# When was the first story to have a main character who turns out to be a ghost but didn’t know it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [May 25, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920 "2021-05-25T22:21:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Something](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Something](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Something)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/1 "2021-05-25T22:21:10Z")
Recently I started a thread on a Pepsi commercial about a boy and his girlfriend will turn out to be dead at the end of the commercial and didn’t know it. This commercial came out in about 2003 which is four years after The Sixth Sense, so nothing particularly original there per se. But then just now I learned there was an episode of are you afraid of the dark from 1994 called the tale of the dream girl where the same thing happens. So Shyamalan wasn’t completely original either. My question is what was the very first fictional story to have a main character turn out to be a ghost at the end but he didn’t know it? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/2 "2021-05-25T22:36:27Z")
Probably not the first, but Lee Killough’s “The Existential Man” appeared in F&SF in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/3 "2021-05-25T22:45:06Z")
Charles E. Fritch’s “The Misfortune Cookie” was in F&SF in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/4 "2021-05-25T22:50:44Z")
While the details may vary, I think we can trace the concept back to Ambrose Bierce’s " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/5 "2021-05-25T23:15:08Z")
I think “ghost not knowing they are dead” is actually a pretty common element of folklore. Here is one instance in a comic in 1969. > **[House of Mystery Vol 1 183](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/House_of_Mystery_Vol_1_183)** > > "The Haunting!": Two ghosts don't know that they are dead and they perceive the two living people in their house to be ghosts until the man says to his wife that the previous owners died from a gas leak and the ghosts realize that they are dead.... > [@Alessan](#): > > While the details may vary, I think we can trace the concept back to Ambrose Bierce’s " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Which was made into a movie in 1929. > **[Reviews: The Bridge \[and\] Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge](http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-owl-creek.html)** > > Paghat the Ratgirl's Film Reviews: Horror, Samurai films, Science Fiction, Slashers, Animation, Anime, Japanese, Asian, Chinese, Hong Kong, Samurai, Swashbucklers, Film Noir, Fantasy, Cops, Psychopaths, Crime, Westerns. Comedy, Drama, Action. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/6 "2021-05-26T04:05:03Z")
I seem to recall a morbid folk song in which a girl is being pursued by her former (and jealous) lover despite being married now and has to take the fellow’s hand and put it into his own wound to make him realize he’s been dead lo these fifteen years. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/7 "2021-05-26T04:19:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > While the details may vary, I think we can trace the concept back to Ambrose Bierce’s " An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". I didn’t interpret that story as saying Farquhar was a ghost. He was just imagining returning to his family in the final moments of his life. The cliche here is “It was all a dream.” I’m going to put out Thomas Tryon’s 1971 novel, _The Other_, as an early example of this plot. ---
**Author:** ![Something](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Something](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Something)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/8 "2021-05-26T05:54:54Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I seem to recall a morbid folk song in which a girl is being pursued by her former (and jealous) lover despite being married now and has to take the fellow’s hand and put it into his own wound to make him realize he’s been dead lo these fifteen years. Wow, if somebody knows what folk song this is, let me know! This may be the real winner for the “first plot to have a Sixth Sense type ending” contest. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m going to put out Thomas Tryon’s 1971 novel, _The Other_ , as an early example of this plot. I just read the two sentence summary of that on Wikipedia; which character turns out to be dead? The good twin, the evil twin, or someone else? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/9 "2021-05-26T07:58:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I didn’t interpret that story as saying Farquhar was a ghost. He was just imagining returning to his family in the final moments of his life. The cliche here is “It was all a dream.” True. That said, I think it’s also the origin of the “The protagonist was dead all along” cliché, even though he was technically still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/10 "2021-05-26T13:56:15Z")
> [@Something](#): > > I just read the two sentence summary of that on Wikipedia; which character turns out to be dead? The good twin, the evil twin, or someone else? I’ll say right now I saw the movie but haven’t read the book. There were two young twin brothers, Niles and Holland. Throughout the story, we see them together talking to each other. Holland is the bad twin, who is committing a series of crimes, including murder. Niles is apparently the good twin, who is trying to stop Holland from committing crimes but is loyal enough to his brother that he helps cover up his crimes. It’s finally revealed that Holland had died a year earlier and Niles is only imagining he’s still alive. It’s actually Niles who has been committing the crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/11 "2021-05-26T15:17:29Z")
There’s the 2001 movie _The Others_. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/12 "2021-05-26T16:13:30Z")
There was a story (summarized, from memory) in a Bennett Cerf collection (he did mostly humor, but occasionally scary stories) about a young man named John who suddenly finds himself walking down a street in his hometown. When he greets people, they look at him in horror, and back away from him. He eventually finds a pay phone and calls his mother’s home. When he asks to speak to her, the person who answers asks, “Now why would you expect to find her here? Everyone in town knows she’s at the funeral of her poor son John, who was gruesomely killed in a sawmill accident two days ago”. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/13 "2021-05-26T16:27:22Z")
I thought of that one, and _Siesta_ with Ellen Barkin and Gabriel Byrne. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/14 "2021-05-26T16:42:53Z")
The Twilight Zone episode [‘Judgment Night’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_Night_(The_Twilight_Zone)) (1959) qualifies, I think. [‘The Hitch-Hiker’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitch-Hiker_(The_Twilight_Zone)) (1960) definitely does, as do [‘The Passersby’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passersby) (1961) and [‘The Hunt’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_(The_Twilight_Zone)) (1962). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/15 "2021-05-26T16:46:37Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There’s the 2001 movie _The Others_ . The first one? After reading this thread, I’ve dismissed the others. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/16 "2021-05-26T16:54:11Z")
I forgot to include the date on the Bennett Cerf story: the collection was published in the late 1940s-early 1950s, so the story probably dates to the early part of that range. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/17 "2021-05-26T16:57:46Z")
_Carnival of Souls_ was very similar to the Inger Stevens _Twilight Zone_ episode. It was 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/18 "2021-05-26T17:15:09Z")
There’s the 1980 Tanith Lee novel _Kill the Dead_ (and I’m now assuming that we’re looking for any story with this idea, not necessarily the first). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/19 "2021-05-27T00:03:56Z")
There was a story (by Lord Dunsany, I think) in the very early 20th century about a fellow telling a story in a bar, which ends with him trapped in an unescapable fatal situation. “My word, how did you survive?” “I didn’t” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920/20 "2021-05-27T00:21:13Z")
My grandmother told us a Halloween story she heard as a little girl, about a revenant/vampire who came back, and did not realize it was dead. That would be around the 1900’s. Mind you the details are a bit different. I think this goes back pretty far. Owl Creek bridge is not after he is dead- it apparently is a story his mind tells him in the short time between being released and dying: wiki- _It is revealed that Farquhar never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between falling through the bridge and the noose breaking his neck._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-first-story-to-have-a-main-character-who-turns-out-to-be-a-ghost-but-didn-t-know-it/942920.md?page=2)