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GHOSTS

In traditional belief,ghostsare thesouls orspiritsof the dead that can appear, in visible form,to living. According to beliefs, they can be divided into good and bad ghosts.

Good ghostsare harmless. The reason why they appear is not because they cant find peaceon the other side, but because they want to take care of their loved ones, they come back toEarth in order to make sure that their loved ones are safe and happy, to give them advices, forexample. They are not always visible. Sometimes ghosts are present, but people can not seethem, so they just move things around people, and in that way somehow they are proving thatthey are here. In one hand, they are here to reward the good deeds of humans and on the otherhand, they are staying in their favorite places, like houses, castles and such. They are alsocalled angles or spirits (one of the possible explanations is that spirit is another term for soul so itindicates that these ghosts are good, pure, not sinful, or dangerous).

When it comes toBad ghosts, they can be more or less dangerous. Those less dangerous badghosts are there to play with people, mock them or scare them etc., but not to do any harm.

They might be present in the physical world because of unfinished business or because theydont know yet that they are dead, or they just cant accept that fact. Bad ghosts usually get theability to return to the physical world under certain circumstances, but after some time they haveto come back to the cursed places or the underworld and spend the eternity there. Ghosts mightbe sent by the devil too, as illusions, monsters or as real demons. Demons (DEMON comesfrom Greek word DAIMON and means the one that is full of wisdom but in Greek culture, theterm was used not only for bad ghosts but also for the good ones) are most common inChristianity.They are usually powerful, scary, feed with peoples fears and suffering and their intention is tocause troubles, diseases, misfortune, illness, bad luck, ruined relationships, hurt, or revenge.Demons are often associated with really bad smells.They are sent by satan to tempt people and help their souls to be damned, to possess peopleor haunt them.In possessions, demons completely take over a victims body and speak through them, withchanged, deeper voice. They cause physical phenomena, such as spitting, vomiting, levitation,unnatural twisting of limbs, super normal strength, foaming at the mouth, and so on. In rites ofexorcism, it is important to elicit the demons name in order to take control over it. In most cultures, bad ghost are just troublesome and unhelpful.In Christianity, demons are considered as fallen angels cast out of heaven together with Lucifer.When Christianity spread, pagan gods and goddesses were considered as fallen angels, whowere usually disguised, looked very appealing and tricked humankind to worship them. Theycould have a male form (incubi) and torture women or female form (succubi) and torture men.When they take over control of people, they return to their real form.In modern cases, demons are believed to be created by human free will or curses to possess aplace or a person.Remedies against them include blessings, prayer, changes in the spiritual life, or when it comesto possessions - exorcism.

People believe that ghosts appear only at night, when one is sleeping, because then human isunprotected; they should never touch ghost (because it might take him or her to the other side).Ghosts may not be seen by all present. The way they appear depends on the way they died. Forexample, if it was beheaded, as a ghost it might hold its head in hands when appearing, the

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blood might still flow and it usually appears in clothes it was wearing when died. Most frequently,ghosts are described as semi-transparent or white. They can go through walls, move objectswithout touching them, sometimes they talk, sometimes only appear without words or gestures.They can fly and mysteriously vanish.There are many way in which people can get rid of ghosts. First and the easiest way is to orderthe ghost to leave, and this way usually works for good ghosts.

The second and more serious way refers to exorcism rituals and it is used for evil and, so to say,stubborn ghosts. Another way is redecoration, actually, the changing of places where ghostslived when they were alive. As a result, ghost do not feel comfortable, do not recognize theplace and leave. Last but not the least refers to cleaning places with candles, prayers andincense.

Scientific Researches and GhostsMany of ghost reports which have been investigated actually have natural explanations. Reportswhich cant be explained are the ones that complicate researches. But still, there is noindisputable proof that ghosts exist or such evidence about nature and behavior. Again, thereare no proofs which tell us whether ghosts have objective reality or are fantasies, and whetherthey are intelligent personalities or just mindless recordings of past events.

