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Apparition

An apparition is an unusual or supernatural appearance of a person, thing, or figure, often perceived as a ghostly or spectral entity.^[1] This term, derived from the Latin apparere meaning "to appear," typically evokes images of phantoms or spirits manifesting unexpectedly, as in reports of ethereal figures sighted in haunted locations.^[2] In folklore and paranormal studies, apparitions are commonly described as the visible forms of deceased individuals or otherworldly beings, distinguished from mere illusions by their purported supernatural origin.^[3] In religious contexts, particularly within Christianity, apparitions denote divine interventions where heavenly figures such as saints, angels, or the Virgin Mary manifest to convey messages or revelations.^[4] For instance, Marian apparitions involve reported supernatural appearances of Mary to individuals or groups, often carrying calls for prayer, repentance, or devotion, with notable examples investigated and approved by ecclesiastical authorities.^[5] These events are considered private revelations, not altering core doctrine but serving to strengthen faith among believers.^[6] Beyond the supernatural, the term holds specialized meanings in scientific fields. In astronomy, an apparition refers to the specific period—typically weeks or months—during which a celestial body like a planet, comet, or asteroid becomes visible from Earth due to its position relative to the Sun and observer.^[7] For example, the annual apparition of Venus as the evening star occurs when it trails the Sun in the sky. In optics and physics, techniques such as the Pepper's Ghost illusion, which uses angled glass to project lifelike images simulating ghostly presences in theater and entertainment, can create effects resembling apparitions through light refraction or reflection.^[8]^[9]

Definition and Etymology

Linguistic Origins

The word apparition originates from the Late Latin apparitiōnem (nominative apparitio), derived from the verb apparēre, meaning "to appear" or "to become visible," combining ad- ("to") and parēre ("to come forth" or "to show").^[10] This neutral sense of an "appearance" or "manifestation" entered English through Anglo-French aparicion and Old French aparoison or aparicion during the 15th century, initially carrying connotations of attendance or service in classical Latin contexts before shifting toward visible phenomena.^[3] The word entered English in the early 15th century as a borrowing from French.^[10] In early English literature, apparition denoted visible manifestations or sudden appearances, often in a literal rather than spectral sense, as seen in 15th-century printed texts that bridged medieval and early modern usage.^[10] By the 16th century, its meaning evolved to emphasize unexpected or illusory sights, including those with ghostly implications, distinguishing it from everyday "appearance" by implying something out of the ordinary or startling.^[1] This semantic shift reflected broader cultural changes, where the term began to evoke supernatural or deceptive visions in prose and poetry. Religious texts significantly influenced the word's adoption and connotation, particularly through its association with divine or revelatory appearances in early Christian writings.^[10] It was incorporated into English translations and interpretations of the Bible, such as descriptions of visions in the Book of Acts (e.g., the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus), linking apparition to epiphanies or manifestations of the sacred, as in late 14th-century references to the Epiphany feast.^[3] This usage reinforced its transition from a general term for visibility to one tied to otherworldly revelations in theological discourse.

Core Meanings

An apparition is primarily understood as a supernatural or ghostly appearance, typically involving the visible manifestation of a deceased person's spirit or other intangible entity, perceived by the observer as authentically present yet non-physical.^[1]^[11] This core sense emphasizes a transient, otherworldly sighting that evokes a sense of the uncanny, often reported in haunted locations or during moments of emotional distress.^[12] In secondary usages, the term extends to non-supernatural contexts, denoting an unexpected or illusory visual phenomenon, such as a mirage caused by atmospheric refraction or a hallucination arising from perceptual distortions.^[1]^[13] It can also describe visions experienced in altered states like dreams, trances, or religious ecstasy, where the sight feels vivid but lacks external corroboration.^[14] While often synonymous in popular parlance, "apparition" differs from "ghost" by focusing on the act or event of appearing rather than the persistent entity tied specifically to the deceased; a ghost implies an ongoing soul, whereas an apparition highlights the momentary revelation.^[15] Historically, "apparition" entered legal discourse through the concept of spectral evidence, where testimony of seeing an accused person's ghostly form was used in witch trials, notably during the 17th-century Salem proceedings; this evidentiary practice, reliant on visionary claims, was later deemed unreliable and became obsolete in modern jurisprudence.^[16]^[17]

