Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation

Throughout history, people have reported seeing ‘ghosts’. But a Victorian ghost is in many respects a very different phenomenon from a ghost in Classical Greece, or in medieval Europe. Finucane surveys reports of ghosts from ancient Greece, the early Christian era, the Reformation, the Victorian age, and through the twentieth century. He asks such questions as: How have the physical aspects claimed for ghosts varied from age to age? What differences are there in the functions and intentions ascribed to ghosts? How have the changes in more general beliefs in religion and science, in particular influenced the perception of ghosts?Drawing on primary sources from all periods and cultures, Finucane addresses this topic in its full breadth.