A ghost is said to be the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, the place of his or her death, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon.http://www.parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#g Parapsychological Association, glossary of key words frequently used in parapsychology, Retrieved December 13 2006http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ghost Retrieved December 13 2006 "The spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or to haunt former habitats." A place in which ghosts are supposed to appear is described as haunted. A related phenomenon is the poltergeist, literally a 'noisy spirit' that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects, though a widespread view today is that these occurences are either fraudulent or manifestations of the psychic energy of, particularly, adolescent girls. Phantom armies, animals, trains and ships have also been reported.

The reality of ghosts is a vexed subject which divides believers and skeptics. The study of ghosts is both the subject of folklore and also, since the nineteenth century, of the investigations of parapsychologists, who have attempted to refine the vocabulary used in describing ghostly phenomena. Summoning or exorcising the shades of the departed is an item of belief and religious practice for spiritualists and practitioners of ritual magic. Though some claims of ghostly phenomena are proven frauds others remain unexplained or are subject to conflicting explanations. So far no one explanation has gained universal acceptance. According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization about 32% of Americans believe in the existence of ghosts.

Historical background

According to some, the belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely related to the ancient concept of animism, which attributed souls to everything in nature, including human beings, animals, plants, rocks, etc. Some people believe the ghost or spirit never leaves Earth until there is no-one left to remember the one who died. Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology edited by J. Gordon Melton Gale Research, ISBN 0-8103-5487-X Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body:

"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 Bough, Project Gutenberg, accessed January 16, 2007