Historical Development

Ancient and Classical Accounts

In ancient Mesopotamian literature, apparitions were often depicted as restless spirits of the deceased, unable to find peace due to unfinished earthly obligations. The Epic of Gilgamesh, composed around 2100 BCE, provides one of the earliest examples in Tablet XII, where Gilgamesh summons the ghost of his companion Enkidu from the underworld through a ritual pit; Enkidu appears as a shadowy, tormented figure, describing the grim fate of the dead and emphasizing the need for proper burial to prevent such unrest.^[18] This portrayal underscores apparitions as manifestations of unresolved ties to the living world, serving as warnings about mortality and the afterlife. Similarly, in ancient Egyptian beliefs, the ba represented a mobile aspect of the soul that could manifest as an apparition or spectral presence after death. The ba was envisioned as a human-headed bird, capable of appearing in visions or near tombs to interact with the living, while the ka was the vital essence sustained through offerings, as detailed in funerary texts like the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400–2300 BCE), where it embodies the deceased's enduring essence seeking nourishment.^[19] These manifestations were not malevolent but essential for the soul's continuity, reflecting a worldview where the boundary between the living and the dead was permeable through ritual. Greek literature records apparitions prominently in epic poetry, such as Homer's Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE), where in Book 11, Odysseus performs a necromantic rite in Hades, summoning shades—insubstantial, flitting images of the dead—that rise from the blood offering and speak as messengers from the underworld. These ethereal figures, including the shades of Achilles and Agamemnon, convey advice and revelations, blending the supernatural with heroic narrative. Roman accounts echo this in Pliny the Younger's Letters (c. 100 CE), particularly Book 7, Letter 27, which describes a haunted house in Athens plagued by the apparition of a chained, emaciated old man whose rattling irons foretold doom; the philosopher Athenodorus confronts the ghost, leading to the discovery and burial of its remains, thus exorcising the unrest.^[20] Philosophically, Aristotle in On Dreams (c. 350 BCE) interprets such phenomena as phasmata, sensory residues or optical illusions persisting in sleep, where dream images mimic waking perceptions but arise from internal movements rather than external stimuli, occasionally blending natural explanations with apparent supernatural encounters.^[21] He compares these to afterimages or distorted visions, suggesting that fear or illness amplifies them into seemingly ghostly forms, offering an early rational bridge between mythological apparitions and perceptual psychology. In classical literature, apparitions frequently functioned as omens or intermediaries from the underworld, signaling divine will or unresolved fates. In Homer's Odyssey, the shades' prophecies guide Odysseus's journey, while in Virgil's Aeneid (c. 19 BCE), Book 6, Aeneas encounters prophetic souls in the underworld that portend Rome's destiny, reinforcing their role as harbingers in epic tradition.^[22] Pliny's narratives further illustrate this, portraying ghosts as revelatory entities demanding justice, thus embedding apparitions within cultural practices of divination and ancestral communication.

Medieval and Early Modern Records

In the Middle Ages, Christian accounts of apparitions often centered on visions of saints and the afterlife, deeply intertwined with theological and devotional literature. One prominent example is the legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory, first documented in the late 12th century by the Anglo-Norman monk H. of Saltrey in his Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii. This text describes a knight's visionary descent into a pit in Ireland, revealing torments of purgatory as a divine revelation granted by St. Patrick to convert pagans, influencing pilgrimage traditions and over 30 recorded visits from 1140 to 1517.^[23] Such visions reinforced Catholic doctrines on purgatory and sainthood, portraying apparitions as instruments of moral instruction and ecclesiastical authority.^[24] Demonic apparitions featured prominently in medieval hagiographies, where saints confronted evil spirits as tests of faith. Liturgical and hagiographical sources from the 11th to 13th centuries depict exorcisms in which demons manifested visibly or audibly, confessing Christ's power during the elevation of the host, as recorded in accounts of clerical rituals and saintly confrontations.^[25] These narratives, such as those in early medieval lives of saints, emphasized demonic agency through apparitions that tempted or possessed individuals, often resolved by the saint's charismatic intervention rather than mere prayer, highlighting the era's dualistic worldview of spiritual warfare.^[26] A key event blending folklore and chronicle evidence is the 12th-century apparition of the Wild Hunt, a spectral procession of ghostly hunters led by a demonic figure, documented in Orderic Vitalis's Historia Ecclesiastica (c. 1110–1142) and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1127, where it appeared as an omen over Peterborough Abbey during turbulent times.^[27] By the late medieval and early modern periods, apparitions played a controversial role in witch trials, evolving from visionary experiences to legal evidence. The Valais witch trials of 1428–1447 in Switzerland marked one of Europe's earliest mass persecutions, with over 200 executions based on accusations of nocturnal gatherings and pacts with demons, though primarily secured through torture-induced confessions rather than spectral testimony.^[28] Spectral evidence—claims of torment by the accused's spirit or apparition—gained traction in later European and colonial trials, culminating in the 1692 Salem witch trials, where afflicted girls testified to visions of witches' specters afflicting them, accepted by judges like William Stoughton as valid proof leading to 20 executions.^[29] This reliance on invisible manifestations reflected Puritan beliefs in demonic projection but drew criticism for its subjectivity, contributing to the trials' eventual halt when figures like Increase Mather questioned its reliability.^[30] The Renaissance brought shifts toward skepticism, as seen in Michel de Montaigne's Essais (1580), where he critiqued apparitions as products of imagination and fear rather than divine or demonic realities. In essays like "Of Idleness" and "Fear," Montaigne described "vain apparitions" arising from idle minds or terror, likening ghostly visions of ancestors or werewolves to feverish dreams, while in "The Power of the Imagination" he attributed miracles and stigmata—such as St. Francis's—to psychological forces.^[31] He urged modesty in judgments, reflecting on his own past dismissal of ghosts and prophecies as folly but warning against dogmatic unbelief, as credible witnesses like St. Augustine reported spirit expulsions.^[31] Concurrently, the Gutenberg press (c. 1450) facilitated the printing and spread of apparition accounts, with 15th- and 16th-century works like occult treatises and vernacular pamphlets disseminating ghost stories beyond monastic chronicles, broadening public engagement with supernatural lore amid rising literacy.^[32]

