An engraving of theHammersmith Ghost appears in Roger Kirby'sWonderful and Scientific Museum, a magazine published in 1804. The "ghost" turned out to be an old local cobbler who used a white sheet to get back at his apprentice for scaring his children.[1]
Infolklore, aghost is thesoul orspirit of a deadperson or non-humananimal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. Inghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms, whether they resemble humans or animals. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known asnecromancy, or inspiritism as aséance. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, haint, phantom,poltergeist,shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith,demon, andghoul.
The belief in the existence of anafterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back toanimism orancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites,exorcisms, and some practices ofspiritualism andritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and the ghosts of animals other than humans have also been recounted.[2][3] They are believed to haunt particularlocations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. According to a 2009 study by thePew Research Center, 18% of Americans say they have seen a ghost.[4]
The English wordghost comes fromOld Englishgāst ("breath, spirit, soul, ghost"), which can be traced back toProto-Germanic*gaistaz ("spirit, ghost"). It iscognate (linguistic sibling from a common origin) withOld Frisiangāst ("spirit, ghost, demon"),Old Saxongēst ("soul, vitality, spirit, demon"),Old Dutchgēst ("spirit"), andOld High Germangeist ("spirit"). Although recorded descendants do not appear inNorth andEast Germanic sources (where Gothic usesahma and Old Norse usesandi m. orönd f.), linguists reconstruct*gaistaz as stemming frompre-Germanic *ghois-t-oz ("fury, anger"). This reconstruction is supported by its connection toSanskrithīḍ- ("to be angry") andhéḍa ("anger"), and toAvestanzōižda- ("terrible"; inzōiždišta "most terrible").[15][16][17]
The commonProto-Indo-European form is posited as *ǵʰoys-d-os, adental suffix derivative of the rootǵʰéys-. This root also appears Proto-Germanic*gaistjan ("to terrify"; compare Old Englishgǽstan and Gothicusgaisjan), in Old Norse *geiski ("fear"; implied ingeiskafullr, "full of fear"), and in Avestanzōiš- (inzōišnu, "shivering, trembling").[16][17]
Besides denoting a "person's spirit or soul" (as "the life force" or "breath of life" that gives life to the body, in contrast to its purely material being), the Old English word is also used as a synonym of Latinspīritus in the meaning of "the breath of God or a god" from the earliest attestations (9th century). It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons (theAnglo-Saxon gospel refers to thedemonic possession of Matthew 12:43 asse unclæna gast). Also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, the "Holy Ghost" (halgan gaste), after post-classical Latinspiritus sanctus .[17]
Usage and synonyms
The now-prevailing sense of "the soul of a deceased person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form" only emerges inMiddle 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, or fuzzy or unsubstantial image; in optics,photography, and cinematography especially, a flare, secondary image, or spurious signal.[17]
The synonymspook is aDutch loanword, akin toLow Germanspôk (of uncertain etymology); it entered the English language viaAmerican English in the 19th century.[18][19][20][21] Alternative words in modern usage includespectre (altn.specter; from Latinspectrum), the Scottishwraith (of obscure origin),phantom (via French ultimately from Greekphantasma, comparefantasy) andapparition. The termshade inclassical mythology translates Greek σκιά,[22] or Latinumbra,[23] in reference to the notion of spirits in theGreek underworld. The termpoltergeist is a German word, literally a "noisy ghost", for a spirit said to manifest itself by invisibly moving and influencing objects.[24]
Wraith is aScots word forghost,spectre, orapparition. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the more general or figurative sense ofportent oromen. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it also applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology; theOED notes "of obscure origin" only.[25] An association with the verbwrithe was the etymology favored byJ. R. R. Tolkien.[26] Tolkien's use of the word in the naming of the creatures known as theRingwraiths has influenced later usage in fantasy literature.Bogey[27] orbogy/bogie is a term for a ghost, and appears in Scottish poetJohn Mayne'sHallowe'en in 1780.[28][29]
Arevenant 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 afetch, the visible ghost or spirit of a person yet alive.
Typology
Relief from a carved funerarylekythos at Athens showingHermes aspsychopomp conducting the soul of the deceased,Myrrhine into Hades (c. 430–420 BC)
In many cultures, malignant,restless ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits involved in ancestor worship.[32]
Ancestor worship typically involves rites intended to preventrevenants,vengeful spirits of the dead, imagined as starving and envious of the living. Strategies for preventing revenants may either includesacrifice; that is, 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 ChineseGhost Festival or the WesternAll Souls' Day. Magical banishment of the dead is present in many of the world'sburial customs. The bodies found in manytumuli (kurgan) had been ritually bound before burial,[33] and the custom of binding the dead persists, for example, in ruralAnatolia.[34]
Nineteenth-century anthropologistJames Frazer stated in his classic workThe Golden Bough thatsouls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[35]
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 EgyptianBook of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.
