In
folklore,
mythology, and modern media such as literary
fiction, a
ghost (sometimes known as a
spectre [British English] or
specter [American English],
phantom,
apparition,
spirit,
spook, or
haunt) is the
soul or
spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the
apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as
necromancy, or in
spiritism as a
séance.