Every civilization in the history of mankind, regardless of where and when it developed, necessarily had or has its own beliefs associated with ghosts. Such beliefs, as a rule, are an integral part of religion, myth or folklore. For example, among Asian peoples, belief in ancestral spirits is highly developed, and there are a number of rituals for expressing respect and pacification of such spirits. Many believe that the spirits of the departed constantly interfere in the affairs of the living, and often it is the spirits who thank for good luck and prosperity in life and curse for illness or misfortune (see Exorcism - expulsion of evil spirits). The Chinese believe that the spirits of their ancestors can be dangerous and even capable of murder. Such beliefs are generally quite common among tribal communities around the world.
The appearance of the spirits of the departed to the eyes of the living is an indispensable attribute of the rituals of the North American and South American Indians. In some tribal communities in South America, the spirits of the deceased are considered the guardians of healers and shamans.
The ancient Jews, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans believed that the souls of the dead could return and regularly appear in the eyes of living people.
The Roman scholar Pliny described the case of a Greek philosopher who took up residence in a house where a ghost lived. Once it appeared before the philosopher, chained in chains, and led the Greek to the place where he, breaking the ground, found a skeleton in chains (Ghost of Athenodorus).
In the Middle Ages, people believed in all kinds of ghosts, among them those who should be feared prevailed: demons, vampires and various phantom creatures - for example, devil dogs or mad hunters. In the later times of the Middle Ages, the beliefs associated with ghosts were already influenced by the Christian Church, according to which ghosts were souls who fell into purgatory, where they were destined to stay until they atone for their sins.
In 17th century Europe, the ghosts of the dead played an important social role, as they were considered a kind of "advisor to the living." By their appearances, they gave advice to wives and children, helped to solve crimes, served as a reproach to executors who did not fulfill their will correctly. Some particularly persistent ghosts have continued their activities in our time (see the case of Chaffin's will).
The romanticism of the 18th century significantly weakened the belief in ghosts among the representatives of the enlightened circles. However, in the 19th century, when spiritism became fashionable, based on the idea of life after death and the possibility of establishing mediumistic contact with the dead, ghosts and ghosts again became very popular.
In the Christian religion, ghosts of figures filled with some kind of religious meaning (angels, saints, the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ) carry an element of holiness and are considered acceptable. But all other ghosts, including the spirits of the dead, are considered as hallucinations created by Satan or his demons in order to lead people off the righteous path and lead them into temptation. This is what the Bible teaches.
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In folklore, ghosts are the spirits of the deceased, who, due to either sins or some kind of tragedy, are doomed to appear in the world of the living. Here, different cultures have their own options for a specific embodiment: it can be a ghost ship (perhaps the most famous is the Flying Dutchman), a ghost hunter, a traveling phantom or a phantom "voting" on the roads. Within the framework of Western Christian culture, it is believed that one should beware of all ghosts, with the exception of figures that carry a religious meaning.