Supernatural Interpretations

Ghosts and Spectral Figures in Folklore

In global folk traditions, apparitions often manifest as restless spirits compelled to linger among the living due to unfinished business, such as unresolved grievances or incomplete rituals. This motif appears across cultures, where ghosts return to seek justice, protect loved ones, or rectify wrongs, embodying the tension between the worlds of the dead and the living. For instance, in Japanese folklore, yūrei—ethereal spirits of the deceased—are frequently depicted as onryō, vengeful entities driven by betrayal or untimely death, appearing to avenge personal injustices like murder or abandonment.^[33] Similarly, warning apparitions serve as harbingers, as seen in Celtic tales where the banshee, a wailing female spirit tied to specific families, foretells impending death through her mournful cries, urging preparation or reflection on mortality.^[34] Regional variations highlight diverse cultural interpretations of these spectral figures. In European folklore, "White Ladies" represent tragic female ghosts, often noblewomen who met violent ends, appearing as pale, veiled apparitions to signal omens of death or misfortune, such as the fall of a household or impending tragedy.^[35] Among African traditions, particularly among the Chewa people of Malawi and Zambia, ancestral spirits known as mzimu communicate through dreams, offering guidance, warnings, or resolutions to communal issues, reinforcing ties to lineage and the afterlife.^[36] In Native American oral histories, shadow people—dark, humanoid silhouettes like the Choctaw Nalusa Falaya—emerge from dense forests as elusive tricksters or omens, lurking to test human resolve or induce fear in isolated wanderers.^[37] These ghostly apparitions fulfill key roles in folklore, imparting moral lessons about ethical conduct and the consequences of wrongdoing, such as the punishment awaiting those who desecrate graves or betray kin. Stories of spirits demanding restitution, like reclaiming stolen burial goods, underscore communal values of honesty and respect for the dead. Simultaneously, sharing ghost tales strengthens social bonds, as communal storytelling sessions—around firesides or during festivals—create shared experiences that affirm group identity and cultural continuity. The evolution of ghost folklore transitioned from ancient oral narratives, passed through generations to preserve warnings and wisdom, to formalized 19th-century collections that blended traditional motifs with literary sophistication. Antiquarian scholars documented regional variants, transforming ephemeral tales into enduring texts, as exemplified by M.R. James's Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), which drew on English folk traditions to craft introspective hauntings rooted in scholarly encounters with the past.^[38] This shift preserved the core functions of moral instruction and communal reflection while adapting them to print audiences seeking psychological depth.^[39]

Religious Apparitions and Visions

In Christianity, particularly within Catholicism, religious apparitions often involve visions of the Virgin Mary, known as Marian apparitions, which are rigorously investigated by ecclesiastical authorities. One of the most renowned examples occurred in 1858 in Lourdes, France, where the Virgin Mary appeared eighteen times to a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous, instructing her to dig for a spring whose waters have since been associated with numerous reported healings. The local bishop declared the apparitions authentic in 1862 following a thorough inquiry, and the Vatican has upheld this recognition, establishing Lourdes as a major pilgrimage site. Similarly, in 1917 near Fátima, Portugal, Mary appeared to three shepherd children—Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto—over six months, delivering messages of prayer, penance, and warnings about world events, culminating in the "Miracle of the Sun" witnessed by thousands. The local diocese approved the apparitions in 1930, with subsequent papal endorsements affirming their supernatural character. The Catholic Church evaluates such claims using established norms to discern their authenticity, emphasizing criteria such as moral certainty of the events, absence of heresy or doctrinal contradiction, and positive spiritual fruits like increased devotion and conversions. Updated Vatican guidelines from 2024 further stress the prevention of hoaxes or exploitation, requiring investigations to confirm that the visions promote faith without personal gain for the visionaries or causing division. In other faiths, apparitions manifest differently; in Islam, the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey (Isra) and Ascension (Mi'raj) around 621 CE is described as a miraculous nocturnal vision from Mecca to Jerusalem and ascent through the heavens, where he received divine instructions, including the obligation of five daily prayers, regarded as a pivotal affirmation of his prophethood. Hinduism features darśana, the auspicious "sight" or visionary encounter with a deity through idols or gurus in temples, fostering a reciprocal exchange of grace and devotion that deepens the seeker's spiritual connection. In Buddhism, particularly Tibetan traditions, tulku refer to enlightened masters' intentional reincarnations or manifestations, recognized through prophecies and tests as continuations of spiritual lineages, serving as living embodiments of divine wisdom. Theologically, these apparitions are interpreted as divine interventions, serving as calls to repentance, prayer, and renewed faith amid spiritual crises, often reinforcing core doctrines without adding to revealed scripture. Witnesses frequently report profound psychological transformations, including conversions and a strengthened commitment to religious practice, as seen in the lasting devotional movements sparked by approved visions. A prominent modern case is the ongoing apparitions in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, beginning in 1981 with six young visionaries claiming daily encounters with Mary, emphasizing peace, fasting, and family prayer; while the Vatican issued a Nihil Obstat in 2024 authorizing pilgrimage and devotion to the site for its spiritual benefits, it has not fully authenticated the supernatural nature of the events, with investigations continuing as of 2025.

Scientific Explanations

Psychological and Neurological Theories

Psychological theories posit that many apparitions arise from hallucinations, which are perceptions without external stimuli, often occurring in transitional states between wakefulness and sleep known as hypnagogic (falling asleep) or hypnopompic (waking up) states.^[40] These states can produce vivid visual, auditory, or tactile imagery, such as shadowy figures or presences, that individuals may interpret as supernatural entities.^[41] For instance, hypnagogic hallucinations frequently involve seeing people or creatures in the bedroom, mimicking classic ghost sightings.^[42] Grief and emotional distress also trigger apparition-like experiences, particularly bereavement hallucinations where mourners sense or see deceased loved ones. Studies indicate that 30-60% of bereaved individuals report such visions, often providing comfort rather than fear.^[43] A systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the prevalence of bereavement hallucinations at 56.6%, with visual forms common among those experiencing profound loss.^[44] Neurologically, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is linked to spectral experiences through seizures that disrupt brain activity, producing auras of fear, déjà vu, or hallucinatory presences. Patients with TLE may report ghostly figures or a "feeling of presence," attributed to abnormal electrical discharges in the temporal lobe.^[45] Similarly, Charles Bonnet syndrome causes complex visual hallucinations in people with significant vision loss, such as seeing figures or scenes that resemble apparitions, due to the brain's compensatory hyperactivity in the visual cortex.^[46] These hallucinations are non-psychiatric and occur in otherwise mentally healthy individuals.^[47] Cognitive biases further explain apparitions, with pareidolia—the tendency to perceive familiar patterns, like faces, in ambiguous stimuli—leading people to see ghosts in shadows or fog.^[48] In reputedly haunted locations, expectation effects amplify this, as prior beliefs prime individuals to interpret neutral sensations (e.g., drafts or creaks) as paranormal, heightening suggestibility and misattribution.^[49] Seminal 19th-century research by Edmund Gurney and Frederic W.H. Myers, documented in Phantasms of the Living (1886), examined "crisis apparitions"—perceptions of a person at the moment of their death or crisis. Their census of over 700 cases suggested these were subjective hallucinations tied to emotional bonds, rather than objective events, influencing modern psychological views on telepathy-like experiences as mental projections.^[50]

