Fear of ghosts

Short description: Phasmophobia

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The fear of ghosts in many human cultures is based on beliefs that some ghosts may be malevolent towards people and dangerous (within the range of all possible attitudes, including mischievous, benign, indifferent, etc.). It is related to fear of the dark. The fear of ghosts is a very common fear.

A persistent fear of ghosts is sometimes called phasmophobia, a type of specific phobia.[1][2] It derives from Greek φάσμα, phásma, meaning "apparition" and -φοβία, -phobía, meaning "fear".[3] It is often brought about by experiences in early childhood and causes sufferers to experience panic attacks.

## Contents

* 1 Typical character
* 2 Wari'
* 3 Papuans
* 4 Japanese
* 5 Literature and arts
* 6 See also
* 7 References

## Typical character

The fear of ghosts is widespread even in post-industrial societies. Philosopher Peter van Inwagen wrote:[4]

> "...I am perfectly aware that the fear of ghosts is contrary to science, reason and religion. If I were sentenced to spend a night alone in a graveyard, <...> I should already know that twigs would snap and the wind moan and that there would be half-seen movements in the darkness. And yet, after I had been frog-marched into the graveyard, I should feel a thrill of fear every time one of these things happened..."

In many traditional accounts, ghosts are often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or doppelgänger is a related omen of death.[5]

## Wari'

Wari', an Amazon rainforest tribe, believe that the spirits of dead people may appear as scaring specters called jima. The jima is said to grab a person with very strong, cold and poisonous hands and try to pull the person's spirit away.[6]

## Papuans

A 19th-century missionary describes the fear of ghosts among Papuans as follows:[7]

> "That a great fear of ghosts prevails among the Papuans is intelligible. Even by day they are reluctant to pass a grave, but nothing would induce them to do so by night. For the dead are then roaming about in their search for gambier and tobacco, and they may also sail out to sea in a canoe. Some of the departed, above all the so-called Mambrie or heroes, inspire them with especial fear. In such cases for some days after the burial you may hear about sunset a simultaneous and horrible din in all the houses of all the villages, a yelling, screaming, beating and throwing of sticks; happily the uproar does not last long: its intention is to compel the ghost to take himself off: they have given him all that befits him, namely, a grave, a funeral banquet, and funeral ornaments; and now they beseech him not to thrust himself on their observation any more, not to breathe any sickness upon the survivors, and not to kill them or "fetch" them, as the Papuans put it."

## Japanese

Onryō (怨霊) is a Japan ese ghost (yurei) who is able to return to the physical world in order to seek vengeance. While male onryō can be found, mainly in kabuki theatre, the majority are women, powerless in the physical world, they often suffer at the capricious whims of their male lovers. In death they become strong. Goryō are vengeance ghosts from the aristocratic classes, especially those who have been martyred.

## Literature and arts

Fear of ghosts, their vengeance and mischief is a common base for a plot in the ghost story literary genre and in ghost movies. In cartoons and comics, Casper's efforts to make friends is hampered by humans, animals and even inanimate objects irrationally panicking, screaming and running away at the sight of him. It may be said that the characters Shaggy and Scooby from the TV and movie franchise Scooby-Doo suffer from phasmophobia, with the added joke that the ghosts they encountered were usually criminals masquerading as ghosts, specifically preying on people's phasmophobia as a cover for their criminal activities.

## See also

* List of phobias

## References

1. ↑ "Phasmophobia. (n.d.). Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition". Lexico Publishing Group. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Phasmophobia. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
2. ↑ Urdang, Laurence (1986). -ologies & -isms. Gale Research Co.. ISBN 0810311968.
3. ↑ Clarkson, Michael (2004). Quick Fixes for Everyday Fears. Marlowe & Co.. p. 148. ISBN 1569244626.
4. ↑ "God and the Philosophers", edited by Thomas V. Morris (1996) ISBN 0-19-510119-7 p. 39
5. ↑ Christina Hole (1950) Haunted England: 13-27
6. ↑ "Consuming Grief", by Beth A. Conklin ( 2001) ISBN 0-292-71236-7, p. 161, "Ghost Fears and Dissociation"
7. ↑ "The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead", by James George Frazer (1913), [ p. 305] in Google Books

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Superstition

Main topics|

* Amulet
* Evil eye
* Luck
* Omen
* Talismans
* Myth and ritual

Lists|

* List of lucky symbols
* List of bad luck signs
* Sailors' superstitions
* Theatrical superstitions

Africa|

* Buda
* Gris-gris
* Sampy
* Sleeping child

Americas|

* Ascalapha odorata
* Carranca
* Cooties
* Curupira
* Djucu
* Fortune cookie
* Groundhog Day
* I'noGo tied
* Oscar love curse
* Susto
* White lighter myth
* Witch window

Asia|

* Superstition in India
* Superstition in Pakistan
* Japanese superstitions
* Bhoot (ghost)
* Chhaupadi
* Churel
* Ghosts in Bengali culture
* Jackal's horn
* Muhurta
* Navaratna
* Nazar battu
* Pichal Peri
* Puppy pregnancy syndrome
* Akabeko
* Kanai Anzen
* Maneki-neko
* Okiagari-koboshi
* Omamori
* Fan death
* Agimat
* Arbularyo
* Barang
* Kulam
* Lihi
* Pagtatawas
* Pasma
* Usog
* Kuman Thong
* Palad khik
* Takrut
* Nang Kwak
* White elephant
* Curse of 39
* Jin Chan
* Numbers in Chinese culture
* Superstitions of Malaysian Chinese

Europe|

* August curse
* Barbary macaques in Gibraltar
* Bayern-luck
* Blarney Stone
* Cimaruta
* Cornicello
* The Goodman's Croft
* Himmelsbrief
* Icelandic magical staves
* In bocca al lupo
* Kitchen witch
* Klabautermann
* Mooncalf
* Nazar
* Need-fire
* Painted pebbles
* Powder of sympathy
* Rabbit rabbit rabbit
* Ravens of the Tower of London
* Russian traditions and superstitions
* Spilling water for luck
* The Scottish Play
* Troll cross
* Tycho Brahe days
* Witch post
* Wolfssegen

General|

* 11
* 4 (Four-leaf clover, Tetraphobia)
* 7 (Seventh son of a seventh son)
* 8
* 9
* 13 (Friday the 13th, The Thirteen Club, Thirteenth floor, Triskaidekaphobia)
* 108
* 111
* 27 Club
* 666 (Number of the Beast)
* Ace of spades
* Auspicious wedding dates
* Baseball superstition
* Beginner's luck
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* Bread and butter
* Break a leg
* Chain letter
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* Davy Jones' Locker
* End-of-the-day betting effect
* Fear of frogs
* Fear of ghosts
* First-foot
* Flying Dutchman
* Four Eleven Forty Four
* Gambler's conceit
* Good luck charm
* Human sacrifice
* Jinx
* Knocking on wood
* Law of contagion
* Literomancy
* Lock of hair
* Maternal impression
* Miasma theory
* Nelson
* Numismatic charm
* Penny
* Rabbit's foot
* Rainmaking
* Ship sponsor
* Shoes on a table
* Sign of the horns
* Something old
* Spilling salt
* Three on a match
* Threshold
* Toi toi toi
* Wishing well
* Witch ball
* Witching hour

Related|

* Apotropaic magic
* Astrology and science
* Coincidence
* Debunker
* Divination
* Folk religion
* Fortune-telling
* Magic and religion
* Magical thinking
* Numerology
* Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena
* Post hoc ergo propter hoc
* Traditional medicine
* Urban legend

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