History Main / OurGhostsAreDifferent

** Hogwarts is a rare HauntedCastle where the ghosts are generally nice and have little impact on the actual plot. They're all in the same shape they were when they died - the Bloody Baron is still ChainedByFashion and Nearly-Headless Nick's head will forever hang by that one sinew. After [[spoiler: Sirius]] dies, Harry asks Nick why more people don't choose to be ghosts. Nick, who's used to recently-bereaved students asking him stuff like this, explains that the only people who actually become ghosts are those too afraid of death to cross over, and that being a ghost is a pretty sorry state, all in all.

** The ghosts of Aogami Forest have no form shown, merely acting through influencing those who disturb them towards acts that can only be described as insane (such as causing Nanase Furukawa to gradually grow more and more frustrated with Shino's presence around that time's NewTransferStudent, or making Mari Akagane paint her last painting with ''her own blood''). They are generally {{Vengeful Ghost}}s (being buried alive as sacrifices will do that to you), and [[spoiler:it's a mystery as to whether or not they even ''exist'', though things are pointing more towards them being real.]]

* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Here, it's common for them to hang around near where they're buried and speak to people who come by. As a result, the Necropolis in Oreen is haunted, with people avoiding this at night. They can't move outside though, as the goddess Ayzarua who is the [[{{Psychopomp}} Gateway to Death]] keeps them there unless their bodies are moved. Ghosts don't move on into the afterlife like Ayzarua wants as they [[UnfinishedBusiness still have earthly concerns]] keeping them bound here.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', a ghost is explicitly not a soul, but rather an impression left upon the world by a traumatic or inspiring event, which then relive that event over and over and force others nearby to do the same. This means that, while the majority of ghosts are created by death, it's possible for a ghost to be created from an experience that left the creator alive.

** [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/ButchHartman years after the show ended, all ghosts are in fact inhuman creatures of ectoplasm, with the ones with human appearances and backstories making those up to be more human. This is despite the fact that there's physical evidence that Desiree, Poindexter, and Hotep-Ra once had human lives. [[AuthorOnBoard Butch becoming a born-again Christian]] might have something to do with this claim.

* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Here, it's common for them to hang around near where they're buried and speak to people who come by. As a result, the Necopolis in Oreen is haunted, with people avoiding this at night. They can't move outside though, as the goddess Ayzarua who is the [[{{Psychopomp}} Gateway to Death]] keeps them there unless their bodies are moved. Ghosts don't move on into the afterlife like Ayzarua wants as they [[UnfinishedBusiness still have earthly concerns]] keeping them bound here.

* ''Series/TheRising'': Neve at first doesn't realize she's dead and a ghost, due to feeling just the same initially. She [[TheNeedless doesn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired though]], and also has marks from her fatal injuries but [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. Neve is even capable of riding her bike too, and changing clothes, along with affecting material things in other ways. However, people are unable to feel her touch. [[EvilDetectingDog Dogs and birds can sense her]], while only [[ISeeDeadPeople a couple humans can]]. When she gets very emotional, it [[EmotionalPowers can affect nearby electronics]], such as making the lights flicker. She's unable to sleep as well. It appears she's still around to [[UnfinishedBusiness solve her murder]]. Neve is also solid and tangible (thus her ability to ride a motorbike), making her dad believe she isn't a ghost in fact but something else. [[spoiler:Victoria also turns out to be a ghost, with the reveal both of them have lost memories. Initially in Victoria's case she forgot about even her family, while both she and Neve can't initially remember how they died. They realize they're blocking it out, though, and remember Michael murdered them both.]]

* ''Series/TheRising'': Neve at first doesn't realize she's dead and a ghost, due to feeling just the same initially. She [[TheNeedless doesn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired though]], and also has marks from her fatal injuries but [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. Neve is even capable of riding her bike too, and changing clothes, along with affecting material things in other ways. However, people are unable to feel her touch. [[EvilDetectingDog Dogs and birds can sense her]], while only [[ISeeDeadPeople a couple humans can]]. When she gets very emotional, it [[EmotionalPowers can affect nearby electronics]], such as making the lights flicker. She's unable to sleep as well. It appears she's still around to [[UnfinishedBusiness solve her murder]]. Neve is also solid and tangible (thus her ability to ride a motorbike), making her dad believe she isn't a ghost in fact but something else. [[spoiler:Victoria also turns out to be a ghost, with the reveal both of them have lost memories. Initially in Victoria's case she forgot about even her family, while both she and Neve can't initially how they died. They realize they're blocking it out though, and remember Michael murdered them both.]]

