CHAPTER 1

Ancestral Ghosts

As the name implies, ancestral ghosts are the spirits of departed familymembers. There are various reasons for ghosts to haunt the living world. It maybe that they are drawn to a particular area through a traumatic experience theyhad there (possibly the manner of their death) or through experiencing greathappiness in that location. There can also be the need to contact the living,either to give a message or simply to let the survivors know that the spirit isstill in existence, albeit on another plane. Many times the spirit is drawn backbecause of remorse for some actions or treatment of a relative or close friend.

Ancestral ghosts may watch over a new child and watch it grow and develop. Theymay be in attendance at weddings and other important events in the lives ofsurviving relatives. Deceased parents and grandparents have been seen inphotographs of such events, materializing to be a part of them.

Japanese Ghosts

In the Japanese religion of Shintoism, deceased ancestors acquire the power ofdeities with supernatural attributes. Surviving relatives worship them byhonoring their pictures, burning incense, and making offerings of food anddrink. In this way, the ancestors are propitiated and will bring good luck tothe family. They do have the potential for good or for evil, and their focus ison the same interests they held when alive. To the Japanese, the dead are noless than the living, taking part in the daily life of the family.

There are stories of ghosts of the ancestors materializing and remaining visiblefor years. For three days in July, there is the Festival of the Dead, at whichtime the deceased may return from the spirit world to look around at the countryand to visit with the family. New mats are placed at all the family shrines, andfresh food is prepared and laid out ready for the ghosts' return. Some Shintosects perform a rite in which a person is selected to be possessed by anancestral spirit. It is believed that then, with the spirit acting through theliving person, healings may be performed and prophecies made.

Traditional ghosts are the Yurei, which hang around after death mainly to seekvengeance for something that happened in life. Many of them are female. The namemeans "faint/dim/hazy spirit." The normal, non-vindictive spirit is the Reikon,which simply leaves the physical body and joins the other ancestors. Then thereare the Yokai, or "bewitching apparitions." These always appear at dawn or duskand include monsters and spirits like goblins. It's said that they sometimessteal small children. The Obake or Bakemono are general terms for preternaturalbeings of any sort and include the Yurei and Yokai but can also include anythingstrange and unusual.

In recent years, many ghosts have appeared in otherwise ordinary familyphotographs. These usually are seen as extra faces or—in a large number ofcases—extra hands in the picture. There have also been sightings in Japanesevideos. For example, an amateur video taken of a girl on a moving train, whenslowed, showed a partially transparent figure of a girl outside the window. Thesighting was at a section of track where more than one person had committedsuicide by jumping from the train.

Shinrei Shashin is a phrase used to describe photos where ghosts or spiritsdecide to show all or part of themselves when a photo is taken. Shinrei Shashinis a popular subject on Japanese TV.

Ka

Ka (sometimes ba) is the name given to the ancient Egyptian spirit or soul or,more correctly, to a "double" of that soul, similar to an astral body. It hasbeen referred to as an alter ego or guardian spirit. Not only humans but animalsand even inanimate objects had kas. At the tomb of a deceased person, therewould be built a "House of Ka"—a home for the double. The actual soul would makeperiodic visits to its counterpart at that house. The House of Ka is whereofferings of food and drink would be left. If there was neglect, then the kawould be forced to leave that house and roam, as a ghost, eating and drinkingwhatever could be found. Such a ghost might be encountered by the living.

Revenant

The word revenant is sometimes used interchangeably with ghost. Revenants may behuman or animal. "Revenant" covers the whole gamut of ghosts, apparitions,specters, poltergeists, phantoms, and so on. The word is from the Frenchrevenir, meaning "to return."

Animal Ghosts

Animals have spirits/souls, and they do go on to the afterlife, just as humansdo. Consequently, it's not unusual for some of those spirits to return—again aswith humans—in ghostly form. Animals of all types have been seen as ghosts in awide variety of locations. Not all reports of animal ghosts are sightings,however; some are sounds, such as animal footsteps on a tile floor, or a cat'smeow or a dog's bark. Deceased family pets show up in snapshots of familymembers, reuniting with their loved ones. For example, when Lady Hehir wasphotographed with her Irish wolfhound Tara, in 1926, there in the picture,behind Tara's rear end, was the face of Kathal, a Cairn terrier pet who had diedsix weeks before the photograph was taken. Kathal and Tara had been inseparablefriends before the terrier's demise.

Similarly, a family photograph of two ladies and their maid at tea, taken inTingewick, England, in 1916 shows a dark-colored dog standing beside one of theladies. The photograph was taken by a retired CID (Secret Service) inspector. Noone—photographer or sitters—saw anything of a dog there at the time. The dog ispartially transparent in the photo.

Another family group picture, taken at Clarens, Switzerland, in August 1925, isof a mother with her baby in a carriage and a young son standing beside thecarriage holding a toy kitten. But also visible in the picture, peeking aroundthe toy, is the head of a real white kitten—one that had belonged to the familybut that had died some weeks...