A Post Mostly About Ghosts

Happy Halloween to all my readers! I've always liked Halloween, what with the dressing up and all the images. The candy never thrilled me quite as much as it apparently does other kids, and I eventually reached the point where I preferred to stay home and hand out candy instead of going out and begging for it myself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year, although I do think bethje and I are going out to eat at some point.



The origins of Halloween tie in with the widespread idea that at least some dead people are still hanging around, usually in a non-corporeal form. This idea is an ancient one found in many cultures. The Romans performed sacrifices in honor of the Manes, who were the spirits of dead loved ones. Ancestor worship is also a concept that's seen throughout the world. This all ties in with the idea of the soul. But what exactly is a soul? Even today, the idea is pretty vague, yet a large number of people believe in them. Essentially, the belief is that a spirit version of a person, with the same personality and sometimes even the same appearance, lives on in some way. Considering that consciousness seems to be connected to the physical brain, I really can't see the soul idea as being much more than wishful thinking. I can understand the desire for it, though, as I do find the idea that death totally ends everything to be somewhat disturbing. Perhaps to some people, even an afterlife of eternal torment would be preferable to nothing at all. And there's the whole reward and punishment issue, but I won't get into that right now. Anyway, from what I've seen, it looks like the Egyptian Book of the Dead regards people in the afterlife as having physical bodies that are essentially the same as the ones they had in life, which is probably why preserving the corpse was so important. You wouldn't want to hang out in the underworld as a mere skeleton, would you? Well, actually, that sounds kind of cool. Greek mythology has the underworld inhabited by shades, existing in shadow and despair. These shades still maintained personalities, though, and they could be summoned and consulted by magicians.



While a bleak existence for the spirits of the dead was the general belief in many cultures, this was often coupled with the idea that the truly virtuous would be spared this fate. Most dead people in Greek mythology end up in the boring Plains of Asphodel, but some would be allowed into the Elysian Fields. The noble warriors among the Vikings would end up in Valhalla instead of Niflheim. Elijah was carried bodily into Heaven on a chariot when his time on Earth had ended. Along with this, there's the belief that the truly BAD end up punished for eternity, or at least long enough to learn their lesson. The Greek Tartarus, where Sisyphus was forever pushing a boulder up a hill and Tantalus wasn't able to get his hands on any food or water, was a major influence on the Christian version of Hell. Many of the tales of torments pretty much require that there's some physical component to the soul. After all, why would Tantalus have been tantalized at all if he was merely a non-corporeal being who had no need of sustenance? The typical image of fire and brimstone accompanied by demons poking pitchforks into people's butts becomes much less effective if the dead have no nerves. I believe some concepts of the soul also thought it was physically manifested as breath, which I guess is where the idea that sneezing can let your soul escape originates. So is a ghost or spirit a physical being or merely some form of energy? I'm not sure anyone really knows.



Since ghosts are often thought to live a bleak existence, it's not too surprising that they'd envy the living. And a lot of tales of haunted houses and the like basically consist of the dead being jerks to any living people who happen to come around. One popular variation is that of the poltergeist, which is essentially a spirit that can move physical objects around. Irish folklore includes the idea of the fetch, a ghost of a person who's still alive. Seeing a fetch is often thought to be a harbinger of one's own death, but there are variations on the theme.



Oh, and happy birthday to doktor_x! I've always thought it would be kind of cool to have a Halloween birthday, but what do I know?

Masquerade Meme

Here's an old favorite, this time taken from ozma914.

vovat's Halloween party:

