Top 10 well-known ghosts

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For generations, ghost stories have been a mainstay of literature, but these tales stand out from the rest.

Stories tell us that ghosts are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Though their reality is continually explored but strongly denied, ghosts are ubiquitous in our culture despite this healthy scepticism. "Harry Potter" through "The Sixth Sense" have included them in television and movies. It is not uncommon to see ghost stories in bookstores' fiction and nonfiction sections. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, pictures of ghosts from popular culture adorn every establishment and individual's residence.

We may not even be aware of ghosts' influence on our daily rituals. Sneezing was thought to cause the soul to leave the body; hence saying 'God bless you or 'Bless you was thought to safeguard one from the devil stealing their soul, as explained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This list includes some of the most well-known ghosts in the history of humanity.

Hamlet, the Danish king

Hamlet, referred to as the "Ghost" by some, is one of Shakespeare's most famous ghosts, appearing in several of Bard's plays (including Macbeth and Julius Caesar). The story of Prince Hamlet would be incomplete without the spirit of his father, who haunts the stage in the play of the same name.

In the play, King Hamlet appears three times, all at night. According to GhosGhost, Claudius killed him and instructed Hamlet to take revenge on him.

Philosopher and literary critic Tzachi Zamir claimed in his book "Shakespeare's Hamlet: Philosophical Perspectives" that GhosGhost himself states he is returning from Purgatory (1.5.9–13), returning to the living world to remedy a wrong (Oxford University Press, 2017).

The Dutchman's Flight

It is alleged that a 17th-century commercial ship named the Flying Dutchman haunts the high seas, making it the world's best-known non-huGhosGhost. If the ship appears as a blurry image or a peculiar light in the sky, it is thought to portend ill fortune and death.

In one version, Dutch captain van der Decken refuses to seek shelter from a storm while sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, despite the pleas of his crew and passengers. This narrative has been altered numerous times, but it is most commonly told as follows: The captain, on the other hand, challenged God to bring them to their knees. As soon as the ship was cursed, it was doomed to never return to port in its ghost state. According to some accounts, even in 1923, a "ghost ship" appeared on South Africa's shores. As Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman, he has recently appeared in several "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

As Theo Meder explains in his book "The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands," "the tale of the doomed Dutch ghost ship stems from a British literary tradition (eighteenth to nineteenth centuries) and is likely tied up in the trading company competition between Dutch and British businesses in that era...

"Witch of the Bell"

The supposed occurrences at John Bell's Tennessee property between 1817 and 1821 are regarded as one of the most well-known American ghost stories. On his farm, Bell shot at a weird animal that fled before he could hurt it. Later, the Bell family was haunted by a spirit who screamed horribly and violently attacked Bell's daughter, Betsy, shaking the house. It is alleged that Andrew Jackson dabbled in ghost hunting and conducted his inquiry at one point during the years of the spectral assaults.

Even though some authors claim the Bell Witch narrative is based on fact, there is little evidence to support this claim. Because Jackson never addressed the Bell Witch case, it appears that his role in the story was invented out of thin air, maybe to give the story the aspect of reality it lacked otherwise. According to KyL T. Cobb, Jr., in his book "Ghosts and Demons: The Truth of the Bell Witch," Jackson's every move from the late 1810s to the early 1830s is "pretty well chronicled" (Lulu.com, 2016). This raises even more questions about his role in the affair.

Casper

It is Casper, also known as "The Friendly Ghost," who goes about his business of not frightening people while Bloody Mary lurks around in the realms of the dead, waiting to be summoned to dark restrooms where she can terrorize children.

During the 1930s, Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo created the character of Casper, which subsequently found success in the Harvey Comics series. Several characters accompanied Casper on his adventures: Wendy the Good Witch and Hot Stuff the Little Devil. The words "good," "friendly," and "small" were inserted into the characters' names to soften them and make them more approachable to young children and their parents. Even when Casper had a resurgence with a self-titled 1995 picture starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, the subject of death in a property geared at children was questioned. Ghosts: The Complete Guide to the Supernatural" author Zachary Graves noted that "Critics questioned whether it was fair to run moments of comedy and slapstick alongside concerns of death and the afterlife" (Canary Press, 2011).

The Bloody Mary

What does "Bloody Mary" keep saying? Many children had their first encounter with a ghost due to those words. According to legend, bloody Mary is said to be the spectre of a lady who slaughtered her children long ago. It's easy to spy on her if you enter a darkened washroom (typically found at a school) and say her name three times in front of the mirror.

It is common for youngsters to play the "game" of summoning Bloody Mary. "Gail de Vos, writing in "What Happens Next?" identifies three functions of the ritual: to test and conquer phobias actively, to provide possibilities for peer group status, and to establish a method for coping with the supernatural. Legends of the Urban Poor and Popular Culture " (Libraries Unlimited, 2012). Many people either look at their frightened reflection in the dark mirror or rush from the restroom after chanting the second "Bloody Mary". When it came to phone her, "many pupils recounted their positive and unpleasant encounters with tremendous joy, while others hid their heads in horror."

