Ideas Believe in ghosts? Why people see spirits and sense visitations
Mar 7, 2025
Emily Urquhart dives into the emotional ties between loss and the supernatural, illustrated by personal encounters with spirits. Azania Patel shares the intriguing link between ghost stories and urban change in India, showcasing how these tales reflect societal traumas. Daniel Goldstein discusses how art emerged as a healing force during the AIDS crisis in San Francisco, capturing grief and connection. Together, they explore how our experiences of ghosts embody the very human emotions of grief and memory across different cultures.
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Adaptive Indian Ghosts
- Indian ghosts adapt to their surroundings, reflecting modern changes.
- A ghost haunting a hotel might curse a marriage or bother a bellboy, unlike stagnant English ghosts.
Cities: Inherently Haunted
- Cities are inherently haunted due to constant change and development.
- This creates a sense of unfamiliarity and replaceability, fostering a feeling of being haunted.
Ghost of the Elevator
- In a Mumbai slum rehabilitation complex, residents shared a story about a vengeful ghost in the elevator.
- Despite no evidence of worker deaths during construction, the story reflects the trauma of displacement and poor living conditions.