While deceased ancestors areuniversally regarded as venerable, and often believed to have a continued presence in some form ofafterlife, the spirit of a deceased person that persists in the material world (a ghost) is regarded as an unnatural or undesirable state of affairs and the idea of ghosts orrevenants 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 modernghost story,Gothic horror, and otherhorror 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.[31] This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as theLatinspiritus and theGreekpneuma, which byanalogy became extended to mean the soul. In theBible,God is depicted as synthesisingAdam, 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.[36] The impetus of haunting is commonly considered an unnatural death.[37]
Union Cemetery inEaston, Connecticut, is home to the legend of the White Lady.
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 a child or husband and a sense of purity, as opposed to theLady in Red ghost that is mostly attributed to a jilted lover or prostitute. The White Lady ghost is often associated with an individual family line or regarded as a harbinger of death similar to abanshee.[38][39][needs context]
A place where ghosts are reported is described ashaunted, and often seen as being inhabited byspirits 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. However, 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.
There are many references toghosts in Mesopotamian religions – the religions ofSumer,Babylon,Assyria, and other early states inMesopotamia. Traces of these beliefs survive in the laterAbrahamic religions that came to dominate the region.[41] The concept of ghosts may predate manybelief systems.[42] 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.[43]
Egyptian Akh glyph – Thesoul and spirit re-united after death
Thesoul and spirit were believed to exist 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 inhieroglyph inscriptions, papyrus scrolls and tomb paintings. The EgyptianBook of the Dead compiles some of the beliefs from different periods of ancient Egyptian history.[44]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.[45]
Ghosts appeared inHomer'sOdyssey andIliad, 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.[46]
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 else 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."[47]
The 5th-century BC playOresteia includes an appearance of the ghost ofClytemnestra, one of the first ghosts to appear in a work of fiction.[48]
Theancient 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.[49]
Plutarch, in the 1st century AD, described the haunting of the baths atChaeronea 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.[50] Another celebrated account of a haunted house from the ancient classical world is given byPliny the Younger (c. 50 AD).[51] Pliny describes the haunting of a house inAthens, which was bought by theStoic philosopherAthenodorus, who lived about 100 years before Pliny. Knowing that the house was supposedly haunted, Athenodorus intentionally set up his writing desk in the room where the apparition was said to appear and sat there writing until late at night when he was disturbed by a ghost bound in chains. He followed the ghost outside where it indicated a spot on the ground. When Athenodorus later excavated the area, a shackled skeleton was unearthed. The haunting ceased when the skeleton was given a proper reburial.[52] The writersPlautus andLucian also wrote stories about haunted houses.
In theNew Testament, according toLuke 24:37–39,[53] following hisresurrection,Jesus was forced to persuade theDisciples that he was not a ghost (some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). Similarly, Jesus' followers at first believed he was a ghost (spirit) when they saw himwalking on water.
One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts wasLucian of Samosata in the 2nd century AD. In his satirical novelThe Lover of Lies (c. 150 AD), he relates howDemocritus "the learned man fromAbdera inThrace" lived in a tomb outside thecity gates to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits of the departed. Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despitepractical jokes perpetrated by "some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in black robes with skull masks to frighten him.[54] This account by Lucian notes something about the popular classical expectation of how a ghost should look.
In the 5th century AD, the Christian priestConstantius 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.[55]
Middle Ages
Ghosts reported inmedieval 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 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 its mission, while a demonic ghost would be banished at the sound of the Holy Name.[56]
Most ghosts were souls assigned toPurgatory, 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.[57]
Medieval European ghosts were more substantial than ghosts described in theVictorian 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.[58]
There were some reported cases of ghostly armies, fighting battles at night in the forest, or in the remains of anIron Age hillfort, as atWandlebury, near Cambridge, England. Living knights were sometimes challenged to single combat by phantom knights, which vanished when defeated.[59]
From the medieval period an apparition of a ghost is recorded from 1211, at the time of theAlbigensian Crusade.[60]Gervase of Tilbury, Marshal ofArles, wrote that the image of Guilhem, a boy recently murdered in the forest, appeared in his cousin's home inBeaucaire, nearAvignon. 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 theCathar 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.
"Hamlet and his father's ghost" byHenry Fuseli (1796 drawing). The ghost is wearing stylizedplate armor in 17th-century style, including amorion type helmet andtassets. Depicting ghosts as wearing armor, to suggest a sense of antiquity, was common inElizabethan theater.
Renaissance magic took a revived interest in theoccult, includingnecromancy. 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 asThomas Erastus.[62] The Swiss Reformed pastorLudwig Lavater supplied one of the most frequently reprinted books of the period with hisOf Ghosts and Spirits Walking By Night.[63]
TheChild 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.[64] "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.[65] 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 thedead man.[66] Instances of this include the Italianfairy tale "Fair Brow" and the Swedish "The Bird 'Grip'".