Parapsychological Investigations

Parapsychological investigations into apparitions have primarily sought to determine whether such experiences provide evidence for psi phenomena, such as telepathy or clairvoyance, or for the survival of consciousness after death. The Society for Psychical Research (SPR), founded in 1882, conducted one of the earliest systematic inquiries through its Census of Hallucinations, surveying approximately 17,000 individuals in Britain and Ireland about vivid sensory impressions of absent persons while fully awake. Of the respondents, 1,684 reported such experiences, with analyses indicating that about 1.7% involved apparitions of living individuals not physically present, suggesting a baseline rate higher than mere coincidence for crisis-related cases where the apparition coincided with a significant event in the figure's life.^[51]^[52] Researchers have particularly emphasized two types of apparitions: collective cases, where multiple independent witnesses perceive the same figure simultaneously, and veridical cases, where the apparition conveys accurate information unknown to the percipients at the time. Collective apparitions challenge individual hallucination theories due to the shared perceptual details, with historical SPR collections documenting over 100 such incidents among thousands of reports. Veridical examples include the 1977 Enfield poltergeist investigation, where a 12-year-old girl channeled a voice identifying itself as Bill Wilkins, a deceased former resident; subsequent verification confirmed Wilkins had died in the house from a brain hemorrhage, providing information the family and investigators could not have known beforehand.^[53]^[54] In the 2020s, parapsychological research has incorporated neuroscientific tools, such as electroencephalography (EEG), to examine physiological correlates in percipients during or after apparition encounters. For instance, studies on mediumistic channeling—a related anomalous experience—have used EEG to explore brain activity during such events. Ongoing debates center on retrocausality in deathbed visions, where dying patients report apparitions of deceased relatives arriving to guide them; some interpretations posit these as precognitive or backward-in-time psi effects, drawing from presentiment research, while others attribute them to survival evidence, though empirical resolution remains elusive.^[55]^[56]^[57] Despite these efforts, parapsychological findings face criticisms for replication difficulties in controlled settings, with many studies relying on retrospective case collections rather than prospective experiments. Nonetheless, persistent population-level reports underscore the phenomenon's prevalence; for example, a 2021 YouGov poll found that 20% of Americans say they have personally encountered a ghost, aligning with earlier estimates of 10-27% lifetime incidence in modern samples. These challenges highlight the tension between anecdotal veridicality and the need for rigorous, replicable protocols in investigating apparitions as evidence of non-local consciousness.^[58]^[59]

Cultural Depictions

In Literature and Art

Apparitions have long served as potent devices in literature to evoke terror and explore the boundaries of reality, particularly within the Gothic tradition. In Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), supernatural manifestations such as the colossal helmet that crushes Conrad and the spectral form of Alfonso function as harbingers of doom, amplifying the novel's atmosphere of dread and establishing the Gothic genre's reliance on otherworldly intrusions to heighten emotional intensity.^[60] This use of apparitions for terror influenced subsequent works, blending medieval settings with inexplicable visions to challenge rational order. By the late 19th century, Henry James shifted the focus in The Turn of the Screw (1898), where the governess's sightings of the ghosts Peter Quint and Miss Jessel create deliberate ambiguity, leaving readers to question whether the apparitions are genuine spectral presences or projections of psychological instability.^[61] James's narrative technique underscores the apparition's role in blurring the line between the seen and the imagined, a hallmark of modernist ambiguity.^[62] In visual arts, apparitions have been depicted to convey divine intervention or deceptive illusion, spanning religious reverence to skeptical critique. Fra Angelico's Annunciation (c. 1438–1440), a fresco in the Convent of San Marco, portrays the Archangel Gabriel's appearance to the Virgin Mary as a serene yet profound religious vision, emphasizing solemnity without extraneous details to inspire contemplation of the Incarnation.^[63] This Renaissance tradition of rendering apparitions as moments of sacred encounter contrasts with the Victorian era's spirit photography, where William Mumler produced images in the 1860s purporting to capture ghosts alongside sitters, later exposed as frauds through double exposures and manipulations.^[64] Mumler's works, including fabricated spirits like Abraham Lincoln's, reflected a cultural fascination with the afterlife amid grief from the Civil War, yet highlighted photography's vulnerability to deceit.^[65] Symbolically, apparitions in literature and art often embody guilt, the uncanny, and the sublime, revealing inner turmoil or transcendent awe. In Gothic narratives, ghostly figures manifest unresolved guilt, as seen in the haunting presences that punish moral failings, drawing from Edmund Burke's concept of the sublime where terror evokes overwhelming vastness.^[66] The uncanny, as theorized by Sigmund Freud, arises when the familiar becomes strangely alien, with apparitions stirring repressed fears through their return of the repressed.^[67] This symbolism extended to Surrealism, where Salvador Dalí incorporated dream-like apparitions, such as ethereal figures emerging from landscapes in works like Apparition of a Face and a Fruit Dish on a Beach (1938), to explore subconscious distortions and the irrational.^[68] Dalí's technique of "paranoiac-critical method" transformed these visions into symbols of psychological depth, influencing modern interpretations of the apparition as a bridge to the irrational mind.^[69] In 20th- and 21st-century literature, apparitions continue to symbolize historical trauma, particularly in postmodern contexts addressing collective memory. Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) features the ghost of Sethe's infant daughter as a corporeal embodiment of slavery's enduring psychological scars, materializing the suppressed horrors of the Middle Passage and infanticide to demand reckoning with America's racial past.^[70] Beloved's presence disrupts the present, representing not mere haunting but the persistent trauma of dehumanization, as Morrison draws on mythological motifs to underscore slavery's intergenerational impact.^[71] This approach elevates the apparition beyond individual guilt to a communal symbol of unresolved national wounds.

