Anthropologist Tok Thompson joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about ghost stories and folklore. What’s the oldest recorded ghost story? What counts as a ghost? What’s the difference between poltergeists and ghosts? Answers to these questions and many more await on Ghost Story Support.
WIRED recommends:
https://youtu.be/i61jkjPtMuw
https://youtu.be/NbPH9TcrRl4
https://youtu.be/vtk4ImpKOsc
Watch more from WIRED | Tech Support: https://www.youtube.com/show/VLPLibNZv5Zd0dwIx8baZGDdkoPNg6LHAPDi?sbp=QAE%3D
#Halloween #Ghosts #Folklore
00:00 – Ghost Story Support
00:13 – Ghosting people since the Babylonian Empire
00:47 – Ghost (noun): 90% transparent, 10% unfinished business
01:29 – Living in your cache 👻
02:17 – Skeptic by day. Terrified by night.
03:03 – Why does my ghost wear 40lbs of lace?
04:37 – Creaky floorboards? It’s Purgatory 🤑
06:36 – The Kohaku River sends its regards
07:25 – Cultural traditions, spectral problems
08:55 – Ghosts cry, poltergeists throw
09:25 – Spooky paws and ethereal claws
10:30 – What about Nearly Headless Nick?
11:12 – Haunted house? ❌ Well-loved for generations ✅
12:07 – Séances in the Oval Office? Say less
12:41 – Serving tragic folklore since the colonial era
12:56 – European vs American ghosts
14:09 – Glamping with ghouls
14:56 – I got bad news about that imaginary friend…
15:34 – Día de los Muertos: vibrant colors, eternal bonds
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I have heard of reports of Ghost animals in Australia (I am not commenting on it being real or not) but there is a report of a ghost cat in Brisbane.
6:39 That person asking about Spirited Away. The movie they actually want is called Pom Poko, another Ghibli movie.
Pom Poko is all about Yokai and Japanese folklore monsters. And focuses on how the innovation of human technology overpowered spiritual beliefs. In the end, the Yokai and monsters had to learn shapeshifting to blend in with human society.
6:34 growing up everyone in my church was very anti-ghost, saying that they are absolutely not real, only demons are real, and I didn’t realize until college that not all christians thought this way! everything you said about ghosts and pentecotalism is so true, I had no idea that was specific to my former denomination lol
“Europe’s a big place, got a lot of different countries” was very much said in the tone of someone who teaches Americans all the time.
Oh, what a relief! It turns out that when I may indulge in “intoxicating fumes”, I’m actually researching folklore!
I can’t think of a worse afterlife than being stuck in a place like a subreddit thread for eternity. I’ll take hellfire and brimstone, please.
Dude!! This was my prof at sc 🙂 took his Ghost Stories Across Cultures class freshman year. The coolest class I’ve ever taken, and genuinely the most fascinating approach to anthropology.