ANKOU: from the Celtic folk lore of Brittany (France?) it means "king of
the dead" and it is a death omen that comes to collect the souls of the
dead; the ankou is the last person to die in a parish in a given year --
sometimes portrayed as a skeleton with a rotating head (ie it can see in
every direction); it drives a spectral cart, is accompanied by two ghosts
on foot and stops at the house of one who is about to die (for that (next)
year).

APPARITION: to appear when summoned; "the supernatural; appearance of
invisible beings -- ie the apparition of a ghost" (1525); a manifestation
or something invisible being made visible to the eye" (1533); an immaterial
appearance (1601 -- Shakespeare); encyclopedia of Ghosts also suggests that
an apparition is more often that of a living person; they appear and
disappear and reappear suddenly, they CAN cast shadows, and can walk
through and can be reflected in mirrors walls

BANSHEE: from the Gaelic "bean si" (= "fairy women") -- a death omen --
loud wailing from a female demon just before someone dies -- limited to
"ancient families of pure descent" .... very Celtic; they are particularly
attached to irish families whose surnames begins with "Mac" or "O";
Banshees do not (according to misguided popular belief) "scream" -- they
just cry; in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, the Banshee is also known
as Bean-Nighe or Little-Washer-By-the-Ford (the latter case signals a
person's imminent and violent death by washing that person's bloody clothes
in a stream); this Bean-Nighe is unlike the Bean Si in a number of ways;
the Bean Nighe is ugly and deformed (whereas the other is beautiful) and
the Bean Nighe has 1 nostril, a large protruding front tooth, red webbed
feet and long pendulous breasts; this Bean Nighe (aka Little Washer by the
Ford) is said to be the ghost of a woman who has died prematurely in child
birth and has to spend the rest of (what would have been her allotted time
on earth) washing clothes by the river until it is the "natural" time for
her to die

BEELZEBUB (also Baal-zebub): means "lord of the flies"

CHUREL: From India .. the evil ghost of a woman who dies in childbirth or
ceremonial impurity; usually of a lower caste person whose corpse was
buried face down to prevent their escape; they have reversed feet & no
mouths and haunt squalid places; they can appear as beautiful (albeit
slightly deformed( women who can capture and hold men prisoner until they
(the men) are old

CORPSE CANDLES: death omens in Wales & elsewhere in the British Isles --
they are mysterious lights which bob over the ground and stop at houses
where a death is imminent; they are also said to warn of those who see them
or alternatively they appear halfway between the doomed's home and their
grave-to-be or presage the death of an infant

CUCUBUTH: vampire & a werewolf together (consumes flesh and blood)

DEMON: an inferior divinity; a genius; and attendant spirit; the devil; the
name means "replete with wisdom" and is derived from the Greek "daimon"
which means "divine power" or "fate" or "god"

ELVES: Teutonic in origin; small, dwarfish, thought to act as
incubi/succubi, steal children and substitute fake ones in their place,
generally malicious beings until the 19th century; generally more malignant
than a fairy

FAIRY: plural: "fays"; small, diminutive beings having great influence
(good and bad) over the affairs of men (1393); delicate & finely woven; the
word fairy comes from the Latin "fata" meaning "fate"; there are varying
theories on their origins -- 1) Souls of the pagan dead not baptized and
therefore caught between heaven and earth 2) the guardians of the dead 3)
ghosts of venerated ancestors 4) fallen angels who were condemned with
Lucifer but who were also condemned to remain with the elements of earth
and not to be in Hell 5) nature spirits. In Irish mythology the Fairies are
the "TUATHA DE" (sic) or people of the goddess -- they are thought to be
strong in the craft of magic and (still in Irish myth) they are part
mortal, part spirit and part god and they can intermarry with humans." They
are thought (also in Irish legends) to steal human women away for wives, to
steal unprotected children and leave their in their place ("changelings").
To stay in their good graces households left out food and drink for them
(they are said to be nocturnal). In Celtic lore, Fairies dance circular
dances under the moonlight, especially around ancient burial cites

FETCH: In Irish and Welsh folklore, the term for one's double, [to see
yourself then, literally and symbolically] an apparition of a living person
(sometimes called a "co-walker" in England). In general, seeing one is a
sign of ill-boding although in Irish lore, to see a fetch in the morning
means you will have long life but at night means death

GENIUS (GENII): protective spirits who guide human beings; in Etruscan &
Roman art they were portrayed as naked winged (male) youths but since the
17th century they can be either male or female; Genius was also a Roman
deity, a personification of the creative powers invested in man (the female
equivalent is Juno); every man has his own "genius." My source for this
information comes from Manfred Lurker's Gods and Goddesses, Devils and
Demons New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984, rpt. 1987, p. 130.

However, Marco Di Marcantonio has also pointed out the following:

(1)The Etruscans had spirits called "Lasa" ......they were winged youthful
Females (never male).....they carried a perfumed vase in their left hand
... they were very common in Etruscan art works. There is another spirit of
the Etruscan culture "Vanth"...... they are clothed, rainbow-winged, mature
females, with scrolls in the left hand; the were escorts of the dead. The
LASA & VANTH were believed to be souls in transition; they were called "The
Ancient One".

(2)The Romans adopted the Etruscan spirit, renaming it "Laris." They were
"House Spirits " that protected the Roman household. They are clothed
(wingless) females with wreaths of rosemary adorning the heads. It was
common to have shrines for them in Ancient households and daily offerings
were made to them (eg. Rosemary was offered because of what it
symbolized).They were welcome presents in the Roman dewelling.


GHOST: a disembodied spirit ... has root words possibly connected to
"terrify" and "anger." The etymology is "to wound, tear, pull to pieces"
(OED) also "anger" (Dict of Ety.). "The soul or spirit as the principle of
life" (900 AD); "the immaterial part of man associated with feeling,
thought and moral action" (1000 AD); "an corporeal being" (1297); a good
being (900); and evil being (1000); the soul of a deceased person
inhabiting the unseen world" (800); and "the soul of a deceased person
appearing in visible form or otherwise making its presence known to humans"
(1385 -- Chaucer)

GHOST DOGS/CATS: in Wales and Scotland and there are special GUARDIAN
SPIRITS called BLACK DOGS; there is also the BARGHEST (aka BARGUEST) from
Cornwall and Northern England -- it is a death omen and in Lancashire it is
called a "SHRIKER" after the shrieks it makes when it is invisible

GHOSTESS: a female Ghost (1842)

GHOUL: a demon (usually female) feeding on flesh, dead or alive ... often
associated with a house where tragedy has taken place but they also tend to
live alone in desolate spots and/or graveyards. Strictly speaking, Lamia
are ghouls (ie they hang out in cemeteries, disinter bodies and eat the
flesh). Also, Arabic: an evil spirit who robs graves and preys on human
corpses. The etymology is "to seize"; first occurrence is Beckford's Vathek
(1786); comes from Arabic terms ghul (masculine) and ghula (feminine); in
Islamic lore it is the female ghul who is to be most feared since she can
(unlike the male) appear as a fully normal person

GIAOUR: a non-Moslem (Christian usually)

GLAMOUR: any bewitched illusion satanically inspired; a magic enchantment
or spell; "a magical or fictitious beauty" (1840)

GOBLIN: mischievous, ugly spirit (1327) often (not always) conjured up by
rogues ; the prefix "hob" (ie hob-goblin") usually differentiates the
merely mischievous ones from the malicious ones; either way they are
believed to live in grottos but are said to be attracted to homes that have
beautiful children; when they move in to a home they can help with the
children (giving them presents when they are good and punishing them when
they are bad) and the goblins can also help with household chores (!!) if
they have the whim to do so

GOLEM: an artificial human (a la Frankenstein) but created by (in this
case) magical means. The term is used to describe Adam's body in its first
hours of existence before it gets consciousness and a soul. To raise one,
walk around it using the appropriate combination of letters & mystical
names of God; to kill it walk the other way and say the words backwards!!!!
See also German film Der Golem (1920)

GRATEFUL DEAD: no, not the band; this is a MOTIF in which ghosts of the
deceased return to bestow rewards on living people

GRAY LADIES: the ghosts of women who have died violently for the sake of
love OR pined away for the loss of love (say, Aeneas' Dido); they are said
(often) to be dressed in gray but can also appear in white, black or brown

GREMLIN: a small, pesky spirit that appeared in British aircraft during
WWI; they are generally friendly, have a great knowledge of aviation and
navigation but can play mischievous pranks; many WWI pilots allege they saw
them on their planes when they were flying missions but no one officially
reported these sightings until 1922 (perhaps out of the belief that it is
bad luck to acknowledge the spirits ... but WHO KNOWS???); by WWII pilots
who allegedly saw them claimed (variously) that they were 6 inches high
with black leather suction boots, others said they looked like a cross
between a jack rabbit and a bull terrier others said they were humanoid and
1 foot tall; others that they had webbed feet with fins on the heels

INCUBI and SUCCUBI were thought to be interchangeable and were thought to
ejaculate the sperm they collected as a succubus ... hence they are a sort
of hermaphroditic critters; their main raison d'etre (1205) was to seek
carnal intercourse with humans

