Why ghost stories?

Image courtesy of Prawny at Pixabay

So I'm going to digress for a bit from my chasing down ghost stories in Gibraltar. I am becoming increasingly more interested in why we believe in ghosts at all. In fact, why are people superstitious anyway? And why, in general, do ghost stories make such an impact on people? Even tough old cynics - and I'm probably more on this side of the fence than on any other - like to listen to a good, spooky, spine-tingling tale.

Image by Enrique Meseguer on Pixabay

Human beings have told ghost stories since the dawn of stories - or as long as human beings have existed. There are variants of ghost stories and all sorts of different types of ghosts, and belief varies from complete scoffing and mocking by non-believers to those who are convinced they can and do communicate with dead people. I don't pass judgement on anyone and their personal beliefs, largely because I am not sure where I stand on the matter, although I do tend towards cynicism.

I'm not going to get too involved, at least for the time being, into fully delving into the psychology behind the belief in ghosts or the supernatural or even why people follow superstitions (and, if I were going to go down that path, I would have to dig around into why people hold religious beliefs because in my mind the one is not far removed from the other).

What I am more interested in is what ghost stories tell us about the human condition. That is one of the most important functions of stories - to explore, examine, contemplate and even hypothesise and experiment, in a remarkably safe way, what it is to be human. We are such incredibly complex creatures, and our lives are so intricate, that stories help us to unravel these a little, or to travel down paths of greater understanding that would otherwise not be open to us.

Image by Yerson Retamal on Pixabay

For example, there are many ghost stories where somehow the dead person won't leave the place where they died, especially if they died a violent or unjust death. Think of the Grey Nun of the Convent in Gibraltar. She was cruelly walled up alive and now her ghost haunts the place of her doom, perhaps seeking justice, perhaps as a warning, perhaps as a lament. Was there anyone who mourned her in life? Religious communities believe that the right rituals of mourning move a recently deceased soul towards a place of rest or peace or joy - whatever name you wish to give it, Heaven, Nirvana or Valhala (I have to say, I always found Valhala rather more appealing than other post-death offerings).

The seeking of justice or retribution, or at least to remind the living of what terrible event has taken place, has often brought back a dead person to haunt the living: think the ghost of Ann Boleyn wandering around the Tower of London, head nowhere to be seen; or of Katherine Howard, running screaming in terror through the corridors of Hampton Court Palace still pleading with the King for her life; or the crowds of mournful souls that clutter Gibraltar's galleries, those tunnels in our hollow mountain, the ghosts of those who sought refuge from the bombardments of the sieges only to die of injury, disease, hunger, thirst or sheer despair.

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians on Pixabay

Or the ghost of the poor watchman in a warehouse, who died when the warehouse caught fire and even today, decades later, workers claim to have heard footsteps, whispers pleading for help, and a shadow, the shape of a man in between the shelving, following them towards the stairs and never quite finding a way out. Spooky. But the closest I think I have come to a true ghost story. I worked in that warehouse in Gillingham many years ago, and I was one of those people convinced she had been followed by someone, something...the poor watchman destined never to escape the flames.

Perhaps then, the question I should be asking is not: why do people believe in ghosts? I prefer to ask: why are ghost stories so vital to people?

I'll be mulling on that. But more than anything, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below, or email me, or contact me via my social media! Meanwhile, here are a couple of interesting articles I found, just to get your thinking gear working. And a link to a GBC ghost trail, for fun.

BBC Future: Why we should believe in ghosts

Why do people believe in ghosts?

The Secret meaning of ghost stories

The Ghost Story persists in American Literature. Why?

GBC Ghost Trail S02E03