[47] In many
folktales from around the world, the hero arranges for the burial of a dead man. Soon after, he gains a
companion who aids him and, in the end, the hero's companion reveals that he is in fact the dead
man.[48] Instances of this include the Italian fairy tale "Fair Brow" and the Swedish "The Bird 'Grip'".

Modern period of western culture
Spiritualist movement

By 1853, when the popular song Spirit Rappings was published, Spiritualism was an object of intense
curiosity.
Main article: Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a monotheistic belief system or religion, postulating a belief in God, but with a
distinguishing feature of belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world can be contacted by
"mediums", who can then provide information about the afterlife.[49]

Spiritualism developed in the United States and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s
to the 1920s, especially in English-language countries.[50][51] By 1897, it was said to have more than
eight million followers in the United States and Europe,[52] mostly drawn from the middle and upper
classes, while the corresponding movement in continental Europe and Latin America is known as
Spiritism.

The religion flourished for a half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining
cohesion by periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of
accomplished mediums. Many prominent Spiritualists were women. Most followers supported causes
such as the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage.[50] By the late 1880s, credibility of the informal
movement weakened, due to accusations of fraud among mediums, and formal Spiritualist
organizations began to appear.[50] Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various
denominational Spiritualist Churches in the United States and United Kingdom.

Spiritism
Main article: Spiritism
Spiritism, or French spiritualism, is based on the five books of the Spiritist Codification written by French
educator Hypolite Léon Denizard Rivail under the pseudonym Allan Kardec reporting séances in which
he observed a series of phenomena that he attributed to incorporeal intelligence (spirits). His
assumption of spirit communication was validated by many contemporaries, among them many
scientists and philosophers who attended séances and studied the phenomena. His work was later
extended by writers like Leon Denis, Arthur Conan Doyle, Camille Flammarion, Ernesto Bozzano, Chico
Xavier, Divaldo Pereira Franco, Waldo Vieira, Johannes Greber[53] and others.

Spiritism has adherents in many countries throughout the world, including Spain, United States,
Canada,[54] Japan, Germany, France, England, Argentina, Portugal and especially Brazil, which has the
largest proportion and greatest number of followers.[55]

Scientific view
See also: Paranormal
The physician John Ferriar wrote An essay towards a theory of apparitions in 1813 in which he argued
that sightings of ghosts were the result of optical illusions. Later the French physician Alexandre Jacques
François Brière de Boismont published On Hallucinations: Or, the Rational History of Apparitions,
Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism in 1845 in which he claimed sightings of ghosts were
the result of hallucinations.[56][57]

David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested that ball lightning could cause inanimate objects to
move erratically.[58]

Joe Nickell of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry wrote that there was no credible scientific evidence
that any location was inhabited by spirits of the dead.[59] Limitations of human perception and ordinary
physical explanations can account for ghost sightings; for example, air pressure changes in a home
causing doors to slam, or lights from a passing car reflected through a window at night. Pareidolia, an
innate tendency to recognize patterns in random perceptions, is what some skeptics believe causes
people to believe that they have 'seen ghosts'.[60] Reports of ghosts "seen out of the corner of the eye"
may be accounted for by the sensitivity of human peripheral vision. According to Nickell, peripheral
vision can easily mislead, especially late at night when the brain is tired and more likely to misinterpret
sights and sounds.[61]

According to research in anomalistic psychology visions of ghosts may arise from hypnagogic
hallucinations ("waking dreams" which are experienced in the transitional states to and from sleep).[62]
In a study of two experiments into alleged hauntings (Wiseman et al. 2003) came to the conclusion "that
people consistently report unusual experiences in ‘haunted’ areas because of environmental factors,
which may differ across locations." Some of these factors included "the variance of local magnetic
Žfields, size of location and lighting level stimuli of which witnesses may not be consciously aware".[63]

Some researchers, such as Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, Canada, have speculated that
changes in geomagnetic fields (created, e.g., by tectonic stresses in the Earth's crust or solar activity)
could stimulate the brain's temporal lobes and produce many of the experiences associated with
hauntings.[64] Sound is thought to be another cause of supposed sightings. Richard Lord and Richard
Wiseman have concluded that infrasound can cause humans to experience bizarre feelings in a room,
such as anxiety, extreme sorrow, a feeling of being watched, or even the chills.[65] Carbon monoxide
poisoning, which can cause changes in perception of the visual and auditory systems,[66] was
speculated upon as a possible explanation for haunted houses as early as 1921.