Modern period of western culture
Spiritualist movement
By 1853, when the popular songSpirit Rappings was published, Spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity.
Spiritualism is amonotheistic belief system orreligion, postulating a belief inGod, but with a distinguishing feature of belief that spirits of the dead residing in thespirit world can be contacted by "mediums", who can then provide information about theafterlife.[67]
Spiritualism developed in the United States and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially inEnglish-language countries.[68][69] By 1897, it was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe,[70] mostly drawn from themiddle andupper classes, while the corresponding movement in continental Europe and Latin America is known asSpiritism.
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.[71] Many prominent Spiritualists were women. Most followers supported causes such as theabolition of slavery andwomen's suffrage.[68] By the late 1880s, credibility of the informal movement weakened, due to accusations of fraud among mediums, and formal Spiritualist organizations began to appear.[68] Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominationalSpiritualist churches in the United States and United Kingdom.
Spiritism, or French spiritualism, is based on the five books of theSpiritist Codification written by French educator Hypolite Léon Denizard Rivail under thepseudonymAllan Kardec reportingséances 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 likeLeon Denis,Arthur Conan Doyle,Camille Flammarion,Ernesto Bozzano,Chico Xavier, Divaldo Pereira Franco, Waldo Vieira,Johannes Greber,[72] and others.
Spiritism has adherents in many countries throughout the world, including Spain, United States, Canada,[73] Japan, Germany, France, England, Argentina, Portugal, and especially Brazil, which has the largest proportion and greatest number of followers.[74]
The physicianJohn Ferriar wrote "An Essay Towards a Theory of Apparitions" in 1813 in which he argued that sightings of ghosts were the result ofoptical illusions. Later the French physicianAlexandre Jacques François Brière de Boismont publishedOn Hallucinations: Or, the Rational History of Apparitions, Dreams, Ecstasy, Magnetism, and Somnambulism in 1845 in which he claimed sightings of ghosts were the result ofhallucinations.[75][76]
David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested thatball lightning could cause inanimate objects to move erratically.[77]
Joe Nickell of theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry wrote that there was no crediblescientific evidence that any location was inhabited by spirits of the dead.[78] Limitations ofhuman perception and ordinary physical explanations can account for ghost sightings; for example,air pressure changes in a home causing doors to slam, humidity changes causing boards to creak,condensation in electrical connections causing intermittent behavior, 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'.[79] Reports of ghosts "seen out of the corner of the eye" may be accounted for by the sensitivity of humanperipheral 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.[80] Nickell further states, "science cannot substantiate the existence of a 'life energy' that could survive death without dissipating or function at all without a brain... why would... clothes survive?'" He asks, if ghosts glide, then why do people claim to hear them with "heavy footfalls"? Nickell says that ghosts act the same way as "dreams, memories, and imaginings, because they too are mental creations. They are evidence – not of another world, but of this real and natural one."[81]
Benjamin Radford from theCommittee for Skeptical Inquiry and author of the 2017 bookInvestigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits writes that "ghost hunting is the world's most popular paranormal pursuit" yet, to date, ghost hunters cannot agree on what a ghost is, or offer proof that they exist; "it's all speculation and guesswork". He writes that it would be "useful and important to distinguish between types of spirits and apparitions. Until then it's merely a parlor game distracting amateur ghost hunters from the task at hand."[82]
According to research inanomalistic psychology visions of ghosts may arise fromhypnagogic hallucinations ("waking dreams" experienced in the transitional states to and from sleep).[83] In a study of two experiments into allegedhauntings (Wisemanet 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 fields, size of location and lighting level stimuli of which witnesses may not be consciously aware".[84]
Some researchers, such asMichael Persinger ofLaurentian University, Canada, have speculated that changes ingeomagnetic fields (created, e.g., by tectonic stresses in the Earth's crust orsolar activity) could stimulate the brain'stemporal lobes and produce many of the experiences associated with hauntings.[85] Sound is thought to be another cause of supposed sightings. Richard Lord andRichard Wiseman have concluded thatinfrasound can cause humans to experience bizarre feelings in a room, such as anxiety, extreme sorrow, a feeling of being watched, or even the chills.[86]Carbon monoxide poisoning, which can cause changes in perception of the visual and auditory systems,[87] was speculated upon as a possible explanation forhaunted houses as early as 1921.
