March 22, 2025 /

Ghosts

What is it about houses and ghosts and things that go bump in the night that is so fascinating?  Why does belief in the afterlife and the presence of disembodied spirits, or ghosts as they are so commonly known, have such deep historical and cultural roots?  And why am I not the only one drawn to such tales?   Why does this otherworldly phenomena touch an inner nerve within so many of us?

Pliny the Younger for example, Roman writer and politician from the first and second century in a letter to Licinius Sura, documented three tales of ghostly goings on which occurred in a house in Athens.  While in Mexico, the Day of the Dead rather than being a sad occasion, is a widely practiced social and cultural event where the dead are treated as guests of honour who are warmly welcomed to family festivities.  In Japan, the notion of Obakeyashiki (お化け屋敷) or ghost houses, is deeply rooted in Japanese folklore and the belief in supernatural beings called ‘yokai’, which include various types of ghosts and spirits who either come to visit or who live with them.

Why has this subject area had such a prolific outpouring in literature, screen and campfire tales, so much so that the ghostly haunted house has evolved into its own genre?   Nowadays, the haunted house and its ghostly inhabitants is a much-loved horror genre blending paranormal activity with psychological terror, with the house usually the locale where, generally, nefarious events take place. Although it must be said that not all ghosts are hell-bent on revenge from the grave and for me as for others, ghost stories and ghosts have always been a topic of fascination and lately I’ve been wondering why.

Is it because some of us intuitively know or perhaps sense the presence of non-material reality and those who inhabit it?  Are we ‘hard-wired’ to feel and ponder, to consider ‘reality’ from outside a strictly scientific paradigm and mindset?  And do ghost stories, which reinforce cultural and social values also function as a reminding factor?  What is this phenomena telling us, what is it inviting us to know?

The sleep state is pernicious with many of us unaware of its devastating impact on our lives.  Experiencing ghostly phenomena can shock us into an awareness of other forms of reality and can prompt us to consider ourselves as something other than purely flesh and bone.  Is the message being conveyed through ghost stories and their inhabitants, one such that corporeal existence is temporary and that we need to think about, consider or possibly even prepare for our afterlife?  And if we’re not born to simply die and fade away, what then is the purpose for our being born?  What is the purpose for our existence?

Michele T Knight Written by:

Dr Michele Knight is a Social Worker, Social Scientist, researcher and independent scholar. Her interest and research in the end-of-life has its origin in the lived experiences of her own bereavements, her near-death and shared-death events, the returning deceased and attitudinal responses to those experiences. Since 2006, she has been extensively involved in community development, support and advocacy in both a professional and community services/voluntary capacity in the areas of bereavement and grief, hospital pastoral care, and academic lecturing/tutoring. Her PhD, Ways of Being: The alchemy of bereavement and communique, explores the lived experience of bereavement, grief, spirituality and unsought encounters with the returning deceased.

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