THEY’RE NOT ALL OUT TO GET YOU….

Meet the Friendly Ghosts

Brandy Stark, PhDOct. 26, 2016

Introduction

Casper the Friendly Ghost Created in the late 1930s by

Seymore Reit (concept) and Joe Oriolo (illustration).

Controversy: Was he a child that died? (One origin says he was a young teenager who died of pneumonia after sledding all day).

Instead, ghosts = part of a species. He was a ghost boy because his parents were married as ghosts.

General concept: He doesn’t like to scare people. Comes to the world of the living to make friends. Saves someone from a bad fate, is accepted despite his ghostly state.

Daimon of the Greeks Daimons (daemons): Intermediary

spirits between humanity and the gods. Could be good or evil; good ones offered good advice to the living (inner voice). Socrates attributed internalized

premonitions of impending problems to his daimon – though he complained that it never told him what to do about the problem. He was just warned about it.

Transforms into the “guardian spirit” of modernity (guardian angel) via Christianity

Family

Family Most commonly reported

phenomena are ghosts of family; most active are parents, grandparents, siblings

Personal Account Reports include:

Smells: cigars, cigarettes, cologne, perfume, cooking, flowers

Visual: Family died before family member was born; able to identify them, seeing departed

Dreams: Crisis dreams, answers

Items manifesting (see image) Animals, symbols, or songs

Ancestor Spirits Rome: Lares, ancestor spirits who

guarded the family or household Romans taught that the divine energy

survived death; men had the genius and women the juno

Men = father flanked by his ancestors; women = reception of the juno at her wedding by the priest; gave her fertility and help in childbirth Becomes our prototype for the guardian

angel (Family Circus)

Ancestor Worship in China Started in Neolithic times; connection to

filial piety (family as sacred), connection to past Deceased family members had a continued

existence, watched the living world, and could influence fortune for the living/descendants

Afterlife much like this life; living responsible for providing items for the dead

Keep the dead happy, helping the living Starts with the funeral: Dead are given

necessities (towel, comb, toothbrush, shoes, water, food, etc.)

Family shrines, used for oracles (get advice).

Because the Chinese believed in two (or three) parts of the soul, the dead could be in more than one place at once.

Ancestor Spirits: Africa

Amadlozi: (“people of heaven”). Zulu. Family members and ancestors who have passed. They continued to aid their descendants by guiding them in life. The living give gifts in exchange for help making life better (or for help leading to a good life).

The ancestral spirits speak via a sangoma who has trained to be a medium. They may also speak through dreams, but it is recommended that the person who dreams contact a priest for guidance in interpreting the dream.

http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-african-ancestors-and-amadlozi

Ancestor Spirits in Russia Domovik (domovoj, domovoy): A Russian

spirit that belongs to the ancestral founder of the family. The spirit looks like an old man with a gray beard and is only referred to by pronoun (he) or as “grandfather”, never by name. Live behind stove Move with family from house to house Keeps hostile spirits out Does household chores Guards the family When unhappy, can cause trouble (worse: burn

down house) Chlevnik is one who live sin the barn, bannik in the

bathroom, and ovinnik in the kitchen. http://www.darktheatre.net/wiki/index.php?title=Spirits_of_the_Slavic_World

Weather: Rain Koko: Spirits of the dead men (originally

drowned children) who come in the form of ducks to bring rain and supervise hunts. Zuni tribe.

Shiwanna: Pueblo myth, spirits associated with the dead; they live in various parts of the universe or in the mountains, below a lake or spring, or in a town by the sea. They are represented by clouds and are impersonated by kachina dolls/masked dancers.

Kachinas: (“Spirit father” or “life”). Supernatural beings or the spirits of the ancestral dead who are intermediaries to the gods. They reside in the San Francisco Mountains, are

associated with rain and perform beneficial functions. Used to take the souls of the dead back with them, but

got too cumbersome. They allow humans to impersonate them.

