What Is A Ghost?

The word ghost comes from the Old English word gást and comes from the word meaning rage or fury. The idea of ghosts however goes much further back and stems from the belief in many religions and cultures that the soul separates from the physical body after death. The Ancient Egyptians had the Kingdom Of The Dead, the Ancient Greeks had Tartarus, the Vikings had Valhalla etc. The idea of spirits going to the afterlife has led to the belief that those spirits can sometimes be seen by those of us still living. That belief has passed down through the centuries and is common to cultures around the world.

Other words such as spectre/specter, phantom, apparition, spook and ghoul are used to describe ghost. The term is used when the soul or spirit of a dead person manifests visibly, aurally or in any other form to a living person. People who claim to have seen ghosts describe many different forms from full apparitions to translucent shapes and orbs. Sounds, smells or physical contact are also commonly reported.

Ghosts can haunt either locations, objects or people. For the most part, the spirit will have had some connection to whatever it is they are haunting when they were alive. For example, many spirits haunt the place where they lived, while some will remain close to a loved one.

There is a belief in some cultures that ghosts are deceased people returning to our plain of living to seek vengeance. There is also a belief that ghosts have unfinished business and are therefore unable to move on to the next world.

Below is a list of common words for ghosts and where they came from.

Spirit - Comes from the Latin spiritus meaning breath.

Spook - Is from a word used by Dutch immigrants in the United States in the 19th Century.

Spectre - Comes from the Latin spectrum meaning image or apparition.

Phantom - Is from the Greek phantasma meaning fantasy.

Poltergeist - Is German and means noisy ghost.

Wraith - Comes from the Scottish word for ghost.