By religion
Judæo-Christian
Further information: Allhallowtide
The Hebrew Torah and the Bible contain a few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with forbidden
occult activities.[67] The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel,[68] in which a disguised
King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit/ghost of Samuel. In the New Testament, Jesus has
to persuade the Disciples that He is not a ghost following the resurrection, Luke 24:37–39 (some
versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). Similarly, Jesus' followers at first
believe Him to be a ghost (spirit) when they see him walking on water.[69]

Most of the Christian Church[citation needed] considers ghosts as beings who while tied to earth, no
longer live on the material plane.[70] Some Christian denominations teach that ghosts are beings who
linger in an interim state before continuing their journey to heaven.[70][71][72][73] On occasion, God
would allow the souls in this state to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance.[74]
Jews and Christians are taught that it is sinful to attempt to conjure or control spirits in accordance with
Deuteronomy XVIII: 9–12.[75][76]

Some ghosts are actually said to be demons in disguise,[77] who the Church teaches, in accordance with
I Timothy 4:1, that they "come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage."[78]
As a result, attempts to contact the dead may lead to unwanted contact with a demon or an unclean
spirit, as was said to occur in the case of Robbie Mannheim, a fourteen-year-old Maryland youth.[79]
The Seventh-Day Adventist view is that a "soul" is not equivalent to "spirit" or "ghost" (depending on the
Bible version), and that save for the Holy Spirit, all spirits/ghosts are demons in disguise. Furthermore,
they teach that in accordance with (Genesis 2:7, Ecclesiastes 12:7), there are only two components to a
"soul", neither of which survives death - with each returning to its respective source.

Christadelphians reject the view of a living, conscious soul after death.[80]

The Talmud[81] tells of a being called a shade ‫ שד‬that is similar to other creatures in that it lives and
dies but consists only of a form but lacks matter that forms mass, thus rendering it invisible. Since it has
no physical mass it is capable of transporting itself from one end of the world to the other.

Islam

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According to Islamic teachings, there are no such thing as ghosts.[82] Muslims believe that 'Ghosts' are
in fact jinns. The Koran discusses spirits known as jinns.[83]

Buddhism

In Buddhism, there are a number of planes of existence into which a person can be reborn, one of which
is the realm of hungry ghosts.

By culture
African folklore
The Humr people of Sudan consume the drink Umm Nyolokh; which is created from the liver and
marrow of giraffes. Umm Nyolokh often contains DMT and other psychoactive substances from plants
the giraffes eat such as Acacia; and is known to cause hallucinations of giraffes, believed to be the
giraffes ghosts by the Humr.[84][85]

European folklore
Further information: Revenant (folklore), Necromancy and Samhain
Belief in ghosts in European folklore is characterized by the recurring fear of "returning" or revenant
deceased who may harm the living. This includes the Scandinavian gjenganger, the Romanian strigoi, the
Serbian vampir, the Greek vrykolakas, etc. In Scandinavian and Finnish tradition, ghosts appear in
corporeal form and their supernatural nature is given away by behavior rather than appearance. In fact,
in many stories they are first mistaken for the living. They may be mute, appear and disappear suddenly,
or leave no footprints or other traces.

British folklore is particularly notable for its numerous haunted locations.

