# Fear of ghosts

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Phasmophobia

"Phasmophobia" redirects here. For the video game, see [*Phasmophobia* (video game)](/source/Phasmophobia_(video_game)).

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The **fear of ghosts** in many human [cultures](/source/Culture) is based on beliefs that some [ghosts](/source/Ghost) may be malevolent towards people and dangerous (*within the range of all possible attitudes, including mischievous, benign, indifferent, etc.*). It is related to [fear of the dark](/source/Fear_of_the_dark). The fear of ghosts is a very common fear.

A persistent fear of ghosts is sometimes **phasmophobia**, a type of [specific phobia](/source/Specific_phobia).[1][2] It derives from [Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek) φάσμα, *phásma*, meaning "apparition" and -φοβία, *-phobía*, meaning "fear".[3] It is often brought about by experiences in early [childhood](/source/Childhood) and causes sufferers to experience [panic attacks](/source/Panic_attacks).

## Typical character

The fear of ghosts is widespread even in post-industrial societies. Philosopher [Peter van Inwagen](/source/Peter_van_Inwagen) wrote:[4]

"...I am perfectly aware that the fear of ghosts is contrary to science, reason and religion. If I were sentenced to spend a night alone in a [graveyard](/source/Graveyard), <...> I should already know that twigs would snap and the wind moan and that there would be half-seen movements in the darkness. And yet, after I had been frog-marched into the graveyard, I should feel a thrill of fear every time one of these things happened..."

In many traditional accounts, ghosts are often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or [doppelgänger](/source/Doppelg%C3%A4nger) is a related omen of death.[5]

## Wari'

[Wari'](/source/Wari'), an [Amazon rainforest](/source/Amazon_rainforest) [tribe](/source/Tribe), believe that the spirits of dead people may appear as scaring [specters](/source/Ghost) called *jima*. The jima is said to grab a person with very strong, cold and poisonous hands and try to pull the person's spirit away.[6]

## Papuans

A 19th-century missionary describes the fear of ghosts among [Papuans](/source/Indigenous_people_of_New_Guinea) as follows:[7]

"That a great fear of ghosts prevails among the Papuans is intelligible. Even by day they are reluctant to pass a grave, but nothing would induce them to do so by night. For the dead are then roaming about in their search for *[gambier](/source/Uncaria_gambir)* and [tobacco](/source/Tobacco), and they may also sail out to sea in a [canoe](/source/Canoe). Some of the departed, above all the so-called *Mambrie* or heroes, inspire them with especial fear. In such cases for some days after the burial you may hear about sunset a simultaneous and horrible din in all the houses of all the villages, a yelling, screaming, beating and throwing of sticks; happily the uproar does not last long: its intention is to compel the ghost to take himself off: they have given him all that befits him, namely, a grave, a funeral banquet, and funeral ornaments; and now they beseech him not to thrust himself on their observation any more, not to breathe any sickness upon the survivors, and not to kill them or "fetch" them, as the Papuans put it."

## See also

- [List of phobias](/source/List_of_phobias)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Phasmophobia. (n.d.). Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition"](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Phasmophobia). Lexico Publishing Group. Retrieved 2008-10-21.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Urdang, Laurence (1986). *-ologies & -isms*. Gale Research Co. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0810311968](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0810311968).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Clarkson, Michael (2004). *Quick Fixes for Everyday Fears*. Marlowe & Co. p. 148. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1569244626](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1569244626).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-morris_4-0)** "God and the Philosophers", edited by [Thomas V. Morris](/source/Thomas_V._Morris) (1996) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-510119-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-510119-7) [p. 39](https://books.google.com/books?id=8KEKhOdzTtgC&pg=PA39&dq=%22fear+of+ghosts%22#PPA39,M1)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Christina Hole (1950) *Haunted England*: 13-27

