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Ghost

Wikipedia contributors · 2024 · Wikipedia

Spiritual Evidence Map/Last updated May 10, 2026/Claims v1.0.0-provisional/Sources v1.0.0/Scores provisional

Summary

Cross-cultural overview of the concept of ghosts, the history of belief, the varieties of phenomena reported, and the standard naturalistic explanations (pareidolia, sleep paralysis, infrasound, expectation, electromagnetic fields).

Why it matters here

Catch-all reference for the broad ghost claim; pair with apparitional-experience and parapsychology entries for the specific phenomenology and lab-history strands.

Linked claims

Evidence score 3/10

Ghosts are spirits of the deceased

Reports stretch back centuries and across every culture. Most well-investigated cases reduce to pareidolia, infrasound, expectation, or fraud; the broader 'soul of the dead' reading is essentially unverifiable.

Related evidence hubs

Topic hub

Survival & Afterlife

Evidence around dying, near-death experience, and what (if anything) continues.

Evidence pillar

Survival after death

Whether anything of mind continues.

Evidence pillar

Mediumship & after-death communication

Reports of contact with the deceased.