Ghostlore: Top 5 Ghosts

As a horror writer and fan of the spooky stuff, Corinne Pollard has read and written her fair share of hauntings. Here, she walks us through some different spirit types that get overshadowed by their more famous named ghostly peers.

You may have heard of the Headless Horseman, the Flying Dutchman, or the Slimer. You may have even heard of the Grey Lady. In this article, famous ghosts like these don’t have the spotlight—the different types of spirits do. Can you recognise what kind of spirit you’re dealing with before it is too late?

As a horror writer, choosing the type of ghost is vital, so here are my top five.

Noisy Spirit 

Otherwise known as a poltergeist, the noisy spirit comes from German ghostlore. Capable of moving physical objects, influencing items, and creating loud noises, the noisy spirit is usually a mischievous one.

Their actions are disruptive and can be frightening, but they’re not seen as intentionally malicious—as a certain film would have you believe. As they’re stuck for eternity on the ghostly plane, I can see why this spirit resorts to pranks and anything else to ease their boredom.

The ghostlore claims that the poltergeist can also interact with people directly such as tripping, hitting, and biting, so it is easy to see why this spirit could cross that thin line between mischief and malevolence. There is a theory that the noisy spirit is actually a manifestation of emotional stress left by a spirit or a living person, which is possibly why interactions with it can lead to nowhere. Some other tales however claim that interacting with the noisy spirit can actually upset it, which is the very last thing you should do.

(Photo by Lan Gao on Unsplash)

Vengeful Spirit 

From La Llorona to the Dybbukevery culture seems to have a vengeful spirit. This is a spirit who died a cruel or unnatural death, and they return from the afterlife seeking vengeance. In literature and film, this spirit type is the most common with examples such as The Woman in Black, The Grudge, and Hamlet. It is a spirit full of hatred, it won’t ever rest, and it’s often mistaken to be a poltergeist. This restless spirit may never be satisfied until the ones who murdered them or tortured them are punished. It’s no wonder many vengeful spirits turn out to be female. 

Another reason the vengeful spirit may have returned from the afterlife is that they weren’t given the correct burial. Many cultures have spirits return because their grave was disturbed or the correct religious procedure or funeral rites weren’t enacted. To bring the spirit peace, reburials are attempted and, as a last resort, there are exorcisms. If you see the word exorcism, you’re more than likely to associate it with demons and devils, but actually its historical usage is more common against malevolent spirits—especially if the vengeful spirit is using possession of someone to inflict their punishment.       

Friendly Spirit

In contrast to vengeful spirits, friendly spirits are helpful, even protective, ghosts who are usually deceased family, loved ones, or ancestors. They appear at times of great change to bestow comfort, caution, or for a final goodbye. It’s a surprisingly common tale to see a loved one out of the blue and later discover they’d passed away some time ago.

Also, there are common tales of a deceased loved one visiting someone in a coma or while they’re unconscious with their life at stake. Friendly spirits are like angels in this sense. 

In other ways, friendly spirits can be identified like guardians or protectors of their environment with no intention to scare anyone—such as with the famous animated character, Casper the Friendly Ghost. They’ll haunt their location, make their presence known, and be helpful, but this seems such a rare sighting and seems to be more down to the spectator and their attitude towards their invisible friend. In literature and film, these spirits usually have warnings, such as with A Christmas Carol, but this may end with them being misidentified as omens.   

(Photo by Tandem X Visuals on Unsplash)

Residual Spirit

You could define a residual spirit as a ‘normal’ haunting compared to other ghosts. It is a spirit that has no consciousness or awareness of its present day surroundings and instead it repeats the same actions over and over. From this ‘recording’, spectators can glimpse into the past and see a part of the residual spirit’s life. Usually it is a scene tied to powerful emotions or an important event to the spirit. If spectators try to interact with the residual spirit, they’ll discover there’s no change in the ‘recording’. The spirit won’t see them, hence why there’s no known way to stop a residual spirit’s loop and lay them to rest. 

This spirit reinforces the Stone Tape Theory, which posits that an environment can hold and replay traumatic or strong emotional moments, so it is the environment that is haunting us and not a ghost entity. There’s been many sightings of such a spirit. A famous one in York has Ancient Romans marching through a wall; this wall didn’t exist in their time, and it was discovered there was a Roman road on that very location.

I have written a residual spirit character in my short story, ‘Strawberry Hearts’, available in Other & Different by A Coup of Owls Press; this ghost has no awareness of anything new and keeps asking the same question to other characters. 

(Photo by alex mihu on Unsplash)

Intelligent Spirit

In contrast to residual spirits, intelligent spirits are apparitions who are fully aware of their surroundings and their present day and are keen to interact. This interaction is like a poltergeist’s actions such as moving objects, but they also interact with messages such as a whisper in your ear, sounds such as coughing or laughter, smells such as perfume or baked bread, technical faults such as radio and TV, and stirring other senses towards a spectator. They have free will and have the same traits they had in life, so if they were a good person you can expect no hostility. Their haunting is usually because they had died at the same location or it was their favourite location.

These intelligent spirits may have an unfinished business like they need their death to be known. Or they could wish to remain at their location forever. Ghost hunters try to discover such spirits and record via technology such as ghost orbs, mist or fog with the use of EMF meters and even ouija boards. In literature and film, there are examples of intelligent ghosts in The Others, The Lovely Bones, and The Canterville Ghost.

There are of course other types of ghosts—such as Banshee, Wraiths, and Revenants—but these five are indicative of a diverse range of ghosts that we read and write about today. So choose your spirit wisely, and spot its ‘ghost signs’ as you venture into your ghost story.

Photo by Shaylyn on Unsplash

Meet the guest poster

Image for Corinne Pollard

Corinne Pollard is a disabled UK horror writer and poet, published with Black Hare Press, Carnage House Publishing, Inky Bones Press, Graveside Press, Three Cousins Publishing, The Ravens Quoth Press, Raven Tale Publishing, A Coup of Owls Press, and The Stygian Lepus. Corinne writes reviews and the weekly newsletter for The Horror Tree. Aside from writing, Corinne enjoys metal music, visiting graveyards, and shopping for books to read. Follow her dark world on Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, or her blog.

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