Hopi Butterfly Dance

Nature

Warning of Hurricanes The Gray Man of North Carolina (Cape Hatteras) The Shadow/Black Man at Coquina Beach

(Bradenton) http://urbanlegendsofflorida.homestead.com/graym

an.html Shows up when a hurricane is going to strike the

area: North Carolina: Couple had home insurance

cancelled due to a dispute. Hurricane Gloria (1985) approached they were in some dire straights; before the evacuated, the couple walked the beach which was, at that point, deserted. They saw a man up a ways away and as he approached they prepared to say hello to him. Just as they got near to him, he seemed to vanish -- they couldn't find him; this was odd because they noticed nothing unusual about the man.  He seemed solid, normal, and quite present on the beach with them.  The stress of the hurricane was topmost in their minds so they finished the walk and returned home, got their belongings and left to stay with their daughter. 

Faceless Gray May of Pawleys Island: Similar to above, but in South Carolina. Some think he is the ghost of Percival Pawley, the first to settle the island.

Oceanic: Volcano Help Madame Pele: Hawaii’s goddess of the

volcano, shows up in ghostly form; prior to eruption, she descends to warn islanders of coming danger.

In ghostly form, she appears as a young, beautiful woman in a brilliant red muumuu, accompanied by a small white dog.

Travels at night, sometimes alone. If seen, offer her a ride (ignoring her makes her unhappy and vengeful).

Finances

Financial Aid Clairvoyants See Good Fortune in C

apitalist Vietnam (Wall Street Journal)

In Vietnam, there is great belief in the supernatural world

Little division between worlds; blessed and nature, animals, spirits help; cursed and they all harm. Spirits help fortune tellers to

understand people’s lives, offer predictions and guidance

Ghosts can be appeased with “ghost money” burned to give them cash in the afterlife

Words conjure power; spoken word is incredibly powerful; more helpful, more spoken, more dangers, less spoken

http://www.vietnamtourism.com/en/index.php/about/items/2444

Jobs

Job Helpers: Mines and Fishers Blue-cap (Blue-bonnet): British mine spirit who

helps miners. He does expect to be paid for his labors, usually with gifts left in a corner every two weeks. Had enormous strength, capable of long work hours Manifested as a blue flame that floated about the shafts

and, as a flame, it could move any object it alighted upon

Knocker: Cornwall, England, friendly and helpful.

Tommyknockers in American folklore. One Colorado mine claimed that they had friendly

tommyknockers, though they could be practical jokers. Miners honor them by leaving spaces for them at the bar.

Bucca: (Buvva-boo): Cornish folklore, sea spirit that lives with and helps fishermen. Fishermen are expected to leave a fish from their catch on the sand, toss a piece of bread over the left shoulder, and spill a bit of beer on the ground. Hidee Gold Mines,

Colorado

Job Helpers

Martha, the nurse ghost: A woman who died 30 years ago continues her duties as a nurse; assisted a newly graduate nurse on her first night of work. Appeared to her as she made rounds and notified her first of a patient in room 8 (climbing out of bed) and one in room 6 (respiratory distress; doctor called). Checked on patients as woman worked on these cases and reported by others. Known at the hospital and reported by patients as helpful and checking on them.

Aids Travelers Mysterious supernatural black dogs

Operate under their own interests; some the size of calves with blazing eyes; don’t talk to these or they can attack and cause madness, loss of a sense

Guardians: Stories of a traveler walking alone when a black dog appears from nowhere. Talking to it, trying to shoo it away do nothing. After a while, the dog vanishes and cannot be found. Person discovers that a group of bandits arrested and tell the story that they were going to attack the traveler, but were afraid of the dog.

Another story says a man went to board a boat but was blocked by a giant black dog. He couldn’t get past it. The boat left. The next day the man discovered the boat sank at sea.

Travel and Housework

Butlers Lost motorists sometimes end up at Manor

House in Cold Ashton, Gloucestershire. They go to the house and knock on the door to get help with directions. A butler answers the door and gives them directions. However, no one lives in the house and it has been “derelict for decades” (Helpful Ghosts).

At the Pier Hotel, DT St. Petersburg, a former manager of the hotel (who once was a butler) continues to clean up after the guests. He lived and died in room 206; people who stay there find items moved (personal account told to me), or they feel the urge to clean.

Household Help Silkies are female spirits named for their

rustling silk dresses. They are found in the border area between England and Scotland.

Perform household chores and are valued by people living in large houses.

Can be a guardian figure – may kill intruders out to harm the family.

Can be a bit naughty – make a messy house orderly, or an orderly house messy.

Guiley, Rosemary E. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York: Facts on File, 1992

Questions?

THE END!