1womp dressed as Adam-the-first-man but the fig-leaf was far too big.
3x1minus1 dressed as Pavlova the ballerina -- dancing on point too.
alicornmoon dressed as Jack the Ripper in a time machine, complete with gory knives.
aliste dressed as a W&H Computers employee.
anjeelou dressed as Camilla Parker-Bowles when she becomes Queen.
annamatic dressed as Sybil - except that Sybil didn't show but the other 14 personalities did.
arfies dressed as something surface, but what, specifically, you can't tell.
auronsgirl dressed as a sub-adjunct software reinstaller.
bec_87rb dressed as a bottle of Glyovur.
bethje dressed as Dan Fouts.
bibliophile21 didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
billiedoll dressed as Rubeus Hagrid.
blitzchamp dressed as a 1980's yuppie child.
bluesilverkdg gets drunk, strips naked, and somehow emerges dressed as Barbra Streisand.
brostron forgot to put on clothes!
burningofroissy dressed as Elizabeth Regina on steroids and roller skates.
carvinkeeper12 dressed as Josephine Baker but the banana "skirt" didn't survive the night.
chhinnamasta dressed as a character from Harry Potter and the Coalition of Steel.
chrisstangl dressed as George Lucas riding a eagle.
chu_hi dressed as Mary-Kate Olsen with her very own conjoined Ashley.
cog1201 dressed as a character from a Silent Hill game.
colbyucb forgot to put on clothes!
colleenanne dressed as Ichabod Crane, the schoolmaster from Sleepy Hollow.
countblastula dressed as Susan Lucci - tarred and feathered.
dave_noisy dressed as a pimp.
daveychu dressed as Mary Queen of Scots ... without her head. Most convincing.
dennisanfuso didn't dress up, spoilsport.
doktor_x dressed as the Viscount of Old Sherman.
dragonxbait dressed as Hurricane Dorothy.
eagledna dressed as a disturbing self-made character called "Zippy Girdlehiney".
farmanimalsrock dressed as a referee.
gick dressed as the Vicomte des Boules-Velues, though it looked more like Rutherford B. Hayes.
gloworm59 dressed as a safety for the Rams.
goldenmoonbear dressed as the Duke of Apliuflu.
graycardinal dressed as a first baseman for the Padres.
i3uffalogirl dressed as a walking Guillotine.
jazzsammich dressed as David Letterman.
jenhime dressed as Daniela Pestova.
k1cup dressed as Jennifer Love Hewitt.
kevenn dressed as Guy Fawkes but the exploding barrel of dynamite didn't go down too well.
kristenjarrod dressed as Josephine Baker but the banana "skirt" didn't survive the night.
kyrie1618 dressed as Marie Antoinette going to her death.
leolapyre dressed as William McKinley.
listenesmerelda dressed as Worf from "Star Trek".
little_octagon dressed as a rabbit.
logical_con dressed as a mummy.
lozenger8 dressed as a grating ghost.
majellen dressed as blues legend Skinny Eyes Lee.
matt_argos dressed as a skeleton, though it looked more like Mr. Sulu from "Star Trek".
mikeleffel dressed as the Innocent Power Ranger.
mmpoetatheart dressed as the King of Romania.
not_glimmer dressed as James Buchanan.
notaboyscout dressed as a new superhero: White Squirrel.
nova_one dressed as Sigfried in need of testosterone.
obsessical dressed as Karl Rove.
odontv dressed as a very fake witch-doctor complete with a collection of shrunken skulls.
onesto_hotel dressed as the love child of Jim Carrey and Hillary Clinton.
onib dressed as a Level 5 bard, though it looked more like a witch.
ozma914 dressed as legendary space hero Pack Rockbone.
petie_s dressed as Optimus Prime.
pixielust dressed as a funny drizzle.
poisonyoulove dressed as the Governor of Wisconsin.
possumworld dressed as the spirit of their dead grandmother Gail.
punterschlagen dressed as a new superhero: Yak Master.
radiantwterror dressed as Mde. Lachienne Foutue d'Enfer -- you don't wanna know.
revme didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
rockinlibrarian dressed as a disturbing self-made character called "Cheeseball Rhinolips".
sailorptah dressed as a goblin.
sapsorrow dressed as a particle.
science dressed as a pitcher for the Red Sox.
secondlina dressed as Drew Barrymore's grandmother.
secretnthewings dressed as Helga the wisewoman, although the live snake was a mistake.
shadarko dressed as your brother.
skylark_king didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
speciesof1 dressed as the resurrected dead -- complete with the most convincing coffin.
spookydiblover dressed as a deer.
suegypt dressed as a data entry intern.
themall dressed as the main character of "The Station Agent".
therealtavie dressed as Jay Leno.
thestraggletag dressed as Nosferatu the Supreme Vampire.
tisok dressed as Lady Godiva without the horse and far too little hair!.
travspence didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
twobitme dressed as Optimus Prime.
unclemilo dressed as a success.
vee_ecks dressed as Ivan the Terrible of Russia.
vilajunkie dressed as a new member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Unlucky Knight.
yosef dressed as Trent Reznor.
zaph didn't even show up and doesn't get any candy.
zimbra1006 dressed as Sigfried in need of testosterone.

Throw your own party at the Hallomeme!
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