Slimer, an ectoplasmic ghost from Ghostbusters.

An Introduction to Ghosts

Casper, slimer, The Ring girl, and haunted houses are all interpretations of ghosts in the modern setting. They have evolved from a simple idea, that people can continue to walk the earth dead, in immaterial form. While the hollywood’esk view of a ghost may be disturbing to some, it does show how the evolution of an idea like the ghost continued from its primitive roots.

Thousands of years ago, village life was self governing.

Ghosts stories have probably been an integral part of afterlife legends since oral communication was possible. They often describe what happens to a person when they are wronged in some way when they are living. Imagine living 8000 years ago in a small society where being the strongest might mean the ability to set the laws. If you wanted something, you might just take it. So you steal a weaker man’s wife, kill him, and claim her as yours. But what if there was a consequence to that? Perhaps there was no one in your tribe that could stop you, but what if you would be haunted for your evil deed for the rest of your life? If you believed this would happen, the chances that you would commit an offense that could have consequences in the afterlife might be reduced. In addition to social influences on what is right and wrong, you also have the overhead of being punished by the deceased.Because we don’t fully understand the world, and we could explain it in such a way that might make sense to us, we accept it as a possibility or even a fact that ghosts exist. It helps many people stay moral, because they fear the consequences, while others use it to explain paranormal events.

A creepy hooded figure.

And then.. what seems unbelievable..

And then, there are the strange things that happen in our lives that can’t really be explained easily. We are up late one night, the lights start flickering for no apparently reason. You are just sitting in the living room reading and you here your bathroom sink turn on and you are the only one in the house. A different night, you look across the room and your snow globe looks like it has just been shaken up. How do you explain these kinds of things in logical ways? Are there some things that we just can’t explain?

So Do They Exist?

Some people have no doubt in their mind whether or not ghosts exist. They have firm beliefs one way or another, based on their life experiences. Others aren’t really sure and could go one way or the other. So do they? We may never know for sure.

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