Why is ghosts a mystery

Begins and ends at the Ocean Street trolley stop. Cats in ghostly form purr from the beyond. Beloved family members in photographs without their heads.

Graves equipped with a torpedo to put off intruders. Victorians of the late 19th century had wild notions about the passage from life to death. Belief in ghosts and spirits was common and superstition abounded. The very best ghost stories get you to suspend your disbelief because whatever the nature of their manifestation the rationale for that ghost existing is entirely convincing: here are some of them.

Beloved by Toni Morrison This great testament to the horrors of slavery opens with a haunting. The women in the house knew it and so did the children.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James No list of ghost stories could exclude this Victorian classic set in a remote country house. A governess has care of a young boy and girl, two orphans, who she comes to believe can see the ghosts of a man and woman maliciously haunting the house.

One of the intriguing aspects of reading this unresolved story is that, seen through modern eyes, its ambiguities offer themselves up as metaphors for child neglect and sexual abuse within the home. Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan Ghost stories from different nations provide a cultural barometer of sorts. Ghosts have a strong presence in Indonesian culture and the white tiger that inhabits this story is not only the phantom inside the young murderer Margio but also a literal tiger that can be seen by the villagers.

This short, intense and beautiful book was selected for the Man Booker International longlist, making Kurniawan the first Indonesian author to be nominated. Is it really a ghost story? Who cares? Parry concentrates on the tragedy of Okawa primary school, which lost all but two of its children. Many of his descriptions will haunt you: for me, it was the bereaved parents training themselves to operate mechanical diggers so they could excavate silt and mud for the bodies of their children long after the official search had given up.

Though many ghost sightings have been reported at the White House in Washington , D. Lincoln, formerly a lawyer and congresseman from Illinois , is said to have been seen wandering near the old Springfield capitol building, as well as his nearby law offices. At the White House, everyone from first ladies to queens to prime ministers have reported seeing the ghost or feeling the presence of Honest Abe—particularly during the administration of Franklin D.

Roosevelt , another president who guided the country through a time of great upheaval and war. Some locations simply seem to lend themselves to hauntings, perhaps due to the dramatic or grisly events that occurred there in the past.

Over the centuries, sightings of spectral armies have been reported on famous battlefields around the world, including important battle sites from the English Civil War in the 17th century, the bloody Civil War battlefield of Gettsyburg and the World War I sites of Gallipoli near Turkey and the Somme northern France. After serving in the British Royal Navy in World War II , the 81,ton ship retired in Long Beach, California in ; the plan was to turn it into a floating luxury hotel and resort.

Since then, the Queen Mary has become notorious for its spectral presences, with more than 50 ghosts reported over the years. Many visitors to the Queen Mary have reported seeing a phantom crewmember in blue overalls walking the decks.

Among major cities, New York is especially rich with ghost stories. Perhaps the most famous New York ghost is that of Aaron Burr, who served as vice president under Thomas Jefferson but is best known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Presidents, first ladies, White House staff members and guests have reported feeling ghostly presences, hearing unexplained noises and even running into actual Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States , is remembered for his vital role as the leader in preserving the Union during the Civil War and beginning the process that led to the end of slavery in the United States.

He's remembered for his