Ghost, nonmaterial embodiment or essence of an organism, especially of a human being.
The term is sometimes used virtually as a synonym for soul or spirit, and in the Christian
religion, in the form Holy Ghost (now, more often, Holy Spirit), it has a specialized
meaning. More frequently, however, the term ghost is applied to an apparition, usually of
a dead person, that varies in apparent solidity from a mere foglike mass to a perfect replica
of the person. A wraith, in contrast, is the visible spirit of someone still alive. A
doppelgänger is a special form of wraith that makes its appearance at a time when the
physical body of the subject is observed at some distant place.
In many religions, and particularly in primitive faiths, the belief exists that the spirit
wanders away from the body during periods of unconsciousness such as sleep. Such
religions also teach that after death the spirit lingers near the body of the dead person. A
common practice of groups holding such beliefs is to propitiate the ghosts of the dead by
offerings of food, clothing, and other objects that the ghosts may find useful in the spirit
world. In many primitive civilizations the personal possessions of a dead man, including
his weapons, his pets, and sometimes even his wife, are buried or burned with his body.
The practice of ancestor worship, as well as the mourning rites of many modern
civilizations, probably originated in the belief in ghosts; Ghosts Links