People who experiencesleep paralysis often report seeing ghosts during their experiences. Neuroscientists Baland Jalal andV.S. Ramachandran have recently proposed neurological theories for why people hallucinate ghosts during sleep paralysis. Their theories emphasize the role of theparietal lobe andmirror neurons in triggering such ghostly hallucinations.[88]
TheHebrew Bible contains several references toowb (Hebrew:אוֹב), which are in a few places akin toshades of classical mythology but mostly describingmediums in connection withnecromancy and spirit-consulting, which are grouped with witchcraft and other forms ofdivination under the category of forbiddenoccult activities.[89] The most notable reference to a shade is in theFirst Book of Samuel,[90] in which a disguisedKing Saul has theWitch of Endor conduct a seance to summon the dead prophetSamuel. A similar term appearing throughout the scriptures isrepha'(im)Archived 2019-03-06 at theWayback Machine (Hebrew:רְפָאִים), which while describing the race of "giants" formerly inhabiting Canaan in many verses, also refer to (the spirits of) dead ancestors ofSheol (like shades) in many others such as in theBook of Isaiah.[91]
Jewish mythology and folkloric traditions describedybbuks, malicious possessing spirits believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. However, the term does not appear in theKabbalah orTalmudic literature, where it is rather called an "unclean spirit" orru'aḥ tumah (Hebrew:רוּחַ טוּמְאָה). It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after beinghelped.[92][93][94]
In theNew Testament,Jesus has to persuade theDisciples that he is not a ghost following theresurrection,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 he is a ghost (spirit) when they see himwalking on water.[95]
Some Christians, especially those drawing onProtestantism or particularlyRestorationism, wholly reject the intermediate state, and therefore hold a theological disbelief in ghosts. Some ghosts are actually said to bedemons in disguise, who the Church teaches, in accordance withI Timothy 4:1, that they "come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage."[103] As a result,attempts to contact the dead may lead tounwanted contact with a demon or anunclean spirit, as was said to occur in the case ofRobbie Mannheim, a fourteen-year-old Maryland youth.[104] TheSeventh-Day Adventist view is that a "soul" is not equivalent to "spirit" or "ghost" (depending on the Bible version), and that save for theHoly Spirit, all spirits or 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.
Muhammad ibn Muhammad Shakir Ruzmah-'i Nathani – A Soul Symbolized as an Angel
Rūḥ (Arabic:روح; pluralarwah) is a person's immortal, essential self —pneuma, i.e. the "spirit" or "soul".[106] The term is also used for ghosts.[107] The souls of the deceased dwell inbarzakh. Only a barrier inQuran, in Islamic tradition this refers to an entire intermediary world between the living and the afterlife. The world, especially cemeteries, are perforated with several gateways to the otherworld or barzakh.[108] In rare occasions, the dead can appear to the living.[109]
Pure souls, such as the souls ofsaints, are commonly addressed asrūḥ, while impure souls seeking for revenge, are often addressed asafarit.[110] An inappropriateburial can also cause a soul to stay in this world, whereupon roaming the earth as a ghost.[111] Other souls are cursed by God to roam the earth restlessly .[112] Since the just souls remain close to their tomb, some people try to communicate with them in order to gain hidden knowledge. Contact with the dead is not the same as contact withjinn, who alike could provide knowledge concealed from living humans.[113] Many encounters with ghosts are related to dreams supposed to occur in therealm of symbols.
Belief in spirits have not ceased to exist in Muslim belief. Smile of new-born babies is sometimes used as a proof for sighting spirits, like ghosts. However, the connection to theother world fades during life on earth but is resumed after death. Once again, smiling of dying people is considered as evidence for recognizing the spirit of their beloved ones. Yet, Muslims who affirm the existence of ghosts, are carefully when interacting with spirits, as the ghosts of humans can be as bad as the jinn. Worst of all, however, are the devils.
Muslim authors, likeGhazali,Ibn Qayyim andSuyuti wrote in more details about the life of ghosts. Ibn Qayyim and Suyuti assert, when a soul desires to turn back to earth long enough, it is gradually released from restrictions of Barzakh and able to move freely. Each spirit experiences afterlife in accordance with their deeds and condictions in the earthly life. Evil souls will find the afterlife as painful and punishment, imprisoned until God allows them to interact with other others. Good souls are not restricted. They are free to come visit other souls and even come down to lower regions. The higher planes (ʿilliyyīn) are considered to be broader than the lower ones, the lowest being the most narrow (sijjīn). The spiritual space is not thought as spatial, but reflects the capacity of the spirit. The more pure the spirit gets, the more it is able to interact with other souls and thus reaches a broader degree of freedom.[114]
The ghosts of saints are thought to transmit blessings from God through the heavenly realm to whose who visit their graves. Therefore,visiting the graves of saints and prophets became a major ritual in Muslim spirituality.[117]
Abhoota is the ghost of a deceased being inIndian religions.[118] Interpretations of how bhootas come into existence vary by region and community, but they are usually considered to be perturbed andrestless due to some factor that prevents them from moving on (totransmigration, non-being,nirvana, orswarga ornaraka, 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.[119] Belief in ghosts has been deeply ingrained in the minds of the people ofthe subcontinent for generations. There are many allegedly haunted places inthe subcontinent, such as cremation grounds, dilapidated buildings, royal mansions,havelis, forts, forestbungalows, burningghats, etc. Ghosts also occupy a significant place in theBengali culture. Ghosts and various supernatural entities form an integral part of the socio-cultural beliefs of both the Muslim and Hindu communities ofBangladesh and the Indian state ofWest Bengal.