HAUNT: comes from the same root as "home" JINN: The appellation for a class
of demonic beings in Pre-Islamic times; originally nature spirits, later a
sub-class of ghouls who(originally) were only female spirits

KNOCKER: In Cornwall -- a spirit that lives and works in the mines,
especially in tin mines; they are friendly and helpful, they can be
mischievous but they are NOT evil (the German KOBOLD is a malicious German
equivalent); they are also (in Cornwall) known as GATHORNS, KNACKERS,
NICKERS, NUGGIES, SPRIGGANS. They are thought to be the ghosts of Jews who
worked in the mines (the Jews did not work in the Cornish mines until the
11th & 12th centuries). They cannot tolerate the sign of the cross so
miners avoid marking anything with an X (remember these knockers are
friendly). Knockers are industrious and often toil through the night;
whistling offends them. Food and tallow must be left for them, otherwise
there will be trouble. In America they are called TOMMYKNOCKERS; there are
said especially to be in the Mamie R Mine on Raven Hill in Cripple Creek,
Colorado where they were said to lure miners in to the mines and kill them
(by jumping on beams to cause a collapse) and then laughing

LEMURES: In ancient Rome, the ghost of a person who died without any
surviving issue; if you died before producing offspring you could become a
lemure. Exorcism was accomplished by banging drums

LILITH: Called "the night hag" at Isaiah 34:14; meaning is "she of the
night"; the plural is "lilin";

LEPRECHAUNS: a little old man with a wrinkled old face: they know the
location of buried treasure which they will reveal in exchange for liberty
BUT 1) take your eyes off him for a split second and he'll disappear 2)
treasure disappears as soon as mortals find it

NARI: among the Slavs, demonic beings who seem to have been in origin the
souls of dead children

PHANTOM (PHANTASMA): a mental delusion dream of deception; an illusion or
dream; imaginary (=subjective ghost); an illusion (1300); a lie (1325); a
ghost (1382); "a mental illusion in a dream" (1590 -- Spenser)

POLTERGEIST: From German ... "noisy ghost" or "rocketing ghost"; hence a
spirit who makes its presence known by noises

PSYCHOPOMP: a supernatural being (human or animal, although in some cases
it is thought to be dogs or even Dolphins) who conduct souls into the
afterlife (Hermes in Greek, Toth and Anubis in Egyptian lore

PUCA (aka POOKA): in Irish lore, a spirit that is both helpful and
mischievous; it is a shape-shifter and is often seen in the form of a black
animal or a black half animal; if treated well they will clean up the house
during the night and they can also bedevil grave robbers. In England the
puca is also known as PUCK (see Misdsummer Night's Dream) -- a Medieval
house spirit who was particualry malicious and who was closely connected
with the devil

RADIANT BOYS: also known as KINDERMORDERINN ... boys murdered by their
mothers

REVENANT: the dead who return from the grave

RUSALKA (plural is Rusalki): in Russian folklore, the spirit of a maiden
who drowns by accident or by force or becomes a ghost and haunts the spot
where she died; they secretly help poor fishermen

SIRENS: half women half birds with beautiful voices (Odyssey)

SORCERER: a magician (1526)

SPECTRE: an apparition or phantom or ghost that is TERRIFYING (1605); also
-- "an unreal object of thought (a phantasm of the brain)" (1711); and by
1801 it's "an image or phantom produced by a reflection or other natural
cause" (1801); a horrid spectacle or sight (1763)

SPUNKIE: In Scottish lore, a goblin or trickster ghost, commonly believed
to be the devil's agent he tricks travellers who have lost their way; he
presents a light that the traveller thinks is a ought from a window but
when the traveller gets to where the light is it is actually a precipice
and over he/she goes

WARLOCK: "an oath-breaker" (1023); " a wicked person, a scoundrel" (1000);
"a savage or hostile creature hostile to me -- usually applied to a giant,
cannibal, a mythic beast" (1000); "one in league with the devil, a sorcerer
or wizard" (1550); "a conjurer" (1721)

WITCH: "a man who practices magic, sorcery, wizardry; " (890 AD); "a female
magician or sorceress supposed to have dealings with the devil" (1000 AD);
(from wica = "to bend")

WIZARD: "a philosopher or wise man" (1440); a man practiced in the occult
arts or a male witch (1550);

ZOMBIE: usually does not rise unless it has been summoned; a corpse
reanimated by witchcraft or by a sorcerer called a BOKOR; the Zombie acts
as a slave to the Bokor