In Film, Television, and Music

In film, apparitions have served as central motifs in horror genres, often depicting supernatural hauntings that blur the boundaries between the living and the dead. The 2012 American horror film The Apparition, directed by Todd Lincoln, follows a young couple whose home is invaded by a malevolent demonic entity unleashed during a college parapsychology experiment to contact spirits in 1973; the entity manifests through eerie apparitions, escalating into physical manifestations that terrorize the protagonists.^[72] Similarly, the 1961 British psychological horror The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton and adapted from Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw, centers on a governess who encounters ghostly apparitions of the deceased valet Peter Quint and governess Miss Jessel at a remote estate, believing they are possessing her young charges, Flora and Miles, in a chilling exploration of innocence corrupted by spectral influences.^[73] On television, apparitions feature prominently in supernatural dramas that intertwine religious themes with investigations of the otherworldly. The 2008 BBC One miniseries Apparitions, created by Joe Ahearne, portrays Father Jacob Myers, a Roman Catholic priest, as he probes claims of miracles, demonic possessions, and satanic conspiracies, confronting malevolent spiritual entities that appear as apparitions in a battle between faith and evil.^[74] In music, the concept of apparitions has inspired compositions evoking ethereal or haunting visions. Franz Liszt's Apparitions (S. 155), a set of three piano pieces composed in 1834, draws directly from Alphonse de Lamartine's 1820 poem of the same title, using lyrical melodies, chromatic harmonies, and alternating silence to musically interpret themes of divine apparitions consoling nature amid mortality and religious ecstasy.^[75] In contemporary metal, the California-based death metal band Apparition has released albums in the 2020s exploring spectral and otherworldly themes, such as their 2021 debut Feel and 2024's Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State, which blend doomy riffs with progressive elements to conjure atmospheres of supernatural torment and ethereal voids.^[76] Thematically, apparitions in film and television frequently employ jump scares through sudden ghostly revelations to heighten tension, while psychological thrillers use them to question reality versus illusion, as seen in M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 film The Sixth Sense, where a child psychologist helps a boy who sees apparitions of the dead seeking resolution, with narrative twists that reframe the ghosts as metaphors for unresolved trauma and perceptual ambiguity.^[77]

Other Uses

Commercial and Technical Applications

In the film industry, Apparition was an independent distribution company founded in 2009 by Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad, aimed at acquiring and releasing indie films in the United States.^[78] The company planned to release approximately seven films annually, starting with titles such as Jane Campion's Bright Star in September 2009 and Terence Malick's The Tree of Life.^[79] However, Apparition ceased operations in 2010 following Berney's unexpected resignation and subsequent restructuring, having distributed only a limited slate amid financial challenges in the indie sector.^[80] In optics, the term "apparition" refers to illusory projections created through reflection techniques, notably Pepper's Ghost, a 19th-century method that produces ghostly images by directing light onto a partially reflective surface, such as a glass pane angled at 45 degrees.^[8] This technique, involving a hidden light source illuminating an actor or object to reflect a translucent figure onto a stage, has been adapted for modern holographic displays that mimic spectral appearances without true holography.^[81] It relies on the principles of total internal reflection and controlled illumination to achieve the effect, where the "ghost" appears to interact with real elements in the viewer's space.^[82] Among brands and products, Apparition is the title of a 2018 virtual reality survival horror game developed by The Haunted Room, offering immersive first-person experiences involving ghost hunting and spirit communication via a virtual Ouija board.^[83] Available on platforms like Steam (with VR support) and Nintendo Switch (non-VR port released in 2020) by the early 2020s, the game emphasizes atmospheric tension and player-driven exploration in haunted environments, leveraging VR headsets for heightened sensory immersion on PC. Such products exemplify "apparition" in gaming as a branded mode or theme for supernatural simulations, though specific "Apparition modes" remain niche within broader horror titles. In scientific contexts, particularly astronomy, "apparition" denotes the visible appearance or orbital passage of celestial bodies like comets during their periodic returns to the inner Solar System.^[84] Early 18th-century texts often described comet sightings as "apparitions" due to their sudden, ethereal visibility against the night sky, as seen in accounts of the Great Comet of 1744, which exhibited a bright nucleus and extended tail observable for weeks.^[85] This terminology, rooted in observational records, distinguished transient phenomena from fixed stars, influencing nomenclature in pre-telescopic astronomy before standardization in the 19th century.^[86]

