Seeking Ghosts

Abstract

Nearly all the ghost sightings discussed so far were unexpected and unwanted. Graveyards and haunted spots in the countryside were to be avoided. Encounters were startling at best and fatal at worse. It can be safely said that most people had no desire to ever find themselves in the presence of a ghost. To prevent such a meeting it fell to certain members of the community to step forward and confront the spirits of the dead in order to banish them from the world of the living. Yet it is human nature to be fascinated with the macabre, the ghoulish and the supernatural — as long as the experience is vicarious and on our own terms, and so people gained a voyeuristic thrill in glimpsing or hearing the haunting of others. Some had a more positive and earnest perception of ghosts, however, and saw them as a means of accessing the secrets of nature, providing a glimpse of divine wisdom. Due to their celestial position ghosts had knowledge of the past, present and future. Their existence was defined by the past, their presence was witnessed by the living, and most wondrous of all, their experience of the afterlife gave them intimations of the future of life. No wonder, then, that there has always been a minority who have sought their company.