Editing Ghost (section)

===Common attributes===
Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. [[Anthropology|Anthropologists]] link this idea to early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person (the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.<ref name="EncyOccult"/> This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the [[Latin]] ''spiritus'' and the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[pneuma]]'', which by [[analogy]] became extended to mean the soul. In the [[Bible]], [[God]] is depicted as synthesising [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]], as a living soul, from the dust of the Earth and the breath of God.

In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance ([[vengeful ghost]]s), or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or "[[Doppelgänger|fetch]]" is a related omen of death.<ref>Hole, pp. 13–27</ref> The impetus of haunting is commonly considered an unnatural death.{{Sfn|Lagerwey|2004|pp=182–183}}

[[File:Union Graveyard III.jpg|thumb|Union Cemetery in [[Easton, Connecticut]], is home to the legend of the White Lady.]]
[[White Lady (ghost)|White ladies]] were reported to appear in many rural areas, and supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing a child or husband and a sense of purity, as opposed to the [[Lady in Red (ghost)|Lady in Red]] ghost that is mostly attributed to a jilted lover or prostitute. The White Lady ghost is often associated with an individual family line or regarded as a harbinger of death similar to a [[banshee]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Fantastically wrong wailing banshee|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/06/fantastically-wrong-wailing-banshee/&hl=en-ZA|magazine=Wired}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ireland's Most Famous Ghost-The White Lady|url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irelands-most-famous-ghost-white-lady-kinsale-charlesfort&grqid=qj_KTwYc&s=1&hl=en-ZA|website=Irish Central}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{context inline|date=July 2019}}

Legends of ghost ships have existed since the 18th century; most notable of these is the ''[[Flying Dutchman]]''. This theme has been used in literature in ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' by [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

Ghosts are often depicted as being covered in a shroud and/or dragging chains.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Shure|first=Natalie|date=2015-10-31|title=Who Invented The 'Bedsheet Ghost'?|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/31/who-invented-the-bedsheet-ghost|access-date=2020-08-13|archive-date=2023-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024084904/https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-invented-the-bedsheet-ghost|url-status=live}}</ref>