Miscellaneous References

In idiomatic usage, "apparition" denotes a sudden or startling appearance that seems ethereal or unexpected, extending beyond its supernatural connotations to describe phenomena in everyday or narrative contexts. For example, an abrupt visual or event can be likened to an apparition to emphasize its transient and surprising nature.^[1]^[3] In sports, the term appears tangentially through names of competition animals in equestrian disciplines, including dressage. Horses such as Purbrook Apparition have participated in British Dressage events, like those at Solihull Equestrian Centre, where the name evokes a spectral or graceful presence in performance. Similarly, Johroy Apparition has been registered in endurance competitions under the Fédération Equestre Internationale.^[87]^[88] An obscure historical reference to "apparition" involves 19th-century theater illusions, particularly the Pepper's Ghost technique, which simulated ghostly figures on stage. Invented by John Henry Pepper in 1862 based on earlier ideas by Henry Dircks, the method employed a angled glass sheet to reflect a hidden actor or prop illuminated from below, creating the illusion of a translucent specter interacting with performers in real time. This effect debuted in a production of Charles Dickens's The Haunted Man at London's Polytechnic Institution and became a staple in Victorian melodramas and entertainments, influencing later stagecraft.^[89]^[90]^[91]

References

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a ghost or a ghost-like image of a person who is dead. Apparitions of a woman in white robes have been reported. Word Originlate Middle English (in the ...
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Sir Matthew Hale and Evidence of Witchcraft | In Custodia Legis
Oct 30, 2021 · Spectral evidence was testimony in which witnesses claimed that the accused appeared to them and did them harm in a dream or a vision. The Court ...
[19]
[PDF] THE GILGAMESH EPIC AND OLD TESTAMENT PARALLELS
The Gilgamesh Epic, a long Babylonian poem, is of interest to Bible students due to its eschatological material and deluge account.
[20]
[PDF] Ba, Ka, and Akh Concepts in the Old Kingdom, Ancient Egypt - CORE
Some characteristics of Egyptian religious anthrology are elucidated around Ka, Ba and Akh in this paper.Missing: apparitions | Show results with:apparitions
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Pliny: Letters - Book 7 - Attalus.org
Pliny the Younger : Letters. - BOOK 7. Translated by J.B.Firth (1900) - a few words and phrases have been modified. See key to translations for an explanation ...Missing: chained source
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On Dreams by Aristotle - The Internet Classics Archive
Sometimes, too, opinion says [to dreamers] just as to those who are awake, that the object seen is an illusion; at other times it is inhibited, and becomes a ...
[23]
https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/2015/03/
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March 2015 – Medieval Studies Research Blog - Notre Dame Sites
Mar 26, 2015 · The earliest written account of St. Patrick's Purgatory was written in the 12th century by one H. of Saltrey (he never spells out his full ...
[25]
[PDF] Stuck in Ireland: Representations of Purgatory in Irish Literature
Apr 28, 2021 · Medieval accounts of Purgatory Patrick's Purgatory was written by an Anglo-Norman monk42 in the 1180s, named H. link has circulated beyond ...
[26]
(PDF) Medieval Exorcism: Liturgical and Hagiographical Sources
Afterwards, when the priest raised the host, the demon cried, 'Look! Look! He is holding his little god in his hands.' For demons confess that which the ...
[27]
[PDF] EXORCISTIC RITES IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE (11th – 13th CENTURY)
While clerics used solely liturgical formulae to expel evil spirits (the sc. liturgical type of exorcism), then a saint conquered demon with its charismatic ...
[28]
The Wild Hunts of Medieval Lore - Medievalists.net
Oct 11, 2020 · The singular term “Wild Hunt” does little justice to the myriad tales of wandering bands of spirits that circulated in many forms throughout medieval Europe.Missing: Germanic | Show results with:Germanic
[29]
Who Burned the Witches? - Catholic Education Resource Center
Witch persecution spread outward from its first center in alpine Italy in the early 15th century, guttering out in Poland, where witchcraft laws were finally ...
[30]
Spectral Evidence - Salem Witch Museum
Feb 15, 2013 · It was accepted in the courts during the Salem Witch Trials. The ... In the Salem witchcraft tirals of 1692 the judges, including ...
[31]
Evidence from Invisible Worlds in Salem | In Custodia Legis
Aug 20, 2020 · Contemporary witch lore held that witches could project themselves spiritually, either directly or with the aid of Satan, in order to harm their ...
[32]
[PDF] Essays, Book I - Early Modern Texts
Therefore, farewell from Montaigne 1.iii.1580. ********. 1. We reach the same end by different means. [A] The most common way of softening the hearts of those.
[33]
History of Horror: Medieval & Early Modern Horror
Mar 6, 2025 · Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press. 1487 CE. Kramer & Sprenger's The Hammer of the Witches, most notorious of the witch-hunting ...
[34]
[PDF] Yurei: Tales of Female Ghosts
In Japan, it is thought that the spirit of a deceased person travels from this life to an eternal world. However, there is yet another world between these two.
[35]
[PDF] Irish Banshee and Russian Rusalka: The Comb Motif
Oct 7, 2010 · Banshee represents a specific figure of Irish folklore: it is a female spirit whose cry foretells death of a family relative or a neighbour.
[36]
(PDF) White Ladies: Ghost or Goddess? - Academia.edu
The White Ladies who appear all over Britain and in many other countries are often said to be the ghosts of murdered brides, or of girls who drowned ...
[37]
[PDF] Ancestor Worship, Dreams, and Visions: A Problem of Contextual ...
May 17, 2023 · It is cogently known that the Chewa people believe in the existence of ancestral spirits and value the dreams and visions received from them.
[38]
The Nalusa Falaya of Native American Choctaw Mythology
Dec 21, 2022 · The Nalusa Falaya which translates to “long black being” is a type of shadow creature that lives in the densest parts of the forest, waiting for victims to ...
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[PDF] A Jungian and Historical Reading of M R James's Ghost Stories ...
This thesis profiles a writer long ignored by the field of literary criticism, M. R. James. It focuses on his fiction, a small body of work comprising 31 ghost ...
[40]
[PDF] Spectral Trauma in 19th Century Ghost Stories - ScholarWorks
