History shows that ghosts and demons are as old as humanity

There has never been a time that people did not believe in supernatural beings, as books and other literature prove. It's just their shape, form and how they are viewed that have changed over centuries. By Penelope Geng

- Penelope Geng

Visitation by the ghost of Hamlet's father, telling Hamlet he cannot rest in peace until his death is brought to justice.

(Images: Pixabay)

Belief in the spirit world is a key part of many faiths and religions. A 2023 survey of 26 countries revealed that about half of the respondents believed in the existence of angels, demons, fairies and ghosts. In the US, a 2020 poll found that about half of Americans believe that ghosts and demons are real.

The subject of demons and ghosts can inspire dread, and the concepts themselves can be confusing: is there a difference between the two?

Historically, communities have understood the supernatural according to their religious and spiritual traditions. For example, the terrifying ghosts of Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio operate differently from those haunting the works of William Shakespeare, even though both writers lived in the 17th century.

Literary representations of ghosts and demons often reflect the anxieties of communities experiencing social, religious or political upheaval. As a scholar of early modern English literature, my research focuses on how everyday people in 16thand 17th-century Europe used storytelling to navigate major social changes.

This era, often called the Renaissance, was punctuated by the establishment of mass media through printing, the global spread of colonisation and the emergence of modern science and medicine.

Digging into the literary archive can reveal people's ideas about demons and ghosts - and what made them different.

Martin Luther and the Reformation