* ''Series/TheRising'': Neve at first doesn't realize she's dead and a ghost, due to feeling just the same initially. She [[TheNeedless doesn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired though]], and also has marks from her fatal injuries but [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. Neve is even capable of riding her bike too, and changing clothes, along with affecting material things in other ways. However, people are unable to feel her touch. [[EvilDetectingDog Dogs and birds can sense her]], while only [[ISeeDeadPeople a couple humans can]]. When she gets very emotional, it [[EmotionalPowers can affect nearby electronics]], such as making the lights flicker. She's unable to sleep as well. It appears she's still around to [[UnfinishedBusiness solve her murder]]. Neve is also solid and tangible (thus her ability to ride a motorbike), making her dad believe she isn't a ghost in fact but something else.

* ''Series/TheRising'': Neve at first doesn't realize she's dead and a ghost, due to feeling just the same initially. She [[TheNeedless doesn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired though]], and also has marks from her fatal injuries but [[FeelNoPain feels no pain]]. Neve is even capable of riding her bike too, and changing clothes, along with affecting material things in other ways. However, people are unable to feel her touch. [[EvilDetectingDog Dogs and birds can sense her]], while only [[ISeeDeadPeople a couple humans can]]. When she gets very emotional, it [[EmotionalPowers can affect nearby electronics]], such as making the lights flicker. She's unable to sleep as well. It appears she's still around to [[UnfinishedBusiness solve her murder]].

* The remastered version of ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' has ghost-like beings named wraiths, described by the narrative as "the essence of the restless dead who resented the living". Cloaked in white, they are [[{{Intangibility}} intangible]] beings somehow able to rend living beings with their claws. Wraiths are vulnerable to Olga's magic field that [[DispelMagic dispels]] their inherent intangibility, as well as Kyril's melee weapon (which is practically effective against anything).

* Catholics believe that the dead in Purgatory can visit living people to request prayers for purification; the living should never attempt to initiate this contact, and these souls are not the same as demons. By contrast, most Protestant churches believe that all ghosts are [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons masquerading as the spirits of the dead]]. This interestingly mirrors the debate in [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearean]] scholarship over the nature of the apparition claiming to be Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'s father.

* Catholics believe that the dead in Purgatory can visit living people to request prayers for purification; the living should never attempt to initiate this contact, and these souls are not the same as demons. By contrast, most Protestant churches believe that all ghosts are [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons masquerading as the spirits of the dead]].

** Aradia lingers as a StringyHairedGhostGirl after dying, appearing as a floating version of herself with blank eyes, tattered clothes and an incredibly fatalistic outlook.

** Humans who have either achieved their Destiny or met their Fate in life, and who have some kind of unfinished business or strong attachment to some particular thing, may, instead of ascending to their heavenly reward or descending to Hell, end up lingering on the corporeal plane, [[HauntedFetter bound to some object]] or place that was significant to them. Unfortunately the process requires giving up part of their being, so some ghosts end up as nothing more than [[WillOTheWisp will'o'wisps]], with no sapience or ability to interact with the world, others end up as {{poltergeist}}s, non-sapient but able to interact tangibly with the physical world, or apparitions, with intelligence but not the ability to affect the physical world directly. True ghosts with both intelligence and the ability to interact with the physical world are quite rare, partially because they are the ones most likely to complete their unfinished business or resolve whatever attachment kept them from moving on. Of course, all types of ghost can also simply be banished, with a ritual or by destroying their anchor, or destroyed outright.

** Ghosts in ''The Dresden Files'' are described as fossils, imprints of a personality. The more emotionally charged the death, the stronger the ghost. For example, graveyards in the books are always filled with ghosts, but most of them are so weak that they are imperceptible to normal people. While if someone commits suicide, or dies while emotionally distressed their ghosts can take on physical forms and even heavily effect the material world. Ghosts don't disappear unless killed by magical means or the reason they are created (normally unfinished business) is fulfilled.*** It's possible for a ghost to be created even if someone's death is very brief, i.e., they were revived via CPR after suffering a bout of clinical death. Also, powerful individuals like wizards can leave very powerful ghosts behind when they die. In ''Literature/GravePeril'', [[spoiler: Harry takes advantage of this by passing unconscious so a ghost can kill him in his sleep, only to be revived by CPR, and thus creates a ghost ''of himself'' that he teams up with to beat the crap out of the hostile ghost that killed him. The ghost Harry disappears once this is accomplished, as the purpose that caused him to linger as a ghost has now been fulfilled.]]

* ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' features a character who's learning what it's like to be a newly restless spirit. He's definitely in the Unfinished Business camp; luckily his business consists merely of [[spoiler:finishing the long-winded voice messages he was in the middle of when he was so shockingly, unexpectedly shot]]. Although the main point of [[spoiler: finishing his message was to warn his sister]].