Judging from the number of books (fiction and nonfiction) devoted to the subject, as well as the countless TV shows, films, and websites also devoted to the subject, ghosts remain an extremely popular topic around which to build a private library:
Belief in disembodied spirits is a feature of all known cultures, and such beliefs are the foundation of a number of indigenous religions such as animism and ancestor worship:
Over the next several days we will look at this complex literature from both a nonfictional and fictional perspective. We will look at some of its culturally-specific manifestations (which may prove of interest to folks collecting local history--see, e.g., our posts of 27 October 2009 and 18 December 2009), as well as at how interest in this topic has changed over time.
While belief in "good" ghosts is reflected in the literature, the overwhelming majority of books that have been published on this topic--fiction and nonfiction--are concerned with revenants (ghosts which terrorize the living for a variety of reasons), and thus it is with that concept that we will begin tomorrow....
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