Belief in the soul and an afterlife remained near universal until the emergence of atheism in the 18th
century.[citation needed] In the 19th century, spiritism resurrected "belief in ghosts" as the object of
systematic inquiry, and popular opinion in Western culture remains divided.[86]

South and Southeast Asia
India
Main article: Bhoot (ghost)
A bhoot or bhut (

,

, or ‫ )ب هوت‬is a supernatural creature, usually the ghost of a deceased person,

in the popular culture, literature and some ancient texts of the Indian subcontinent. Interpretations of

how bhoots come into existence vary by region and community, but they are usually considered to be
perturbed and restless due to some factor that prevents them from moving on (to transmigration, nonbeing, nirvana, or heaven or hell, depending on tradition). This could be a violent death, unsettled
matters in their lives, or simply the failure of their survivors to perform proper funerals.[87]

In Central and Northern India, Aojha spirit guides play a central role.[citation needed] It duly happens
when in the night someone sleeps and decorates something on the wall and they say that if one sees the
spirit the next thing in the morning he will become a spirit to and that to a skondho kata which means a
spirit without a head and the soul of the body will remain the dark with the dark lord from the spirits
who reside in the body of every human in Central and Northern India. It is also believed that if someone
calls one from behind never turn back and see because the spirit may catch the human to make it a
spirit. Other types of spirits in Hindu Mythology include Baital, an evil spirit who haunts cemeteries and
takes demonic possession of corpses, and Pishacha, a type of flesh-eating demon.

Austronesia
Main articles: Malay ghost myths, Ghosts in Filipino culture and Ghosts in Polynesian culture

Spirit of the Dead Watching by Paul Gauguin
There are many Malay ghost myths, remnants of old animist beliefs that have been shaped by later
Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim influences in the modern states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Some
ghost concepts such as the female vampires Pontianak and Penanggalan are shared throughout the
region. Ghosts are a popular theme in modern Malaysian and Indonesian films. There are also many
references to ghosts in Filipino culture, ranging from ancient legendary creatures such as the
Manananggal and Tiyanak to more modern urban legends and horror films. The beliefs, legends and
stories are as diverse as the people of the Philippines.

There was widespread belief in ghosts in Polynesian culture, some of which persists today. After death, a
person's ghost normally traveled to the sky world or the underworld, but some could stay on earth. In
many Polynesian legends, ghosts were often actively involved in the affairs of the living. Ghosts might
also cause sickness or even invade the body of ordinary people, to be driven out through strong
medicines.[88]

East and Central Asia

Further information: Preta
China
Main article: Ghosts in Chinese culture

An image of Zhong Kui, the vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings, painted sometime before 1304 A.D. by
Gong Kai
There are many references to ghosts in Chinese culture. Even Confucius said, "Respect ghosts and gods,
but keep away from them."[89]

The ghosts take many forms, depending on how the person died, and are often harmful. Many Chinese
ghost beliefs have been accepted by neighboring cultures, notably Japan and south-east Asia. Ghost
beliefs are closely associated with traditional Chinese religion based on ancestor worship, many of which
were incorporated in Taoism. Later beliefs were influenced by Buddhism, and in turn influenced and
created uniquely Chinese Buddhist beliefs.

Many Chinese today believe it possible to contact the spirits of their ancestors through a medium, and
that ancestors can help descendants if properly respected and rewarded. The annual ghost festival is
celebrated by Chinese around the world. On this day, ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased
ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Ghosts are described in classical Chinese texts as well as
modern literature and films.

A recent article in the China Post stated that nearly eighty-seven percent of Chinese office workers
believe in ghosts, and some fifty-two percent of workers will wear hand art, necklaces, crosses, or even
place a crystal ball on their desks to keep ghosts at bay, according to the poll.

Japan

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, The Ghosts, c. 1850
Main articles: Yūrei, Onryō and Japanese ghost story

Yūrei (幽霊?) are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name
consists of two kanji, 幽 (yū), meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 (rei), meaning "soul" or "spirit".
Alternative names include 亡霊 (Bōrei) meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 (Shiryō) meaning dead
spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 (Yōkai) or お化け (Obake).