The ghost story and the literary figure of the ghost developed and expanded during the nineteenth century which this thesis explores through the ghost story ...
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Hypnagogic Hallucinations - Sleep Foundation
Jul 10, 2025 · Hypnagogic hallucinations, also sometimes referred to as waking dreams, are a type of hallucination that occurs as a person is drifting off to sleep.Missing: apparitions | Show results with:apparitions
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Behind the Veil of Hypnagogic Sleep | Harvard Medicine Magazine
When a person is awakened during stage 1 sleep, a period during which most hypnagogic hallucinations occur, they typically don't even realize they've been ...
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Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Hallucinations | More Than Tired™
Vivid dreamlike experiences—called hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations—can seem real and are often frightening. They may be mistaken for nightmares ...Missing: apparitions | Show results with:apparitions
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Understanding Grief Hallucinations - Eirene
Feb 24, 2025 · The Reality of Grief Hallucinations. Prevalence: Studies suggest that 30–60% of bereaved individuals experience some form of grief ...
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How many bereaved people hallucinate about their loved one? A ...
Jan 15, 2019 · The prevalence of having one or more BHs was estimated to be 56.6% (95% CI 49.9-63.2), and the estimated prevalence of BHs in specific sense ...Missing: apparitions | Show results with:apparitions
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Epilepsy: a story of voices and ghosts | Neurología (English Edition)
The condition is characterised by hallucinations, affective disorders, and delirium.6 Our patient also presented the peculiar “feeling of a presence.” The “ ...
[47]
Charles Bonnet Syndrome (Visual Release Hallucinations)
Charles Bonnet syndrome (visual release hallucinations) happens when you experience hallucinations after losing some of your vision.
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Charles Bonnet Syndrome - EyeWiki
Jun 13, 2025 · Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS), named after the Swiss scientist who first described visual hallucinations in his grandfather in the 1970s, has three features.Missing: apparitions | Show results with:apparitions
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Psychological Explanations for Seemingly Paranormal Phenomena
Oct 31, 2013 · If you have vision or hearing problems, your odds of hallucinating are greatly increased, as degenerative conditions that affect the senses can ...
[50]
Haunted Locations: Psychological and Environmental Factors
This visual misattribution, combined with the psychological expectation of encountering a ghost, can lead individuals to report seeing apparitions or shadows.
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Our History | spr.ac.uk - Society for Psychical Research
This substantial work, written mainly by Gurney, together with Myers ... The Census aimed to investigate the probability of crisis apparitions being ...
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Ghosts and Apparitions in Psi Research (Overview)
Oct 17, 2016 · In psi research, an 'apparition' is an anomalous experience in which typically a person is briefly seen or otherwise felt to be present, but not actually ...
[53]
Census of Hallucinations | Encyclopedia.com
Seventeen thousand people were canvassed, of which 1,684 answered claiming to have seen apparitions. Sources: Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The ...
[54]
Theories About Collective Apparitions | Psi Encyclopedia
Jul 2, 2016 · The principal reason for focusing on collective apparitions is that these cases throw theoretical options into particularly sharp relief.Missing: multiple | Show results with:multiple
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The Enfield Poltergeist | Psi Encyclopedia
Oct 1, 2015 · The Enfield Poltergeist involved paranormal disturbances like moving objects, self-opening doors, and a voice from a 12-year-old girl, in a ...
[56]
Unveiling the EEG signatures of extrasensory perception during ...
We explored a mediumistic experience called channeling where the individual connects with a non-corporeal intelligence (NCI) source.Missing: apparitions 2020s
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Emerging research: self-ascribed parapsychological abilities - PMC
Apr 10, 2025 · Using electroencephalography, they observed significant beta and gamma oscillations during the trance state, which may reflect neuroplastic ...Missing: apparitions 2020s
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The Parapsychology Revolution: The Extraordinary Progress of the ...
The field also investigates other important areas, including out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, deathbed visions, after-death survival, and ...
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[PDF] Six Modern Apparitional Experiences
Six theories about apparitions. Proceedings of the Society for. Psychical ... Hallucinations and Illusions: A Study of the Fallacies of Perception.
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Most Americans say they have experienced at least one paranormal ...
Oct 24, 2025 · 30% of Americans who have ever seen a spirit or ghost ... Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey.
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The Castle of Otranto - Literature in Context - The University of Virginia
The Castle of Otranto By Horace Walpole. Correction, editorial commentary ... Terror, the author's principal engine, prevents the story from ever ...Missing: scholarly analysis
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[PDF] Ambiguity in <em>The Turn of the Screw</em>
Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw is a complex piece of literary art that has been the subject of much interpretive.
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[PDF] Style, rhetoric, and ambiguity in Henry James's The Turn of the screw
On the surface, The Turn of the Screw seems like the perfect opportunity for an unordered, unranked paratactic style. Ambiguity and complexity abound when ideas ...
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Fra Angelico, by J. B. Supino.
Fra Angelico did not disturb the religious solemnity of the apparition with useless accessories; faithful to his own sentiment, he has clothed Mary with ...
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Ghosts in the Library? Spirit Photography at the Clements
Dec 5, 2011 · In 1869, Mumler was charged with fraud after he accidentally put identifiable living people into his photographs as supposed spirits. The ...