The Bhutas (singular 'Bhuta'), spirits ofdeified heroes, of fierce and evil beings, ofHindu deities and of animals, etc., are wrongly referred to as "ghosts" or "demons" and, in fact, are protective and benevolent beings. Though it is true that they can cause harm in their violent forms, as they are extremely powerful, they can be pacified through worship or offerings referred to as Bhuta Aradhana.[120]
TheChurel, also spelled asCharail,Churreyl,Chudail,Chudel,Chuṛail,Cuḍail orCuḍel (Hindi:चुड़ैल,Urdu:چڑیل), is amythical spirit of a woman who died during pregnancy or childbirth, which may be ademoniacalrevenant said to occur inSouth Asia andSoutheast Asia, particularly popular inIndia,Bangladesh,Nepal andPakistan. The churel is typically described as "theghost of an unpurified living thing", but because she is often said to latch on to trees, she is also called a tree-spirit.[121] According to some legends, a woman who dies during childbirth or pregnancy or from suffering at the hands of her in-laws will come back as arevenant churel for revenge, particularly targeting the males in her family.
The churel is mostly described as extremely ugly and hideous but is able toshape-shift and disguise herself as a beautiful woman to lure men into the woods or mountains where she either kills them or sucks up theirlife-force orvirility, turning them into old men. Their feet are believed to be turned the other way around, so the toes face the direction of their back. The churel is called asPichal Peri inPunjab andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There are manyfolk remedies andfolkloricsayings that elaborate on how to get rid ofrevenant, bhoot and churels, and a number measures that supposedly prevent churels from coming to life. The family of a woman who dies a traumatic, tragic, or unnatural death might perform special rituals fearing that the victimised woman might return as a churel. The corpses of suspected churels are also buried in a particular method and posture so as to prevent her from returning.
Buddhism
In Buddhism, there are a number ofplanes of existence into which a person can bereborn, one of which is the realm ofhungry ghosts.[122] Buddhist celebrate theGhost Festival[123] as an expression of compassion, one ofBuddhist virtues. If the hungry ghosts are fed by non-relatives, they would not bother the community.
By culture
African folklore
For theIgbo people, a man is simultaneously a physical and spiritual entity. However, it is his spirited dimension that iseternal.[124] In theAkan conception, we witness five parts of the human personality. We have the Nipadua (body), the Okra (soul), Sunsum (spirit), Ntoro (character from father), Mogya (character from mother).[124] TheHumr people of southwesternKordofan,Sudan consume the drink Umm Nyolokh, which is prepared from theliver andbone marrow ofgiraffes.Richard Rudgley[125] hypothesises that Umm Nyolokh may containDMT and certain online websites further theorise that giraffe liver might owe its putative psychoactivity to substances derived frompsychoactive plants, such asAcacia spp. consumed by the animal. The drink is said to cause hallucinations of giraffes, believed by the Humr to be the ghosts of giraffes.[126][127]
Belief in ghosts inEuropean folklore is characterized by the recurring fear of "returning" orrevenant deceased who may harm the living. This includes the Scandinaviangjenganger, the Romanianstrigoi, the Serbianvampir, the Greekvrykolakas, 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 numeroushaunted locations.
Abhoot orbhut (Hindi:भूत,Gujarati:ભૂત,Urdu:بهوت,Bengali:ভূত,Odia:ଭୂତ) is a supernatural creature, usually the ghost of a deceased person, in the popular culture, literature and some ancient texts of theIndian subcontinent.
North India
Interpretations of howbhoots 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 (totransmigration, non-being,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.[119]
In Central and Northern India,ojha orspirit guides play a central role.[128] 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 too, and that to a headless spirit 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 includeBaital, an evil spirit who haunts cemeteries and takesdemonic possession of corpses, andPishacha, a type of flesh-eating demon.
There are many kinds of ghosts and similar supernatural entities that frequently come up inBengali culture, its folklores and form an important part in Bengali peoples' socio-cultural beliefs and superstitions. It is believed that the spirits of those who cannot find peace in the afterlife or die unnatural deaths remain on Earth. The wordPret (from Sanskrit) is also used in Bengali to mean ghost. In Bengal, ghosts are believed to be the spirit after death of an unsatisfied human being or a soul of a person who dies in unnatural or abnormal circumstances (like murder, suicide or accident). Even it is believed that other animals and creatures can also be turned into ghost after their death.
