Atlas of mysteries

Ghosts and spirits

Domovoi, ghosts and accounts of encounters with the unseen.

Results: 23

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated folk tradition

The forest master changes size and dress, moves animals between territories and makes travellers circle familiar ground.

Insufficient evidenceNorthern and central Russian provinces

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated folk tradition

A nocturnal spinner tangles work, rattles crockery and sometimes helps the housewife; a Vologda tale has a bear drive her away.

Insufficient evidenceRussian North and West Siberian settler traditions

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated folk beliefs recorded by ethnographers

The bathhouse owner reserves a washing turn of his own and supposedly meets intruders with boiling water, stones and blows from a bath whisk.

Insufficient evidenceRussian North and local Siberian traditions

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated staff accounts

Castle staff recount footsteps, touches and a little boy supposedly holding visitors’ hands without their noticing him.

Insufficient evidenceBolsover Castle, Derbyshire

EventGhosts and spiritsUndated tradition; an annual return is associated with 19 May

A local legend brings the executed queen back to her family estate in a white dress, carrying her head in a carriage with a headless team.

Insufficient evidenceBlickling Hall, Norfolk

EventGhosts and spiritsThe setting of a literary retelling; no exact episode year established

A samurai welcomes a dead woman as living, while his servant sees a very different embrace.

Insufficient evidenceEdo in the narrative; no exact incident site established

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated story set in old Tokyo

A merchant tries to comfort a weeping woman, flees her featureless face and seeks safety beside a noodle seller.

Insufficient evidenceTokyo: Kii-no-kuni-zaka as a literary setting

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated legend from historical Musashi Province

A young man survives a snowy night, keeps its secret and years later recognises the visitor in his wife.

Insufficient evidenceHistorical Musashi Province; the exact village is not established

EventGhosts and spiritsLegendary time; the musician’s encounter is undated

A blind performer believes he is playing for an aristocratic audience until temple servants discover him among graves.

Insufficient evidenceShimonoseki in Hearn’s narrative; the precise scene is not locat…

EventGhosts and spiritsAn undated late-twelfth-century narrative

William of Newburgh recounts a buried wealthy man reportedly seen at night amid barking dogs.

Insufficient evidenceBerwick-upon-Tweed; approximate town location