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A Brief Look at the Curious Business of Spirit Photography - SFMOMA
Notes. For more on Mumler and spirit photography techniques, see Michael Leja, “Mumler's Fraudulent Photographs,” in Leja, Looking Askance: Skepticism in ...
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THE GOTHIC AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY IN CHARLES DICKENS ...
Along with feelings of dread and guilty, the sublime can manifest itself in apathy and isolation. In both Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, the sublime ...
[68]
[PDF] The “Uncanny”1 | MIT
Hoffmann is in literature the unrivalled master of conjur- ing up the uncanny. His Elixire des Teufels [The Devil's. Elixir] contains a mass of themes to ...
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The Apparitions of a Surrealist Eye: Dalí & Film - Studio International
Dec 17, 2007 · Dalí himself alluded to the phenomenon of apparitions in images in such works as 'Apparition of a Face and a Fruitdish on a Beach' (1938) and ' ...<|separator|>
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Double Visions and Disappearing Acts: Six Works by Salvador Dalí
Jan 31, 2023 · In these two paintings from 1936, Dalí transforms the arid landscape of the Ampurdan region of Catalonia, where he was born, into a dream- ...
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[PDF] Beloved: The Physical Embodiment of Psychological Trauma
In Beloved, Toni Morrison tackles life's darkest elements through the story of an escaped slave, based around the murder of her innocent infant. The twisted ...
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[PDF] A Mythological View on Toni Morrison's Beloved
Symbols of Trauma: A Mythological View on Toni Morrison's Beloved. By Camille ... tiny ghost, Beloved's physicality symbolizing the reality of the past that she ...
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Plot - The Apparition (2012) - IMDb
The Apparition (2012) - Plot summary, synopsis, and more...
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The Innocents (1961) - Plot - IMDb
- **Plot Summary of The Innocents (1961):**
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Press Office - Apparitions press pack: introduction - BBC
Oct 31, 2008 · Apparitions is a hard-hitting new drama that takes us on a terrifying journey into a world of possession and satanic conspiracy.Missing: plot | Show results with:plot
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Liszt and Lamartine: "Apparitions" - The Imaginative Conservative
Jan 28, 2020 · Franz Liszt used sounds, melodies, and changes to convey the religious experience of Alphonse de Lamartine's poem “Apparitions.”
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APPARITION – Announce New Album “Disgraced Emanations From ...
Jan 22, 2024 · California death metal force APPARITION will release their new album “Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State” on March 22.Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
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The Sixth Sense movie review & film summary (1999) | Roger Ebert
### Summary: Use of Apparitions in The Sixth Sense for Psychological Thriller Elements
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Apparition, New Distribution Company for Indie Films, Opens
Aug 6, 2009 · The new company, called Apparition, is expected eventually to release about seven films a year in the United States. It will be based in New York.
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Bob Berney returns with new independent film distributor Apparition
Aug 6, 2009 · The first two movies on its slate are 'Bright Star,' written and directed by Jane Campion, which will be released Sept. 18, and Terence Malick's ...
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Bob Berney unexpectedly exits Apparition - Los Angeles Times
May 10, 2010 · Berney co-founded Apparition after his previous venture, Picturehouse, was shut down by Warner Bros. Advertisement. He had been set to head to ...
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Pepper's Ghost: The Illusion Technique That Transformed ... - AVIXA
Oct 29, 2024 · It creates this optical illusion of a ghostly apparition (or a 3D ... projection mapping are revolutionizing Halloween decorations or this ...
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Pepper's Ghost Illusion: Complete Guide - Two Way Mirrors
Through light manipulation, the ghost would illuminate onto the stage. The strength of the light determined how strong the apparition appeared on stage. The ...
[84]
Apparition on Steam
Rating 4.5 (75) · 14-day returnsApparition is a first-person survival horror with ghosts, demons and the infamous Spirit Board, used to communicate with the dead.
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Early long-period comets: their discovery and flux - Oxford Academic
The number of comets being discovered per unit time changed drastically in the middle of the eighteenth century. ... We thus suggest that the 164-BC apparition ...Missing: 18th | Show results with:18th
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History of Comets - I | ESO Italia
18th century cometary astronomy is characterized by the gradual ... comet apparition. The Oort Cloud. Many orbital studies of individual comets ...
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Unlocking the mystery of comets - Astronomy Magazine
Jan 17, 2023 · By February, a 50°-long tail swept away from the comet's head. Confusion caused many to mistake the apparition for the more famous Halley's ...
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Horse results of Purbrook apparition - British Dressage Dashboard
Horse: Purbrook apparition. Details. Year foaled. Colour. Sex. Height (hands) ... Solihull Equestrian Centre Winter Area Festival Rider: Ellie Kibbey ...
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Johroy Apparition (105TH30) - FEI.org
Profile page of horse JOHROY APPARITION Disciplines: Endurance.
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Pepper's Ghost - MoMA
Originally a 19th-century parlor trick used in Victorian stagecraft and entertainment, the Pepper's Ghost—named after British scientist and inventor John ...
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Pepper's Ghost Effect - How it works - ShowTex
Feb 10, 2015 · Pepper's ghost is an illusion technique used in theatre, named after scientist John Henry Pepper. It has a long history, dating into the 19th century.
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Pepper's Ghost Illusion in a Small Space - Instructables
A Pepper's Ghost is theatrical illusion that was originally developed in the 19th century to make it appear as if real life ghosts were on stage with the actors ...