Ghosts inThailand are part of localfolklore 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 thenocturnal 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 orally transmittedtraditional stories. Therefore, most of the contemporaryiconography of ghosts such asNang Tani,Nang Takian,[129]Krasue,Krahang,[130]Phi Hua Kat,Phi Pop,Phi Phong,Phi Phraya, andMae Nak has its origins in Thai films that have now becomeclassics.[131][132]The most feared spirit in Thailand isPhi Tai Hong, the ghost of a person who has died suddenly of a violent death.[133] The folklore of Thailand also includes the belief thatsleep paralysis is caused by a ghost,Phi Am.
There is widespread belief in ghosts in Tibetan culture. Ghosts are explicitly recognized in theTibetan Buddhist religion as they were inIndian Buddhism,[134] 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. Ahungry ghost (Tibetan:yidag,yi-dvags;Sanskrit:प्रेत,romanized: 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 thatDorje Shugden, the ghost of a powerful 17th-century monk, is a deity, but theDalai Lama asserts that he is an evil spirit, which has caused a split in the Tibetan exile community.
There are manyMalay ghost myths, remnants of old animist beliefs that have been shaped by later Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim influences in the modern states ofIndonesia,Malaysia, andBrunei. Some ghost concepts such as the female vampiresPontianak andPenanggalan are shared throughout the region.Ghosts are a popular theme in modern Malaysian and Indonesian films.There are also many references toghosts in Filipino culture, ranging from ancient legendary creatures such as theManananggal andTiyanak to more modern urban legends and horror films. The beliefs, legends and stories are as diverse as the people of thePhilippines.
There was widespread belief inghosts 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 manyPolynesian 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.[135]
An image ofZhong Kui, the vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings, painted sometime before 1304 AD byGong Kai
There are many references to ghosts in Chinese culture. Even Confucius said, "Respect ghosts and gods, but keep away from them."[136]
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 southeast Asia. Ghost beliefs are closely associated with traditional Chinese religion based on ancestor worship, many of which were incorporated inTaoism. Later beliefs were influenced byBuddhism, 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 annualghost festival is celebrated by Chinese around the world. On this day, ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from thelower realm. Ghosts are described in classical Chinese texts as well as modern literature and films.
An article in theChina Post stated that nearly 87 percent of Chinese office workers believe in ghosts, and some 52 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.[citation needed] The prevalence of belief is such that theruling party has actively sought to discourage citizens.[137]
Yūrei (幽霊) are figures inJapanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of twokanji,幽 (yū), meaning "faint" or "dim", and霊 (rei), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names includebōrei (亡霊) meaning ruined or departed spirit,shiryō (死霊) meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassingyōkai (妖怪) orobake (お化け).
Like theirChinese and Western counterparts, they are thought to bespirits kept from a peacefulafterlife.
Americas
Mexico
Catrinas, one of the most popular figures of theDay of the Dead celebrations in Mexico
There is extensive and varied belief inghosts in Mexican culture. The modern state ofMexico before theSpanish conquest was inhabited by diverse peoples such as theMaya andAztec, and their beliefs have survived and evolved, combined with the beliefs of theSpanish colonists. TheDay of the Dead incorporates pre-Columbian beliefs withChristian elements. Mexican literature and films include many stories of ghosts interacting with the living.
According to theGallup Poll News Service, belief in haunted houses, ghosts, communication with the dead, and witches had an especially steep increase over the 1990s.[138] A 2005 Gallup poll found that about 32 percent of Americans believe in ghosts.[139]
Ghosts are prominent in story-telling of various nations. Theghost story is ubiquitous across all cultures from oralfolktales 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 tomorality tales. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as sentinels orprophets 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.[140]
InEnglish 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.[142] 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, inRenaissance 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'."[143]
The ghost of a pirate, fromHoward Pyle'sBook of Pirates (1903)
The "classic" ghost story arose during the Victorian period, and included authors such asM. R. James,Sheridan Le Fanu,Violet Hunt, andHenry 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...".[144] One of the key early appearances by ghosts wasThe Castle of Otranto byHorace Walpole in 1764, considered to be the firstgothic novel.[141][145][146]
Professional parapsychologists and "ghosts hunters", such asHarry Price, active in the 1920s and 1930s, andPeter Underwood, active in the 1940s and 1950s, published accounts of their experiences with ostensibly true ghost stories such as Price'sThe Most Haunted House in England, and Underwood'sGhosts of Borley (both recounting experiences atBorley Rectory). The writerFrank Edwards delved into ghost stories in books of his such asStranger than Science.
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 ofThe Haunting of Hill House toThe Haunting in 1963 is an exception.[146]
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'sField of Dreams, the 1990 filmGhost, and the 1993 comedyHeart and Souls.[147] In the horror genre, 1980'sThe Fog, and theA 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.[146]
The 1990s saw a return to classic "gothic" ghosts, whose dangers were more psychological than physical. Examples of films from this period include 1999'sThe Sixth Sense andThe Others.
