Library Ghost from Ghostbusters

(I don’t see these posts being very long, but hope they are still fun for a quick and thoughtful read.)

These are a pretty standard and probably most common ghost, especially since it can cover many of the upcoming categories.  As you can tell by the names, their main trait is that they can interact with the living.  How does that come off?

• They can move objects.
• They can be seen.
• They can whisper or even touch the living.
• They can leave smells behind.
• Some are said to even cause their targets to suddenly feel sadness or rage, which makes me think of an anxiety disorder.

In every case, these are human souls that stayed behind to retain their intelligence, free will, and sometimes even their forms.  Of course, they don’t appear solid, so there is no mistaking them for the living.  They also stay in the same spot either due to a traumatic death or having a strong connection to the place.  In some cases, the connection is to a person who happens to be staying in that location.  This could allow them to travel a bit, but that’s typically not the case outside of fiction.

There is a belief that interactive ghosts stay on Earth because they have unfinished business, which means they can move on after that is done.  The issue is that they aren’t very good at communicating.  Even if they can whisper, they aren’t usually clear on who or what they want.  It’s also disorienting to the receiver.  Another issue is that their unfinished business might be impossible to complete, but they can’t tell since they are stuck in a single location.  This can cause them to not realize how much time has passed and how the world has changed.

A final note on these ghosts is that they are typically the ones that a Ouija board or a medium might contact.  This makes sense since those are used to contact the dead and these are such spirits.  A Ouija board makes a lot of sense to me because it works off the interaction aspect.