# Old trope about ghosts being a long white bedsheet **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201 "2016-06-24T03:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/1 "2016-06-24T03:02:35Z")
I was trolling around youtube, and don’t ask me how but I wound up finding this “classic” bit from the [Gilligan’s Island](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAfcV6enoz8) episode “Ghost-a-Go-Go.” Then suddenly it occurred to me – how did the trope ever start of a ghost being depicted as a figure in a long white sheet (with or without eye-holes) and going “Whoooooooooooo” ? I get that it could have caught on just because it was a pretty easy effect to achieve. But where did it come from? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/2 "2016-06-24T03:09:03Z")
One of the best ghosts EVER! Richard Kiel was just right for that. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/3 "2016-06-24T03:21:27Z")
[99er thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=7291) on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/4 "2016-06-24T03:38:54Z")
Unfortunately that thread failed to explore the intricacies and nuances of the innovative, pioneering “long hair” approach of Cousin It. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/5 "2016-06-24T03:53:16Z")
I got a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/6 "2016-06-24T04:08:55Z")
Playing straight man in this dog-and-pony show … because bodies are buried in winding-sheets, right? So when the soul comes back it’s wearing the thing it was buried in. Which brings us back to one of my favorite pieces of advice: dress every day like you’ll be murdered in those clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/7 "2016-06-24T04:09:20Z")
I have no evidence to say that this is the origin, but I am going to hypothesize that it dates to the stage performance of The Haunted Man. This is where the “phantasmagoria” illusion first became popularly known (aka Pepper’s Ghost), where a glass reflection is used to make it seem like there is a ghostly form on the stage with the other characters. The pictures I can find which date from the show, all depict a ghost in a sheet. And one can surmise that with mid-19th century technology, it would be hard to light everything as well as we can today, so something like a white sheet would perhaps be necessary, or else the figure might be too dim to show. And, in the story, the figure is supposed to look exactly like the main character. Minus an actor with a twin brother, wrapping the ghost in a sheet would be a handy way to disguise the fact that the actor looked nothing like the main character. But the lighting is probably the key aspect that makes me think that this is likely to be the invention. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/8 "2016-06-24T04:32:34Z")
^Do you think that somehow ties in with **The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come** from “A Christmas Carol”? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/9 "2016-06-24T05:52:32Z")
Don’t know where it originated, but in addition to those examples already named, I love the dead couple pulling it on Lydia in _Beetlejuice,_ and Mort’s appearance in the webcomic _Questionable Content._ In both cases, the person they’re trying to scare completely no-sells it. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/10 "2016-06-24T08:20:26Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Playing straight man in this dog-and-pony show … because bodies are buried in winding-sheets, right? So when the soul comes back it’s wearing the thing it was buried in. > > Which brings us back to one of my favorite pieces of advice: dress every day like you’ll be murdered in those clothes. If the ghost is supposed to be the soul of the departed, not the body, why is it wearing anything at all? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/11 "2016-06-24T08:52:24Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I got a rock. I gotta rock, too. \m/ ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/12 "2016-06-24T09:11:57Z")
How else would they show a ghost, an invisible or nearly-so being, especially pre-CGI? Throw a sheet over an actor, and you instantly get something that “could be” immaterial, if only making the sheet bulge. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/13 "2016-06-24T09:58:07Z")
1. A shroud. 2. Wispy and floaty and pale. 3. Cheap and convenient. 4. Why is Frankenstein’s Monster typically portrayed as flat-headed and with bolts in his neck, or Dracula as widows-peaked and in a dinner suit? Because of one single example becoming iconic. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/14 "2016-06-24T10:35:31Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 1. Wispy and floaty and pale. How do you know that the associated of “wispy, floaty, and pale” with ghosts didn’t come after the usage of sheets? Look at the Headless Horseman or Zombie Jesus. In literature, ghosts are generally fully formed and solid. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/15 "2016-06-24T11:08:34Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > How do you know that the associated of “wispy, floaty, and pale” with ghosts didn’t come after the usage of sheets? A fair point, I guess. It would need some serious look into the history. Though each probably feed into each other. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/16 "2016-06-24T11:40:52Z")
If restless spirits manifest in whatever they were wearing at time of death, then these persons were hiding under their sheets in bed when they had a heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/17 "2016-06-24T11:53:13Z")
Shit. The first thing I thought of was the M.R. James story, which was the first thing I thought of in October, 1999. I’m in a rut. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/18 "2016-06-24T16:28:08Z")
Let’s not forget that the ghost in a sheet image originated in an era when putting white sheets over furniture was a common way to keep dust off of it when you were gone or just not using rooms. (And in an era where everyone burned coal, this was a necessity). White sheets have both the burial shroud and the abandoned house vibe working for them. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/19 "2016-06-24T16:56:15Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Shit. The first thing I thought of was the M.R. James story, which was the first thing I thought of in October, 1999. > > I’m in a rut. MR James was the first thing I thought of too. There was a fairly recent but not very good film made about a ghost that employed a bedsheet to become visible: [An American Ghost Story (2012) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241471/) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201/20 "2016-06-24T19:37:51Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I have no evidence to say that this is the origin, but I am going to hypothesize that it dates to the stage performance of The Haunted Man. This is where the “phantasmagoria” illusion first became popularly known (aka Pepper’s Ghost), where a glass reflection is used to make it seem like there is a ghostly form on the stage with the other characters. > > The pictures I can find which date from the show, all depict a ghost in a sheet. And one can surmise that with mid-19th century technology, it would be hard to light everything as well as we can today, so something like a white sheet would perhaps be necessary, or else the figure might be too dim to show. And, in the story, the figure is supposed to look exactly like the main character. Minus an actor with a twin brother, wrapping the ghost in a sheet would be a handy way to disguise the fact that the actor looked nothing like the main character. > > But the lighting is probably the key aspect that makes me think that this is likely to be the invention. No, way way earlier than that. **Satua** nailed it, the ghost wears a winding sheet, a shroud. There are illustrations in Elizabethan books showing the ghost in a shroud. John Dee, the famous Elizabethan conjurer has a well-known picture in one of his books showing him in a cemetery at night invoking a spirit from the grave. The ghost is attired in the usual white shroud from head to foot. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-trope-about-ghosts-being-a-long-white-bedsheet/758201.md?page=2)