Asian cinema has also producedhorror films about ghosts, such as the 1998 Japanese filmRingu (remade in the US asThe Ring in 2002), and the Pang brothers' 2002 filmThe Eye.[148]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 filmChandramukhi have been commercial successes, dubbed into several languages.[149]
In animated fictional television programming, ghosts have served as the central element in series such asCasper the Friendly Ghost,Danny Phantom, andScooby-Doo. Various other television shows have depicted ghosts as well.
Metaphorical usages
Nietzsche argued that people generally wear prudentmasks 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"[150] – a sentiment later echoed (if in a less positive way) byCarl Jung.[151]
Nick Harkaway has considered that all people carry a host of ghosts in their heads in the form of impressions of past acquaintances – ghosts who represent mental maps of other people in the world and serve as philosophical reference points.[152]
Object relations theory sees human personalities as formed bysplitting off aspects of the person that he or she deems incompatible, whereupon the person may be haunted in later life by such ghosts of his or her alternate selves.[153]
The sense of ghosts as invisible, mysterious entities is invoked in several terms that use the word metaphorically, such asghostwriter (a writer who pens texts credited to another person without revealing the ghostwriter's role as an author);ghost singer (a vocalist who records songs whose vocals are credited to another person); and"ghosting" a date (when a person breaks off contact with a former romantic partner and disappears).
^Kirby, R.S. (1804)."The Hammersmith Ghosts".Kirby's Wonderful and Scientific Museum. pp. 65–79.Archived from the original on 2023-10-24. Retrieved2016-03-14.
^Raetsch, Ch. (2005).The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants: ethnopharmacology and its applications. US: Park Street Press. pp. 277–282.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^A case of progressive posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) with vivid hallucination: are some ghost tales vivid hallucinations in normal people? Furuya et al.
^"spook".Oxford English Dictionary.Archived from the original on 6 November 2018. Retrieved27 August 2013.
^Mencken, H. L. (1936, repr. 1980). The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States (4th edition). New York: Knopf, p. 108.
^Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,spook.
^Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th edition), Wiley,spook.
^"In the immediate aftermath of a death, the deceased is removed from the bed he died in and placed on the prepared floor, called a 'comfort bed.' His jaw is bound up and his feet tied together (usually at the big toes)."Kultur.gov.tr (archive version)
^"If a man lives and moves, it can only be because he has a little man or animal inside, who moves him. The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man, is the soul. And as the activity of an animal or man is explained by the presence of the soul, so the repose of sleep or death is explained by its absence; sleep or trance being the temporary, death being the permanent absence of the soul... "The Golden BoughArchived 2004-11-05 at theWayback Machine,Project Gutenberg. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
^Black, Jeremy A.; Green, Anthony; Rickards, Tessa (1992).Gods, demons, and symbols of ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary. University of Texas Press.ISBN978-0-292-70794-8.
^Goelet, Ogden (1998).A Commentary on the Corpus of Literature and Tradition which constitutes the Book of Going Forth By Day. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. pp. 139–170.
^Walker, D.P. (1958)Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella. London: Warburg Institute, passim.
^Original German edition:Von Gespänsten ..., kurtzer und einfaltiger bericht, Zürich, 1569 [VD16 L 834]
^Child, Francis James,The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 2, p. 227, Dover Publications, New York 1965
^Child, Francis James,The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 234, Dover Publications, New York 1965
^"Grateful dead".Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2007.Archived from the original on 2008-04-28. Retrieved2007-12-14.
^Carroll, Bret E. (1997).Spiritualism in Antebellum America. (Religion in North America.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 248.ISBN978-0-253-33315-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^abcBraude, Ann (2001).Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, Second Edition. Indiana University Press. p. 296.ISBN978-0-253-21502-4.
^Natale, Simone (2016).Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN978-0-271-07104-6.
^In Canada, Spiritism is an officially recognized religious denomination (unique in the world) asThe National Spiritist Church of AlbertaArchived 2010-05-04 at theWayback Machine (Church #A145 registered by Department of Vital Statistics, Government of Alberta – under The Marriage Act of Alberta) with government-licensed clergy and legal authority to perform marriages.
^Carroll, Robert Todd (June 2001)."pareidolia".skepdic.com.Archived from the original on 2007-09-04. Retrieved2007-09-19.
^Weinstein, Larry (June 2001)."The Paranormal Visit". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived fromthe original on 2010-03-16. Retrieved2010-02-12.
"Once the idea of a ghost appears in a household ... no longer is an object merely mislaid .... There gets to be a dynamic in a place where the idea that it's haunted takes on a life of its own. One-of-a-kind quirks that could never be repeated all become further evidence of the haunting."