Some scientists focus their research on human brain, to determine whether ghosts are justproduct of our mind, and as they explain, certain electromagnetic and geomagnetic factors in theenvironment affect humans brain and produce those illusions. Other scientists focus theirresearch on so-called haunt-type places, to determine whether those places have different,unusual fluctuating fields or constant field and if they do, they can stimulate human brain toexperience ghosts and such creatures.Scientists disagree when it comes to ghosts characteristics: one claim that ghosts are notintelligent and conscious, while others claim that at least some ghosts possess an awarenesswithin themselves. Some researchers claim that ghosts are hallucinations produced byTELEPATHY among the living, some that they are the products of the human mind.Paranormal investigators mostly reject the telepathic hallucination theory and believe there is no

explanation for ghosts, but that there are different types of ghosts. Their explanations are: ghosts are imprisoned souls which dont know they are dead,they were unable to make a fulltransition to the afterlife, or they were unwilling to go. They may interact with the living. they are imprints which are impressed upon specific psychic place, often as the result oftraumatic emotions or violent events, so they become a place memory (embedded in buildingmaterials). Imprints do not react to the living and often repeat the same action or appearance. Intelligent appearance, which are in between imprints and trapped souls, and they react to theliving. thought-forms, or artificial ghosts created by emotion and events by the living, due to theirbeliefs and expectation. Ghosts are a memory, away that the living remembers the past, they are embedded in thecollective unconscious, which can be activated under certain circumstances.

And so on and so forth.

However, these are all guesses, not proved facts and none of these scientists and paranormalinvestigators managed to explain how human brain creates all of these illusions and effects.

Ghost as an inspirationThis phenomenon of ghosts was inspiration for many writers. In earlier times, they werementioned in legends, folk tales, poems, later in short stories novels, movies.

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When it comes to English literature, ghosts as characters in works became more popular inRenaissance. Even most famous writers had ghosts as characters in their works, such asThomas Kyd in The Spanish Tragedy (Don Andrea) and William Shakespeare in Macbeth(Banquo)and Hamlet (the ghost of dead king Hamlet, Hamlets father). Ghosts in EnglishRenaissance works were usually described and presented in armor, mainly because they werewarriors, knights, kings, who died in battles or were killed by envious enemies. The reason why

they come back is seeking revenge. When the revenge is carried out, ghosts do not appearanymore because they found their peace in the other world. These armored ghosts wereappearing in works and on stage until 1800, when they became clichs and objects of mocking.Instead of them, new ghosts were covered with white sheets.From the 19thcentury on, they were popular in short stories (such as The Canterville Ghost byOscar Wilde), novellas (such as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)and novels (such asWuthering Heights by Emily Bronte). One of the most famous English writers who wrote aboutghosts is Montague Rhodes James (M.R.James)published several collections of ghoststories.When it comes to movies and television series, their creation is inspired with ghosts from literaryworks, and with newly created ghosts. The list of them is quite large, but Ill mention some ofthe most popular. One of the most popular ghosts nowadays is Casper, the friendly Ghost.

Casper (his full name is Casper McFadden is theprotagonistanimated cartoon series Casperthe Friendly Ghost and also of themovie of the same name. As his name says, he is friendly,good ghost, he prefers helping people and animals rather than scaring them. It is uncertain if heis a dead boy, how old is he and how he died. He is half-visible, he can fly and go throughobjects.

Another popular ghost is from Harry Potter series - Moaning Myrtle. Myrtle was a student inHogwarts but she was murdered in girls restroom, and since her death she is spending time inthat restroom. As her name says, she is usually weeping and wailing, and gets frustratedsometimes so much that she causes plumbing problems in the restroom. She is alsocomplaining a lot especially when someone mentions death, but she is not a bad character.

References:Rosemary Ellen Gulley (1992),The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and SpiritsWikipedia[25.11.2014]

1. SHORT OVERVIEW:

Ghosts in traditional belief:- good ghosts and bad ghostsScientific Researches and Ghosts:- scientists and paranormal investigators researchesGhost as an inspiration:-ghosts in literature and movies

2. Traditional belief

Ghosts are the souls or spiritsof the dead that can appear, in visible form, to living.

GOOD GHOSTS- also called angles or spirits-harmless-giving advices-taking care of their loved ones

BAD GHOSTS - also called fallen angels or demons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquo

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-powerful,-feed with peoples fears-cause troubles,-bring diseases, misfortune, illness, bad luck etc.-revenge.

3. Scientific Researches and Ghosts

-no proof of ghosts existing-disagreement between scientists and paranormal investigators-different explanations of ghosts

4. Ghost as an inspiration

LITERATURE and MOVIES

This phenomenon of ghosts was inspiration for many writers. In earlier times, they werementioned in legends, folk tales, poems, later in short stories novels, movies.

Writers and their works with ghosts:

Thomas Kyd in The Spanish Tragedy (Don Andrea)

William Shakespeare in Macbeth (Banquo)and Hamlet (the ghost of dead kingHamlet, Hamlets father)

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Casper the Friendly Ghost

Moaning Myrtle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquo