Ghosts Please note: from time to time you will see 4 digits in brackets (1095) and this refers to the year in which that word was first used with that particular meaning. The source is the big 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary (see below). ANKOU: from the Celtic folk lore of Brittany (France?) it means "king of the dead" and it is a death omen that comes to collect the souls of the dead; the ankou is the last person to die in a parish in a given year -- sometimes portrayed as a skeleton with a rotating head (ie it can see in every direction); it drives a spectral cart, is accompanied by two ghosts on foot and stops at the house of one who is about to die (for that (next) year) APPARITION: to appear when summoned; "the supernatural; appearance of invisible beings -- ie the apparition of a ghost" (1525); a manifestation or something invisible being made visible to the eye" (1533); an immaterial appearance (1601 -- Shakespeare); encyclopedia of Ghosts also suggests that an apparition is more often that of a living person; they appear and disappear and reappear suddenly, they CAN cast shadows, and can walk through and can be reflected in mirrors walls BANSHEE: from the Gaelic "bean si" (= "fairy women") -- a death omen -- loud wailing from a female demon just before someone dies -- limited to "ancient families of pure descent" .... very Celtic; they are particularly attached to irish families whose surnames begins with "Mac" or "O"; Banshees do not (according to misguided popular belief) "scream" -- they just cry; in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, the Banshee is also known as Bean-Nighe or Little-Washer-By-the-Ford (the latter case signals a person's imminent and violent death by washing that person's bloody clothes in a stream); this Bean-Nighe is unlike the Bean Si in a number of ways; the Bean Nighe is ugly and deformed (whereas the other is beautiful) and the Bean Nighe has 1 nostril, a large protruding front tooth, red webbed feet and long pendulous breasts; this Bean Nighe (aka Little Washer by the Ford) is said to be the ghost of a woman who has died prematurely in child birth and has to spend the rest of (what would have been her allotted time on earth) washing clothes by the river until it is the "natural" time for her to die BEELZEBUB (also Baal-zebub): means "lord of the flies" CHUREL: From India .. the evil ghost of a woman who dies in childbirth or ceremonial impurity; usually of a lower caste person whose corpse was buried face down to prevent their escape; they have reversed feet & no mouths and haunt squalid places; they can appear as beautiful (albeit slightly deformed( women who can capture and hold men prisoner until they (the men) are old CORPSE CANDLES: death omens in Wales & elsewhere in the British Isles -- they are mysterious lights which bob over the ground and stop at houses where a death is imminent; they are also said to warn of those who see them or alternatively they appear halfway between the doomed's home and their grave-to-be or presage the death of an infant CUCUBUTH: vampire & a werewolf together (consumes flesh and blood) DEMON: an inferior divinity; a genius; and attendant spirit; the devil; the name means "replete with wisdom" and is derived from the Greek "daimon" which means "divine power" or "fate" or "god" ELVES: Teutonic in origin; small, dwarfish, thought to act as incubi/succubi, steal children and substitute fake ones in their place, generally malicious beings until the 19th century; generally more malignant than a fairy FAIRY: plural: "fays"; small, diminutive beings having great influence (good and bad) over the affairs of men (1393); delicate & finely woven; the word fairy comes from the Latin "fata" meaning "fate"; there are varying theories on their origins -- 1) Souls of the pagan dead not baptized and therefore caught between heaven and earth 2) the guardians of the dead 3) ghosts of venerated ancestors 4) fallen angels who were condemned with Lucifer but who were also condemned to remain with the elements of earth and not to be in Hell 5) nature spirits. In Irish mythology the Fairies are the "TUATHA DE" (sic) or people of the goddess -- they are thought to be strong in the craft of magic and (still in Irish myth) they are part mortal, part spirit and part god and they can intermarry with humans." They are thought (also in Irish legends) to steal human women away for wives, to steal unprotected children and leave their in their place ("changelings"). To stay in their good graces households left out food and drink for them (they are said to be nocturnal). In Celtic lore, Fairies dance circular dances under the moonlight, especially around ancient burial cites FETCH: In Irish and Welsh folklore, the term for one's double, [to see yourself then, literally and symbolically] an apparition of a living person (sometimes called a "co-walker" in England). In general, seeing one is a sign of ill-boding although in Irish lore, to see a fetch in the morning means you will have long life but at night means death GENIUS (GENII): protective spirits who guide human beings; in Etruscan & Roman art they were portrayed as naked winged (male) youths but since the 17th century they can be either male or female; Genius was also a Roman deity, a personification of the creative powers invested in man (the female equivalent is Juno); every man has his own "genius" GHOST: a disembodied spirit ... has root words possibly connected to "terrify" and "anger." The etymology is "to wound, tear, pull to pieces" (OED) also "anger" (Dict of Ety.). "The soul or spirit as the principle of life" (900 AD); "the immaterial part of man associated with feeling, thought and moral action" (1000 AD); "an corporeal being" (1297); a good being (900); and evil being (1000); the soul of a deceased person inhabiting the unseen world" (800); and "the soul of a deceased person appearing in visible form or otherwise making its presence known to humans" (1385 -- Chaucer) GHOST DOGS/CATS: in Wales and Scotland and there are special GUARDIAN SPIRITS called BLACK DOGS; there is also the BARGHEST (aka BARGUEST) from Cornwall and Northern England -- it is a death omen and in Lancashire it is called a "SHRIKER" after the shrieks it makes when it is invisible GHOSTESS: a female Ghost (1842) GHOUL: a demon (usually female) feeding on flesh, dead or alive ... often associated with a house where tragedy has taken place but they also tend to live alone in desolate spots and/or graveyards. Strictly speaking, Lamia are ghouls (ie they hang out in cemeteries, disinter bodies and eat the flesh). Also, Arabic: an evil spirit who robs graves and preys on human corpses. The etymology is "to seize"; first occurrence is Beckford's Vathek (1786); comes from Arabic terms ghul (masculine) and ghula (feminine); in Islamic lore it is the female ghul who is to be most feared since she can (unlike the male) appear as a fully normal person GIAOUR: a non-Moslem (Christian usually) GLAMOUR: any bewitched illusion satanically inspired; a magic enchantment or spell; "a magical or fictitious beauty" (1840) GOBLIN: mischievous, ugly spirit (1327) often (not always) conjured up by rogues ; the prefix "hob" (ie hob-goblin") usually differentiates the merely mischievous ones from the malicious ones; either way they are believed to live in grottos but are said to be attracted to homes that have beautiful children; when they move in to a home they can help with the children (giving them presents when they are good and punishing them when they are bad) and the goblins can also help with household chores (!!) if they have the whim to do so GOLEM: an artificial human (a la Frankenstein) but created by (in this case) magical means. The term is used to describe Adam's body in its first hours of existence before it gets consciousness and a soul. To raise one, walk around it using the appropriate combination of letters & mystical names of God; to kill it walk the other way and say the words backwards!!!! See also German film Der Golem (1920) GRATEFUL DEAD: no, not the band; this is a MOTIF in which ghosts of the deceased return to bestow rewards on living people GRAY LADIES: the ghosts of women who have died violently for the sake of love OR pined away for the loss of love (say, Aeneas' Dido); they are said (often) to be dressed in gray but can also appear in white, black or brown GREMLIN: a small, pesky spirit that appeared in British aircraft during WWI; they are generally friendly, have a great knowledge of aviation and navigation but can play mischievous pranks; many WWI pilots allege they saw them on their planes when they were flying missions but no one officially reported these sightings until 1922 (perhaps out of the belief that it is bad luck to acknowledge the spirits ... but WHO KNOWS???); by WWII pilots who allegedly saw them claimed (variously) that they were 6 inches high with black leather suction boots, others said they looked like a cross between a jack rabbit and a bull terrier others said they were humanoid and 1 foot tall; others that they had webbed feet with fins on the heels INCUBI and SUCCUBI were thought to be interchangeable and were thought to ejaculate the sperm they collected as a succubus ... hence they are a sort of hermaphroditic critters; their main raison d'etre (1205) was to seek carnal intercourse with humans HAUNT: comes from the same root as "home" JINN: The appellation for a class of demonic beings in Pre-Islamic times; originally nature spirits, later a sub-class of ghouls who(originally) were only female spirits KNOCKER: In Cornwall -- a spirit that lives and works in the mines, especially in tin mines; they are friendly and helpful, they can be mischievous but they are NOT evil (the German KOBOLD is a malicious German equivalent); they are also (in Cornwall) known as GATHORNS, KNACKERS, NICKERS, NUGGIES, SPRIGGANS. They are thought to be the ghosts of Jews who worked in the mines (the Jews did not work in the Cornish mines until the 11th & 12th centuries). They cannot tolerate the sign of the cross so miners avoid marking anything with an X (remember these knockers are friendly). Knockers are industrious and often toil through the night; whistling offends them. Food and tallow must be left for them, otherwise there will be trouble. In America they are called TOMMYKNOCKERS; there are said especially to be in the Mamie R Mine on Raven Hill in Cripple Creek, Colorado where they were said to lure miners in to the mines and kill them (by jumping on beams to cause a collapse) and then laughing LEMURES: In ancient Rome, the ghost of a person who died without any surviving issue; if you died before producing offspring you could become a lemure. Exorcism was accomplished by banging drums LILITH: Called "the night hag" at Isaiah 34:14; meaning is "she of the night"; the plural is "lilin"; LEPRECHAUNS: a little old man with a wrinkled old face: they know the location of buried treasure which they will reveal in exchange for liberty BUT 1) take your eyes off him for a split second and he'll disappear 2) treasure disappears as soon as mortals find it NARI: among the Slavs, demonic beings who seem to have been in origin the souls of dead children PHANTOM (PHANTASMA): a mental delusion dream of deception; an illusion or dream; imaginary (=subjective ghost); an illusion (1300); a lie (1325); a ghost (1382); "a mental illusion in a dream" (1590 -- Spenser) POLTERGEIST: From German ... "noisy ghost" or "rocketing ghost"; hence a spirit who makes its presence known by noises PSYCHOPOMP: a supernatural being (human or animal, although in some cases it is thought to be dogs or even Dolphins) who conduct souls into the afterlife (Hermes in Greek, Toth and Anubis in Egyptian lore PUCA (aka POOKA): in Irish lore, a spirit that is both helpful and mischievous; it is a shape-shifter and is often seen in the form of a black animal or a black half animal; if treated well they will clean up the house during the night and they can also bedevil grave robbers. In England the puca is also known as PUCK (see Misdsummer Night's Dream) -- a Medieval house spirit who was particualry malicious and who was closely connected with the devil RADIANT BOYS: also known as KINDERMORDERINN ... boys murdered by their mothers REVENANT: the dead who return from the grave RUSALKA (plural is Rusalki): in Russian folklore, the spirit of a maiden who drowns by accident or by force or becomes a ghost and haunts the spot where she died; they secretly help poor fishermen SIRENS: half women half birds with beautiful voices (Odyssey) SORCERER: a magician (1526) SPECTRE: an apparition or phantom or ghost that is TERRIFYING (1605); also -- "an unreal object of thought (a phantasm of the brain)" (1711); and by 1801 it's "an image or phantom produced by a reflection or other natural cause" (1801); a horrid spectacle or sight (1763) SPUNKIE: In Scottish lore, a goblin or trickster ghost, commonly believed to be the devil's agent he tricks travellers who have lost their way; he presents a light that the traveller thinks is a ought from a window but when the traveller gets to where the light is it is actually a precipice and over s/he goes WARLOCK: "an oath-breaker" (1023); " a wicked person, a scoundrel" (1000); "a savage or hostile creature hostile to me -- usually applied to a giant, cannibal, a mythic beast" (1000); "one in league with the devil, a sorcerer or wizard" (1550); "a conjurer" (1721) WITCH: "a man who practises magic, sorcery, wizardry; " (890 AD); "a female magician or sorceress supposed to have dealings with the devil" (1000 AD); (from wica = "to bend") WIZARD: "a philosopher or wise man" (1440); a man practised in the occult arts or a male witch (1550); ZOMBIE: usually does not rise unless it has been summoned; a corpse reanimated by witchcraft or by a sorcerer called a BOKOR; the Zombie acts as a slave to the Bokor Suggested Further Reading: Try Rosemary Ellen Guiley's The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits Facts-on-File-Books, 1992. Also try the BIG Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volumes) but be careful .. if you read it all at once you will most certainly hurt yourself.