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** "Consuming Grief", by Beth A. Conklin ( 2001) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-292-71236-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-292-71236-7), [p. 161, "Ghost Fears and Dissociation"](https://books.google.com/books?id=Qp9nTxZAnboC&pg=PA161&dq=%22fear+of+ghosts%22)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** "The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead", by [James George Frazer](/source/James_George_Frazer) (1913), [ p. 305] in [Google Books](/source/Google_Books)

v t e Ghosts and ghostlore List of ghosts Manifestations Ancestral spirits Ghost lights Haunted locations Haunted highways Haunted house Haunted vehicles Haunted trains Haunted ships Hungry ghost Poltergeist Residual haunting Vengeful ghost Procession of the dead By continent and culture African Madam Koi Koi South Africa (locations) Asian Burmese Chinese locations Tibetan Filipino locations Ghost Festival Indian locations Bengali Japanese locations Onryō Korean Malay Thai locations Vietnamese Europe English locations in Scotland locations in United Kingdom France locations Slavic religion Romania North America Canada Caribbean Duppy Navajo Chindi Ghost sickness Mexican locations Day of the Dead United States California District of Columbia Indiana Oregon Pennsylvania San Francisco South America Colombia Oceania Polynesian Maori History Mesopotamian Ancient Egyptian culture Classical antiquity Parapsychology Apparitional experience Electronic voice phenomenon Ghost hunting Séance Mediumship Spirit photography Popular culture Films about ghosts India Indonesia Stories about ghosts Kaidan Halloween Samhain Paranormal television Court cases Booty v Barnaby Hammersmith Ghost murder case Related Fear of ghosts Spectrophilia Spiritualism Kardecist spiritism The Ghost Club Geist Soul Spirit Category

v t e Superstition Main topics Amulet Evil eye Luck Omen Talismans Myth and ritual Lists List of superstitions List of lucky symbols List of bad luck signs Sailors' superstitions Theatrical superstitions Africa Superstition in Ethiopia Buda Gris-gris Sampy Sleeping child Americas Ascalapha odorata Bermuda Triangle Brujería Carranca Cooties Curse of Tippecanoe Curupira Djucu Fortune cookie Groundhog Day I'noGo tied Oscar love curse Susto Veve White lighter myth Witch window Asia Superstition in India Superstition in Pakistan Superstition in the Philippines Japanese superstitions Superstition in Korea Taiwanese superstitions Bhoot (ghost) Chhaupadi Churel Ghosts in Bengali culture Jackal's horn Kuai Kuai culture Muhurta Navaratna Nazar Nazar battu Pichal Peri Puppy pregnancy syndrome Akabeko Kanai Anzen Maneki-neko Okiagari-koboshi Ofuda Omamori Fan death Feng shui Hindu astrology Agimat Albularyo Barang Kulam Lihi Pagtatawas Pasma Usog Kuman Thong Palad khik Takrut Nang Kwak Vastu shastra White elephant Jin Chan Numbers in Chinese culture Yantra cloth Europe August curse Barbary macaques in Gibraltar Bayern-luck Blarney Stone Cimaruta Cornicello The Goodman's Croft Himmelsbrief Icelandic magical staves In bocca al lupo Kitchen witch Klabautermann Mooncalf Need-fire Painted pebbles Powder of sympathy Rabbit rabbit rabbit Ravens of the Tower of London Superstition in Britain Superstition in Russia Superstition in Serbia Spilling water for luck The Scottish Play Troll cross Tycho Brahe days Witch post Wolfssegen General 1 (Ace of spades) 3 (Three on a match) 4 (Four-leaf clover, tetraphobia) 7 (Seventh son of a seventh son) 11:11 13 (Friday the 13th, The Thirteen Club, thirteenth floor, triskaidekaphobia) 17 (Heptadecaphobia) 27 (27 Club) 39 (Curse of 39) 666 (Number of the Beast) Auspicious wedding dates Baseball superstition Beginner's luck Black cat Bread and butter Break a leg Bullroarer Chain letter Cramp-ring Curse Davy Jones' Locker Dead man's hand End-of-the-day betting effect Fear of frogs Fear of ghosts Fertility rite First-foot Flying Dutchman Four eleven forty-four Gambler's conceit Good luck charm Human sacrifice Jinx Hex Knocking on wood Law of contagion Literomancy Lock of hair Maternal impression Miasma theory Nelson Numerophobia Numismatic charm Penny Rabbit's foot Rainmaking Ship sponsor Shoes on a table Sign of the horns Something old Spilling salt Statue rubbing Threshold Toi toi toi Wishing well Witch ball Witching hour Related Apophenia Apotropaic magic Astrology and science Coincidence Debunker Divination Folk religion Fortune-telling Magic and religion Magical thinking Numerology Obsessive–compulsive disorder Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena Post hoc ergo propter hoc Questionable cause Superstition in Judaism Superstitions in Muslim societies Traditional medicine Urban legend

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Fear of ghosts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_ghosts) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_ghosts?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.