# When did ghosts start wearing sheets?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ghosts-start-wearing-sheets/1009365>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 28, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ghosts-start-wearing-sheets/1009365 "2024-10-28T21:58:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ghosts-start-wearing-sheets/1009365/61 "2024-11-08T18:04:17Z")

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HP Lovecraft’s _The Rats in the Walls_ (1926) essentially calls out ghosts in sheets as a tired trope of hack horror authors. When I’m home I’ll pull the quote…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ghosts-start-wearing-sheets/1009365/62 "2024-11-09T04:58:50Z")

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> [@HP Lovecraft](#):
>
> I realise how trite this sounds—like the inevitable dog in the ghost story, which always growls before his master sees the sheeted figure—yet I cannot consistently suppress it.

Not quite what I remembered, but still in the ballpark, I think.

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