^Nickell, Joe (2018). "Hawking 'Ghosts' in Old Louisville".Skeptical Inquirer.42 (2):26–29.
^Radford, Ben (2018). "The Curious Question of Ghost Taxonomy".Skeptical Inquirer.42 (3):47–49.
^Jalal, Baland; Romanelli, Andrea; Hinton, Devon E. (2015-12-01). "Cultural Explanations of Sleep Paralysis in Italy: The Pandafeche Attack and Associated Supernatural Beliefs".Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry.39 (4):651–664.doi:10.1007/s11013-015-9442-y.ISSN0165-005X.PMID25802016.S2CID46090345.
^Ehrman, Bart D. (2006).Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: the followers of Jesus in history and legend.Oxford University Press. p. 17.ISBN978-0-19-530013-0. Retrieved14 November 2015.Jesus then walks out to them, on the water. When they see him, in the middle of the lake, the disciples are terrified, thinking it is a ghost. Jesus assures them it is he, and then Peter, in a characteristically unreserved moment, calls out, "Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water" (Matt. 14–28).
^Emissary (2007-09-30).A Faraway Ancient Country. Lulu.com.ISBN978-0-615-15801-3.Archived from the original on 2023-10-24. Retrieved2010-03-27.if we have ghosts, then where do we put them in the Christian universe? While they are tied to the earth, they are no longer living on the material plain. Heaven and hell are exclusive places, so it's extremely unlikely that people come and go from these destinations as they please. There must be a third state in the afterlife where souls linger before continuing their journey.
^"Heavenly minded: It's time to get our eschatology right, say scholars, authors".The United Methodist Church. Archived fromthe original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved2010-03-27.John Wesley believed in the intermediate state between death and the final judgment "where believers would share in the 'bosom of Abraham' or 'paradise,' even continuing to grow in holiness there," writes Ted Campbell, a professor at Perkins School of Theology, in his 1999 bookMethodist Doctrine: The Essentials (Abingdon).
^Fathers, Paulist (1945).Catholic world, Volume 162.Paulist Fathers.Archived from the original on 2023-10-24. Retrieved2010-03-27.That the Ghost comes from Purgatory is evident from his description of his abode in the other world as primarily a state of purification, consisting of...
^"Ghosts, Fairies and Omens".University of Wisconsin–Madison. Archived fromthe original on 2004-04-23. Retrieved2010-03-27.The Roman Catholic Church taught that at death the souls of those too good for hell and too bad for heaven were sent to Purgatory. Here they were purged of their sins by punishment, but might on occasion be allowed to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance.
^"Do You Believe in Ghosts?". Catholic Exchange. 2006-10-07.Archived from the original on 2010-08-31. Retrieved2010-03-27.Ghosts can come to us for good, but we must not attempt to conjure or control spirits.
^"A Christian Perspective on Ghosts and Hauntings". Spotlight Ministries. Archived fromthe original on 2010-01-09. Retrieved2010-03-27.The Bible warns of the very real danger of seductive spirits that will come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage: "But the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons..." (1 Tim. 4:1).
^Werner Diem, Marco SchöllerThe Living and the Dead in Islam: Epitaphs as texts Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2004ISBN978-3-447-05083-8 p. 116
^Jane Idleman SMith Yvonne Yazbeck HaddadThe Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection State University of New York Press Albany 1981ISBN0-87395-506-4 p. 117-125
^Valery ReesFrom Gabriel to Lucifer: A Cultural History of Angels Bloomsbury Publishing, 04.12.2012ISBN978-0-85772-162-4 p. 82
^Gertsman, Elina; Rosenwein, Barbara H. (2018). The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 103.ISBN978-1-107-15038-6.OCLC1030592502. Retrieved 25 February 2020
^JOSEF W. MERIASPECTS OF BARAKA (BLESSINGS) AND RITUAL DEVOTION AMONG MEDIEVAL MUSLIMS AND JEWS1 in "Medieval encounters" 1999 NV, Brill Leiden p. 47-69
^abRamchandani, Indu (2000). Hoiberg, Dale (ed.).Students' Britannica India, Volumes 1–5. Popular Prakashan, 2000.ISBN978-0-85229-760-5.Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved2016-03-14.Bhut also spelt bhoot, in Hindu mythology, a restless ghost. Bhoots are believed to be malignant if they have died a violent of premature death or have been denied funerary rites.
^"Museums of India - National Handicrafts and Handilooms Museum, New Delhi" (ISBN0-944142-23-0) by Jyontindra Jain and Aarti Aggarwala.
^'Ghosts and Spirits of Lan Na (Northern Thailand', in: Forbes, Andrew, and Henley, David,Ancient Chiang Mai Volume 4. Chiang Mai, Cognoscenti Books, 2012. ASIN: B006J541LE
^Darrell Schweitzer (2005).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Westport, CT: Greenwood. pp. 338–340.
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