Candyman, a 2021 remake of the Bloody Mary tale, is summoned by repeating his name three times, just like the original Bloody Mary.

GhosGhost of Drury Lane

The Covent Garden district in London's West End is home to numerous theatres. For over three centuries, plays have been staged there, attracting some of the world's greatest actors. On the other hand, one theatre is better known for GhosGhost than its performances.

According to legend, the Drury Lane mansion is haunted by the spirits of many former actors. One of the most well-known is the "Man in Grey", depicted as a nobleman with his sword drawn. It's not unusual for a theatre to have a resident ghost on the stage, and the Drury Lane ghosts continue the theatre heritage.

"Everyone in the auditorium had a personal story to tell. They think they saw the Man in Grey or heard a door slam when there was no one in the building, even though there was no one in the building. Actor Nigel Planer told journalist Andrew Dickson in "The Guardian" that expert ghost hunter Roger Clarke "took those stories more seriously than the ghosts: he did think the building had something going on, but it was difficult to determine what." "in the year of our Lord (2015).

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"The Vanishing Hitchhiker" is a classic example of modern folklore, which is commonly linked with the United States but has equivalent tales worldwide. One of the most common theories is that the hitchhiker is the spirit of a local person who was murdered near their home, but this has altered throughout time.

As noted by Jan Harold Brunvand in his book "The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings," "It acquired the newer automotive motif by the period of the Great Depression, and after that gave rise to a variety of variants with widely varying and weirdly interconnecting characteristics" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2003).

Like the crew of the Flying Dutchman, the hitchhiker may be endowed with prophesy or be on an endless journey. Modern folklore's continued flourishing of updated and localized versions of the legend suggests that the original ghost story must have some important appeal to current folk, argued Brunvand.

It's that time of year again.

In Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol," Ebenezer Scrooge, the cold-hearted miser, transforms by being visited by ghosts on several Christmases throughout his life (Past, Present, and Yet to Come).

There are a lot of moral lessons to be learned from ghosts, and these spooks are no different. The Ghost of Christmas Present helps Scrooge begin his journey toward redemption via visions of Christmases past.

To create this character, he may have drawn from his childhood memories and thoughts about Christmas and children. Dickens is credited with helping to popularize the concept of a Christmas spirit. "A father of young children, Dickens remembered his childhood Christmases fondly and made the annual event a joyous occasion. It was a time of feasting, games, and domestic drama in the Dickens home during the "twelve days of Christmas." "For the British Library, John Sutherland, a professor of modern English literature at the University of London, wrote in 2014.

The Peddler Who Got Killed

A young peddler from Hydesville, New York, came to the home of Mr and Mrs Bell one day in the early 1840s to sell some goods. The housekeeper of the Bells extended an invitation to him, and he ended up staying for several days. A week after she was fired, the maid was unexpectedly rehired. Many of the peddler's wares had made their way into the Bells' kitchen after he had left. It wasn't until the maid started having unusual haunting experiences that she learned the peddler had been slain while she was away.

Those were the claims of two sisters named Maggie and Katie Fox, who said they were able to interact with the spirit world. Later, the sisters revealed it was all a scam; the peddler had not been slain, and the ghost connections were staged. The sisters had, however, created a religion still practised today: Spiritualism. Only the "Murdered Peddler" is a fictitious ghost that has spawned a legitimate religious movement.

"Occult powers were already popular when Spiritualism arose, with its slain peddler and ghosts. This more democratic and optimistic form of Spiritualism had arisen in response to the Fox sisters, according to Barbara Weisberg's essay in "Talking to the Dead: Kate Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism." " (HarperOne, 2005). "To greet the eternal beings, a group of friends gathered, or someone booked a large hall. In other parts of the world, benign spirit guides weren't necessarily unknown, but they arrived in nineteenth-century Christian America like unwanted but cheerful guests."

Slimer

"Ghostbusters" films and cartoons feature Slimer, a monstrous green ghost. His obnoxious and slovenly demeanour, bright green appearance, and slime-spitting prowess set him apart. The spin-off cartoon series "The Real Ghostbusters" featured a starring role for Slimer because of his popularity with children. Slimer is one of the most memorable cartoon ghosts, thanks to his voracious appetite and guttural burps, which make him one of the most recognizable.

Slimer was originally dubbed "Onionhead" by the film's writers and stars Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis because of the actor who played him in the original. "Even though director Ivan Reitman noted that Danny's character was like Bluto in Animal House - like the spirit of John Belushi – he never challenged that assessment. Despite this, we never made an official statement about it and did not include it in the script. Ghostbusters producer Joe Medjuck explained in his article "Making Ghostbusters," "Onionhead's grossness is like Bluto's in Animal House." "Edited by Don Shay (New York Zoetrope, 1985).

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/11364-top-10-famous-ghosts.html

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