Like their Chinese and Western counterparts, they are thought to be spirits kept from a peaceful
afterlife.

Thailand
Main article: Ghosts in Thai culture

Krasue, a Thai female ghost known as Ap in Khmer
Ghosts in Thailand are part of local folklore and have now become part of the popular culture of the
country. Phraya Anuman Rajadhon was the first Thai scholar who seriously studied Thai folk beliefs and
took notes on the nocturnal village spirits of Thailand. He established that, since such spirits were not
represented in paintings or drawings, they were purely based on descriptions of popular traditional
stories which were transmitted orally. Therefore most of the contemporary iconography of ghosts such
as Nang Tani, Nang Takian,[90] Krasue, Krahang,[91] Phi Hua Kat, Phi Pop, Phi Phong, Phi Phraya and
Mae Nak has its origins in Thai films that have now become classics.[92][93] The most feared spirit in
Thailand is Phi Tai Hong, the ghost of a person who has died suddenly of a violent death.[94] The
folklore of Thailand also includes the belief that sleep paralysis is caused by a ghost, Phi Am.

Tibet
Main article: Ghosts in Tibetan culture
There is widespread belief in ghosts in Tibetan culture. Ghosts are explicitly recognized in the Tibetan
Buddhist religion as they were in Indian Buddhism,[95] occupying a distinct but overlapping world to the
human one, and feature in many traditional legends. When a human dies, after a period of uncertainty
they may enter the ghost world. A hungry ghost (Tibetan: yidag, yi-dvags; Sanskrit: preta,

) has a tiny

throat and huge stomach, and so can never be satisfied. Ghosts may be killed with a ritual dagger or
caught in a spirit trap and burnt, thus releasing them to be reborn. Ghosts may also be exorcised, and an
annual festival is held throughout Tibet for this purpose. Some say that Dorje Shugden, the ghost of a
powerful 17th-century monk, is a deity, but the Dalai Lama asserts that he is an evil spirit, which has
caused a split in the Tibetan exile community.

Americas
Mexico

Catrinas, one of the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico
Main article: Ghosts in Mexican culture
There is extensive and varied belief in ghosts in Mexican culture. The modern state of Mexico before the
Spanish conquest was inhabited by diverse peoples such as the Maya and Aztec, and their beliefs have
survived and evolved, combined with the beliefs of the Spanish colonists. The Day of the Dead
incorporates pre-Columbian beliefs with Christian elements. Mexican literature and films include many
stories of ghosts interacting with the living.

United States
Further information: Ghosts of the American Civil War, Shadow people and Ghost Hunters
According to the Gallup Poll News Service, belief in haunted houses, ghosts, communication with the
dead, and witches had an especially steep increase over the 1990s.[96] A 2005 Gallup poll found that
about 32 percent of Americans believe in ghosts.[97]

Depiction in the arts
Main article: Ghost story
Ghosts are prominent in the popular cultures of various nations. The ghost story is ubiquitous across all
cultures from oral folktales to works of literature. While ghost stories are often explicitly meant to be
scary, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often
appear in the narrative as sentinels or prophets of things to come. Belief in ghosts is found in all cultures
around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form.[98]

Spirits of the dead appear in literature as early as Homer's Odyssey, which features a journey to the
underworld and the hero encountering the ghosts of the dead,[98] as well as the Old Testament in
which the Witch of Endor calls the spirit of the prophet Samuel.[98]

Renaissance to Romanticism (1500 to 1840)

19th-century etching by John Leech of the Ghost of Christmas Present as depicted in Charles Dickens' A
Christmas Carol
One of the more recognizable ghosts in English literature is the shade of Hamlet's murdered father in
Shakespeare’s The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In Hamlet, it is the ghost who
demands that Prince Hamlet investigate his "murder most foul" and seek revenge upon his usurping
uncle, King Claudius.

John Dee and Edward Kelley invoking the spirit of a deceased person (engraving from the Astrology by
Ebenezer Sibly, 1806)
In English Renaissance theater, ghosts were often depicted in the garb of the living and even in armor,
as with the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Armor, being out-of-date by the time of the Renaissance, gave the
stage ghost a sense of antiquity.[99] But the sheeted ghost began to gain ground on stage in the 19th
century because an armored ghost could not satisfactorily convey the requisite spookiness: it clanked
and creaked, and had to be moved about by complicated pulley systems or elevators. These clanking
ghosts being hoisted about the stage became objects of ridicule as they became clichéd stage elements.
Ann Jones and Peter Stallybrass, in Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory, point out, "In
fact, it is as laughter increasingly threatens the Ghost that he starts to be staged not in armor but in
some form of 'spirit drapery'."[citation needed]

Victorian/Edwardian (1840 to 1920)

The ghost of a pirate, from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates (1903)
The "classic" ghost story arose during the Victorian period, and included authors such as M. R. James,
Sheridan Le Fanu, Violet Hunt, and Henry James. Classic ghost stories were influenced by the gothic
fiction tradition, and contain elements of folklore and psychology. M. R. James summed up the essential
elements of a ghost story as, “Malevolence and terror, the glare of evil faces, ‘the stony grin of unearthly
malice', pursuing forms in darkness, and 'long-drawn, distant screams', are all in place, and so is a
modicum of blood, shed with deliberation and carefully husbanded...”.*100+ One of the key early
appearances by ghosts was The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole in 1764, considered to be the first
gothic novel.[101][98]

Famous literary apparitions from this period are the ghosts of A Christmas Carol, in which Ebenezer
Scrooge is helped to see the error of his ways by the ghost of his former colleague Jacob Marley, and the
ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come.

Modern Era (1920 to 1970)

Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, a claimed ghost photograph by Captain Hubert C. Provand. First published
in Country Life magazine, 1936
Professional parapsychologists and “ghosts hunters”, such as Harry Price, active in the 1920s and 1930s,
and Peter Underwood, active in the 1940s and 1950s, published accounts of their experiences with
ostensibly true ghost stories such as Price's The Most Haunted House in England, and Underwood's
Ghosts of Borley (both recounting experiences at Borley Rectory). The writer Frank Edwards delved into
ghost stories in his books of his, like "Stranger than Science."

Children’s benevolent ghost stories became popular, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, created in the
1930s and appearing in comics, animated cartoons, and eventually a 1995 feature film.

With the advent of motion pictures and television, screen depictions of ghosts became common, and
spanned a variety of genres; the works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Wilde have all been made into
cinematic versions. Novel-length tales have been difficult to adapt to cinema, although that of The
Haunting of Hill House to The Haunting in 1963 is an exception.[101]

Sentimental depictions during this period were more popular in cinema than horror, and include the
1947 film The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which was later adapted to television with a successful 1968–70 TV
series.[101] Genuine psychological horror films from this period include 1944's The Uninvited, and
1945's Dead of Night.

Post-modern (1970–present)
See also: List of ghost films

The 1970s saw screen depictions of ghosts diverge into distinct genres of the romantic and horror. A
common theme in the romantic genre from this period is the ghost as a benign guide or messenger,
often with unfinished business, such as 1989's Field of Dreams, the 1990 film Ghost, and the 1993
comedy Heart and Souls.[102] In the horror genre, 1980's The Fog, and the A Nightmare on Elm Street
series of films from the 1980s and 1990s are notable examples of the trend for the merging of ghost
stories with scenes of physical violence.[101]

Popularised in such films as the 1984 comedy Ghostbusters, ghost hunting became a hobby for many
who formed ghost hunting societies to explore reportedly haunted places. The ghost hunting theme has
been featured in reality television series, such as Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters
International, Ghost Lab, Most Haunted and A Haunting. It is also represented in children's television by
such programs as The Ghost Hunter and Ghost Trackers. Ghost hunting also gave rise to multiple
guidebooks to haunted locations, and ghost hunting "how-to" manuals.

The 1990s saw a return to classic "gothic" ghosts, whose dangers were more psychological than physical.
Examples of films from this period include 1999's The Sixth Sense and The Others.

Asian cinema has also produced horror films about ghosts, such as the 1998 Japanese film Ringu
(remade in the US as The Ring in 2002), and the Pang brothers' 2002 film The Eye.[103] Indian ghost
movies are popular not just in India, but in the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and other parts of the
world. Some Indian ghost movies such as the comedy / horror film Chandramukhi have been
commercial successes, dubbed into several languages.[104]

In fictional television programming, ghosts have been explored in series such as Supernatural, Ghost
Whisperer and Medium. In animated fictional television programming, ghosts have served as the central
element in series such as Casper, Danny Phantom, and Scooby-Doo. Various other television shows have
depicted ghosts as well.

Metaphorical usages
Nietzsche argued that people generally wear prudent masks in company; but that an alternative strategy
for social interaction is to present oneself as an absence, as a social ghost - “One reaches out for us but
gets no hold of us”*105+ - something later echoed (if with a less positive spin) by C. G. Jung.[106]

Nick Harkaway considered that we all carry a host of ghosts in our heads, in the form of impressions of
past acquaintances – ghosts that represent our maps of other people in the world: our reference
points.[107]

Object relations theory sees our personalities as formed by splitting off aspects of ourselves we find
incompatible; whereupon we may be haunted in later life by such ghosts of our alternate selves.[108]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ghosts.
Unclean spirit
Demonic possession
Afterlife
Ghost hunting
Haunted house
Fear of ghosts
Spectrophilia
List of ghost films
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
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^ Jump up to: a b c d Darrell Schweitzer 2005, p. 338-340.
Jump up ^ Ann Jones & Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory, Cambridge
University Press, 2000.

Jump up ^ James, M. R. "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories", The Bookman, December 1929.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Newman, Kim (ed.) BFI Companion to Horror, Cassell: London, 1996, ISBN
030433216X, p. 135.
Jump up ^ Chanko, Kenneth M. (August 8, 1993). "FILM; When It Comes to the Hereafter, Romance and
Sentiment Rule". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
Jump up ^ Rafferty, Terence (June 8, 2003). "Why Asian Ghost Stories Are the Best". The New York
Times. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
Jump up ^ Mohamed, Shoaib (September 24, 2007). "The Bus Conductor Turned Superstar Who Took
the Right Bus to Demi". Behindwoods. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
Jump up ^ Quoted in Gary Gutting ed., The Cambridge Companion to Foucault (2003) p. 235
Jump up ^ C. G. Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (London 1953) p. 197
Jump up ^ Nick Harkaway, The Gone-Away World (2008) p. 380
Jump up ^ Michael Parsons, The Dove that Returns, the Dove that Vanishes (2000) p. 83-4
Bibliography
Finucane, R. C., Appearances of the Dead: A Cultural History of Ghosts, Prometheus Books, 1984, ISBN
0879752386.
Hervey, Sheila, Some Canadian Ghosts, in series, Original Canadian Pocket Book[s], Richmond Hill, Ont.:
Pocket Books, 1973, SBN 671-78629-6
Hole, Christina, Haunted England, Batsford: London, 1950.
Further reading
Fairly, John & Welfare, Simon, Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers, Putnam: New York, 1985.
Felton, D., Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories From Classical Antiquity, University of Texas Press,
1999.
Johnston, Sarah Iles, Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece,
University of California Press, 1999.
MacKenzie, Andrew, Apparitions and Ghosts, Arthur Barker, 1971.
Moreman, Christopher, Beyond the Threshold: Afterlife Beliefs and Experiences in World Religions,
Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
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