In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased 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 appease 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.
Read more about Ghost: Terminology, Depiction in The Arts
Other articles related to "ghost, ghosts":
... He told the astonished patrons that he had seen the ghost of Fred Fisher sitting on the rail of a nearby bridge ... Farley related that the ghost had not spoken, but had merely pointed to a paddock beyond the creek, before disappearing ... aroused sufficient suspicion that a police search of the paddock to which the ghost had pointed was undertaken - during which the remains of the murdered ...
... The 1970s saw screen depictions of ghosts diverge into distinct genres of the romantic and horror ... 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 ... 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 ...
... The PCC is rumoured to have a ghost that haunts the upper levels of the cinema ... Several sightings have been made by staff, and it has even reportedly tidied up mess and adjusted the volume on films ...
... The legend of Fisher's ghost is a popular Australian story dating to the early 19th century ... by the legend, the Festival of Fisher's Ghost has been celebrated in Campbelltown since 1956 ... A 1924 Australian silent film titled Fisher's Ghost retells the events of the legend ...
... The Ghost of Christmas Past was the first of the three spirits (after the visitation by Jacob Marley) that haunted the miser, Ebenezer Scrooge in order to prompt him to repent ... According to Dickens' novel, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears to Scrooge as a white-robed, androgynous figure of indeterminate age ... While the ghost is often portrayed as a woman in most dramatic adaptations, Dickens describes the Ghost of Christmas Past only as “it”, and gives a ...
Famous quotes containing the word ghost:
“A fig for
The seal of fire,
Death hairy-heeled, and the tapped ghost in wood,
We make me mystic as the arm of air,
The two-a-vein, the foreskin, and the cloud.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the most eminent degree; “That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how the heaven goes.””
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
“Silence and passion, joy and peace,
An everlasting wash of air—
Rome’s ghost since her
decease.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)