Folklore Expert Answers Ghost Story Questions

I'm Professor Tok Thompson, professor of anthropology

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at the University of Southern California.

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Let's answer some questions from the internet.

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what the oldest recorded ghost story is?

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So we know that from the earliest writings,

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especially back to ancient Babylonian times, Sumer, Ur,

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some of the earliest stories people were writing down

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So maybe 3,500 years ago, we have inscriptions

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of what seemed to be even an exorcism ritual.

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but they already had ritual specialists

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that figured out how to get rid of ghosts.

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Again, we know that as soon as writing pops up,

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and these are some of our earliest writings.

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From Anna, @lesaenni, What counts as a ghost?

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Ghosts aren't a scientific concept.

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We've never established them as a scientific reality.

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that science doesn't even acknowledge existing?

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The definition I like to use is that a ghost

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is a spirit of a dead person who appears to the living.

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that might be other spirits or other demons or ghouls

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or things that might not be the spirit of a dead person.

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On the other hand, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

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One example is what if the dead person

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Some people might say yes, some people might…

Original source: https://www.wired.com/