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Why do people believe in ghosts? Are ghosts real? A professor of folklore and anthropology explains our human fascination with ghost stories and haunted houses.
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms.
While some people are convinced that ghosts, spirits, poltergeists or other otherworldly apparitions are real, there are, of course, skeptics. “In my line of work, I get that all the time ...
Today, ghostlore remains a popular subject in literature, film, and other forms of media. While scientific explanations for ghosts and hauntings have become more widespread, many people still believe in the existence of ghosts and continue to share ghost stories and legends. [11]
The Giriama people of coastal Kenya believe in spirit possession. [64] Mayote. In Mayotte, approximately 25% of the adult population, and five times as many women as men, enter trance states in which they are supposedly possessed by certain identifiable spirits who maintain stable and coherent identities from one possession to the next. [65 ...
"No one can get into a novel about a haunted house without hitting the subject of reality head-on; either I have to believe in ghosts, which I do, or I have to write another kind of novel ...
Ghosts with small means (少財鬼; shǎo cái guǐ): Needle-hair ghosts (針毛鬼; zhēnmáo guǐ) have hair like iron needles, distressing to themselves and others. Smelly-hair ghosts (臭毛鬼; chòumáo guǐ) have spike-like hair that emits an awful odor. Tumour ghosts (癭鬼; yǐng guǐ) have large goiters on whose pus they must feed.
Depicting ghosts as wearing armour, to suggest a sense of antiquity, was common in Elizabethan theater. Ghosts in medieval England were more substantial than ghosts described in the Victorian era, and there are accounts of a ghost being wrestled with and physically restrained until a priest could arrive to hear its confession. Some were less ...