# What Was The First Ghost Story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328 "2011-04-05T23:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/1 "2011-04-05T23:08:58Z")
Ghosts are a coomon theme in hman history. When was the first ghost story written? I seem to recall a story from ancient Greece-it concerns a haunted house-being haunted by a ghost in chains. This was brought to the attention of a local philosopher, who witnessed a haunting. The philosopher then summoned a magistrate, and a hired amn (who dug into the ground where the ghost appeared). A skeleton (bound in chains) was uncovered. When the bones were reburied (with proper honors) the hauntings ceased. Was this the earliest ghost story? ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/2 "2011-04-06T00:31:12Z")
engineer and philosopher Mozi [Mozi - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozi) from 5th century BCE China referenced some well known ghost story (about a ruler being killed by a vengeful ghost, something of that nature) as well as the general commonality of ghost stories in contemporary China as evidence that there must be something to the phenomenon. I cannot give a cite because I read it in some scholarly secondary source. Not sure how far back would Egyptian ghost stories go. E.g. Herodotus mentions a story of the ghost of Khufu helping out some oppressed workers, but I don’t remember if this was allegedly happening shortly after Khufu’s death (i.e. really long time ago) or else closer to Herodotus’s time. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/3 "2011-04-06T00:44:01Z")
How far do you want to take the concept of ghosts? Many early gods fit the bill under my definition but you may be thinking of something like ghosts of regular people who died in living memory or poltergeists in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/4 "2011-04-06T01:03:35Z")
The First book of Samuel has a sort of ghost story. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/5 "2011-04-06T01:06:16Z")
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh summons the ghost of Enkidu from the underworld to tell him of the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/7 "2011-04-06T11:12:48Z")
#6 reported ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/8 "2011-04-06T13:47:28Z")
Moved to Cafe Society, and typo in title fixed. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/9 "2011-04-06T14:56:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Ghosts are a coomon theme in hman history. When was the first ghost story written? > I seem to recall a story from ancient Greece-it concerns a haunted house-being haunted by a ghost in chains. This was brought to the attention of a local philosopher, who witnessed a haunting. The philosopher then summoned a magistrate, and a hired amn (who dug into the ground where the ghost appeared). A skeleton (bound in chains) was uncovered. When the bones were reburied (with proper honors) the hauntings ceased. > Was this the earliest ghost story? I remember reading that in the library at Alexandria – but you forgot the best part about the last scroll: At the end of the story, they unmask the ghost and it turns out to be Old Master Polonius who ran the “haunted temple amusement park” next door. He looks over at Odysseus, Atalanta, and Perseus (who’s holding Cerberus on a golden leash) and says “I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids and that dog!” ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/10 "2011-04-09T02:51:54Z")
I think it was something like: Mother: “Boy! Look cave. Og go cave. Big beast kill Og. No go cave.” Son: “Beast? Hah! No fear beast. Kill beast.” Uncle: “No! Fear beast no. Fear Og! Beast kill Og. Yes. Boy go cave, OG KILL BOY.” Son: “Og kill boy? OG?! Fear Og in Cave! No go cave!” As far as extant historical works go, you probably aren’t going to beat The Epic of Gilgamesh. It has the first werewolf as well. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/11 "2011-04-09T12:11:28Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > As far as extant historical works go, you probably aren’t going to beat The Epic of Gilgamesh. It has the first werewolf as well. When I was a boy I had one of those “non-fiction-encyclopedia-style-books-about-a-single-topic-for-young-children”, and in this case the topic was “ghosts”. The book claimed that “The Epic of Gilgamesh” did indeed have the first recorded appearance of a ghost in history. Wikipedia states that the earliest extant version (of Gilgamesh, not the ghost book for young children) dates from 7th Century BC so I guess it beats out Mozi. > **[Epic of Gilgamesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh)** > > The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/) is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BCE). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates back to the 18th centur The f... (Wikipedia also says that the possibly real Gilgamesh dates from the 27th Century BC. Wow. That’s old.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/12 "2011-04-09T14:35:10Z")
I’ve read estimates of The Book of Samuel (I) in the Old Testament that range from 9th to 6th century BCE, but even going with the more recent one that would make it roughly contemporaneous with the oldest surviving Gilgamesh. As with Gilgamesh it doesn’t involve a haunting but a conjuring; Saul, in freefall militarily and dynastically, orders the [witch of Endor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_of_Endor)(who for some reason insists on calling him Durwood) to summon up the ghost of Samuel for advice. Samuel’s advice is of course “Leave me the f&ck alone!” Is there a ghost anywhere in The Illiad or The Odyssey? Those also date to the Samuel/Gilgamesh Bronze Age Greatest Hits sessions. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/13 "2011-04-09T14:56:33Z")
The [wiki on Ghosts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost)has a decent run down. Evidently the notion of a haunting came later than the notion of a residual essence that could appear or be summoned. > [@](#): > > Plutarch, in the 1st century AD, described the haunting of the baths at Chaeronea by the ghost of a murdered man. The ghost’s loud and frightful groans caused the people of the town to seal up the doors of the building. Another celebrated account of a haunted house from the ancient classical world is given by Pliny the Younger (c. 50 AD). Pliny describes the haunting of a house in Athens by a ghost bound in chains. The hauntings ceased when the ghost’s shackled skeleton was unearthed, and given a proper reburial. The writers Plautus and Lucian also wrote stories about haunted houses. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/14 "2011-04-09T14:57:54Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Is there a ghost anywhere in The Illiad or The Odyssey? Those also date to the Samuel/Gilgamesh Bronze Age Greatest Hits sessions. Odysseus visits the underworld in _The Odyssey_ and talks to the spirit of Achilles there, who famously says that it’s better to be a slave among the living than a king among the dead. I guess it’s open to debate whether this is truly a ghost story, as a ghost story usually involves the spirits of the dead visiting the living rather than the other way around. I don’t remember anything from _The Odyssey_ about the spirit of a dead person leaving the underworld. Achilles was apparently unable to even see or hear anything going on outside the realm of the dead, as he had to ask Odysseus for news of his own son. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-ghost-story/577328/15 "2011-04-09T15:51:16Z")
One of the first _written_ ghost stories may have been this: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters… :eek: – Genesis 1:1