The concept of ghosts has been an ongoing and universal element in human culture as far back as recorded history can document. In more modern popular culture and entertainment, ghosts are a popular mainstay—from A Christmas Carol and Casper the Friendly Ghost to The Amityville Horror, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, and Ghost Whisperer. This book comprehensively examines ghost and spirit phenomena in all its incarnations to provide readers with a holistic perspective on the subject. It presents insightful information about the contribution of a specific work or author to establish or further the evolution of ghost lore, rather than concentrating solely on the film, literature, music, or folklore itself.

The book focuses on ghosts in western culture but also provides information about spirit phenomena and lore in international settings, as many of the trends in popular culture dealing with ghosts and spirits are informed by authors and filmmakers from Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The writers and editors are experts and scholars in the field and enthusiastic fans of ghost lore, ghost films, ghost hunting, and urban legends, resulting in entries that are informative and engaging—and make this the most complete and current resource on ghost and spirit lore available.

Features

• Provides accessible, interesting, and fun-to-read information authored by expert researchers and coedited by scholars who are experts on the topic of ghosts across human culture
• Presents analytical discussions of the figure of the ghost in each work that will be beneficial to students in film studies, English, or other classes tasked with writing an essay on the horror genre or ghost films and books
• Explores how the idea of the ghost implies belief in there being more to human existence than the physical body and is intrinsically connected to the concept of the afterlife—and how these concepts often coexisted uneasily with beliefs regarding afterlife in religious theologies