Stereograph shows a posed studio scene ghost scaring man and boy, 1889. In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a s矇ance. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. The paranormal pertains to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation, as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena.