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A question that I am often confronted with concerns the fact that ghosts are most often seen wearing clothes. It is also a question that skeptics raise to support their argument that ghosts are figments of the imagination. But it's a perfectly legitimate question. If ghosts are human spirit energy, why do their manifestations include the manufactured convention of clothing? After all, clothes are not part of our bodies, our spirits or our "souls". Or are they?

that poses a good question. The clothes hekp put them in the period thet died in other than that i have no answers

I always thought that ghost walked around with a white sheet to cover their non existence

Well I think they are entitled to having a little bit of fashion savvy, some self expression..they want to define themselves...so ghots put on some threads to do just that, show they can have style too, that their fashion spirit certainly isn't dead ;o)

I would ask the spectre of the maritime sailor, that haunts the coast of the Florida Keys, or the Soldiers that are oft times seen around the Chalmette Battlefields in New Orleans.

Always in full uniform are these spectres.

As for whether or not the clothing is a part of us in a spiritual sense, I would think that the residual energies of these spirits carry on as if they were still alive with what they were wearing at the time of death.

A good analogy would be a matrix type of atmosphere, Mr. Anderson had the memory of his own look when in the real world, plugged in...The same look was seen. Such would be the case of the spectres. Just an example, but this is what I would presume to be accurate.

Most sightings of ghosts have them in the clothing in which they died. There have been sightings of just a glowing shadow, a blurry image, but mostly ghosts seen have been wearing the clothing of the period.

The first ghost that I saw, wore clothes, a grey suit, white tie, grey tie, black shoes. I saw this ghost almost daily for a period of about 2 years, roughly between 1 pm and 3 pm, sitting in a rocking chair. I believe that clothes are part of our style, part of who we are so that we identify with the clothes, would make sense for a ghost to be dressed the way it preffered to dress

Great question, one I have never really pondered. I would consider that everytime a ghost is seen that it is dressed in the period/time they died.

I have never heard of a ghost from the pass being dressed in modern day clothing...would proberly scare them back to life.

My guess is that when we see a ghost we relate to the time they died and as such see them in cloths that fit that time.

I agree with LadyElectra but lets face it Ghosts are seen in TV land Im sure thet are going to let people parade around naked

I also have been told they wear the last article of clothing they wore ehen they pasted on

That might be true, I do agree that it would probably be the last outfit they had on, or the one they felt themselves at. I do think that image of the white sheets had so to do more with the mist that some ghosts would choose to hide in than an actuall sheet

Thats something i never really thought about before but i would imagine that they appear in something like they would of worn in life such as a soldier /uniform

We all have an internal image of ourselves that belies time and the mirror. That's why you hear people say they're shocked when they have a "reality" day and fully realize that they've gained weight, gone gray, acquired a few sags and wrinkles. So, if someone projected their ectoplasm (or whatever) back into this dimension, I imagine they'd match that internal vision.

Beware: if there's a fat chick lurking inside no matter how thin your exterior, it might walk the earth again.

I agree with Soulshroude and Bloodmother. It is a matter of how the 'spirit' perceives itself. More often than not, when we imagine ourselves, we see ourselves in clothing. When we dream, we are often clothed in our dreams. It would make sense that when and or if we become spirits/ghosts on this plane of existence, then of course, we would project ourselves as having clothes on our bodies.

I think the reason this occurs is because what we die in is the last thing we saw our selves in. It makes it easier for those that know us to tell who we are when the time is right for us to return to this earth, even if it is as a wandering spirit.

I agree with the above post on what the spirit see them self. yet some ghosts or spirits do manafest only as light or energy, so would this be a lost spirit.

Honestly, Soulshroude put it in the best words... projection of what the spirit knows at the time of death.

Consider this....would you really want your Granny to pay you a visit naked ?

I think it depends on the spirt if the spirt knows it has pasted it may choice to represent it self that way. If you think about it do you see the spirts in the same way thier bodys are apon death

It seems to me that it is the clothing they were last wearing before they died.

I belive that they have clothing only to not appear more un rational to the human eye. Yet accoding to the people that live in my tow (gettysburg) it because thats how they see them selves as to be non dead

i saw a ghost photo a friend bought out of one of those para normal magazines it was a gruop of soulders in a marching rank spread out into a grove of trees, they wear in tattered cloths and the scenery had an air of antiquty , then i noticed the wrist watch... I want to buy an old tin camera and do ghost modaling
some of them already are fading away...

well i think that when someone dies whatever they are wearing becomes part of them, thats why they are seen with cloths on.

A medium in chicago woud clip the head off of a loved ones obituary and put it on the body of flowing dressed body and then transfere glue it to the inside of a framed photo taken of the "client" on a previous visit, "To define their" Aura" it appears the loved on is behind them. There are many other variations on the phot ghost, as they are exposed they are upgraded or even sometimes down graded to simpler methods.

maybe the type of life they have had is the type of clothing they have...



you had a bad life so your clothes would be ragged or torn

a good life would be possibly a dress or suit of some sort.

and for those in the middle could possibly be a regular every day clothing that a basic person wears.


just my thought.

We have such a vision of the way things are supposed to be... maybe its so ingrained that it lingers on the other side.

Curious statement, makes me recall the Phrase "The Thing That Should Not Be" something hatched and summoned from the projected Notional Subconsciousness into existence, A fake is discover, phenomena is undiscovered. I do enjoy a good spook.

Also if a ghost is allowing you to see them do they have a get to choose what you see them in? Something that symbolises them and who they were!

I think the clothes are the souls personal image of it's self

I think that the clothing ghosts wear are their own image of Themselves as what the want to be

I notice most ghost in pictures are posing.

These are great ideas.
I heard a story once about a young couple dying in a car crash on thier way to prom...blah blah blah...every area has one of these but they are said to be seen wearing thier prom clothes. I personally feel that that only gives credence to the "repeating ghost" theory. That those we see wearing clothes are simply repeating images, they cannot interact with us and don't know we are there. Thus the clothing, that image would be repeated in exactly the same fashion as it was when the death occured.
In most instances, in a haunting where the entity interacted with the living...it was a disembodied voice or sound...rarely a full bodied, clothes apparition. So perhaps some ghosts wear clothing and some do not based on whether they are a repeating or an interactive entity.

Ponder away...:)

wearing what they had on b/4 death makes the most sense to me. ( glad too, some may not look to good otherwise- )

yeah I agree I think that whatever time period and what they were wearing when they died is a logical answer.

I hope if I become a ghost I will be able to wear something I like and not the god awful clothes I'm bound to be buried in. For that matter, if my kids are in charge of the burial, that may be why I came back. They always tell me they will bury me in the back yard to save burial costs. lol

I think that considering a majority of ghosts don't realise they are dead and are continuing living in the last moment they remember living, I think that explains why they are wearing clothing. They are living in a time loop basically.

when a gypsy or a red indian died they would burn all his or hers personnal possetions ,particulary clothes as they where seen as part of that person who would prob come back as a ghost through them.houses in england which have been lived in by the same family for over a 100 years or more are ghost ridden by their ancestors.a friend of mine went to the family seat and one night looked out of the window and saw 6 generations of his family all having a party on the lawn.all dead.

one of the ghosts that i have seen, and remember the most.. was standing in the kitchen door way, in period clothing.. which was back in the early 1900's

It was rather cool

I think the spirits conscious is showing when you see them not only in clothing but in a physical form. It reflects their last memory of living hence the clothing, the body... etc.

i've never thought about this.
i'm thinking that they're wearing the clothes they wore when they passed on, you know?
i don't really know what else to say

for people who have actually seen spirts and then researched them to due they appear as they looked in the photos at the time of death like if they were in a car crash are they all scraped up or do they appear as they saw themselfs before they died?

i've always felt that "ghosts" were spirits that had passed over and not fully accepted that they were dead yet, so the clothes are representation of a life once lived and the refusal to let that go.

What is known as a residual haunting is explained as a memory or event played over and over in which all the details remain as they were at the time of the origional event. It may not be a spirit persay but energy holding a memory of an event. It would then reason that any spirit involved in such event would be dressed as they had been at the time of impression.
As far as an intellegent haunting... not all ghosts are seen with clothing so we cant really judge by that all. My opinion for those that do is that the spirit has memory of their appearance and tastes before death and this is how they choose to present themselves.

well who wants to see a naked ghost

ghosts are an imprint of spirit energy, so unless the person happened to be naked, i would assume that they would be wearing clothes.

I've wonder that myself, but I've always assumed that it was the way the ghost intended to present itself, probably in the clothes that it died in or was buried in.

i was always under he impression that the white sheet was something that movies made up

I believe that when we pass that we wear the last piece of clothing that we were buried in

My belief and what i have seen and studied is that about half the percentage of ghosts that are seen are actually seen in what they were buried in or what was on thier bodies at the time of passing.

What helps is if a person can recognize the spirit and then see if they can find a picture of the person either on the day of passing or what they had on during the funeral. And compare to what they were wearing when you seen them.

It is also said that a sprit will also be seen in thier favorite clothing as well. Even if it was something they had as a child and still considered thier favorite.

This is only my opinion tho :)

or even the suit/dress they wore when they took that photo at Sears, the one that was copied by the rug cleaner that come to their house shortly after the person died. The copy that was turned into a slide or film cell and projected at an angle so it is visible from the tomb.

Why would you honestly think ghosts walk around in white sheets?

normally when you die, and are seen as a ghost you are seen as wearing what you were last in.

I really don't know how to go with this one good question have to think about this one a while longer and come back lol

Yeah i'd have to agree with some who've said that Ghosts would most likely tend to keep the same stuff with them(or the "memory" of) that they were wearing when they passed on...not too dissimiliar to the fact they tend to haunt areas that are known to them i.e. it is part of their "memories".

Well. I agree a bit with everybody, here and I think that ghosts are a reflections of their souls. So, when they vusit houses or other hunted places they have a good reason, they want us to know why are they here and clothes that they're wearing at the moment is just to remind us of the way of how did they die. Maybe they send us som kind of signs of how could we help them to go on the other side because they are just dark souls trapped in a world between the living and the dead.

if a ghost is stuck between world they are preserved as when they die, clothes, blood, injurys and all (only a guess)

I feel they wear what was their fav. Or what they were buried in.

Well, if ghosts do indeed to appear in clothing when they manifest, I'm sure it's either the clothes they were burried in came over with them or they'd rather not appear naked.

Once I saw the ghost of my deceased dog...a white Samoyed. The white coat had a glowing aura around it. She was indeed very ghostly looking.

Here's what happened...

I thought I heard my dog in the room as I always did when the dog was still alive...about a month or so prior. Next thing I know I saw her nosing the floor in the right corner of the room. I said the dogs name. She suddenly looked at me...seemed very happy & excited to see me...then ran towards me. She disappeared in thin air right in front of me while coming at me...as if jumping through a hoop...& disappeared just inches from touching me. I wasn't scared at all while this was happening. In fact...it was a beautiful experience.

Very cool but what I am wanting to know is experiences having to do with what ghosts appear in, clothing, was the dog wearing a collar? That sort of thing.

The ghost or black figure that walked through the wall of my house was all black, I couldn't really tell what it was wearing but you could see that it had a hat on.

I don't do the "ghost" thing, however, I have seen spirits. I have only seen them wearing the clothing that they were buried in. Well except for my husband's Grandfather. I saw him before he died. He had on his jean overalls and straw hat. I think this helps us reconise who they are. Other than that reason, I don't know.

I don't believe in ghosts... but if I did I'd want to see them naked.....

I will make you a naked ghost... personally as soon as I am able... hehe a streaking ghost... boooooo---bies glow in the dark orbs... haha

what if ghosts are seen as the condition in which they died, including illnesses and physical features, it would suck if someone didnt die peacefully

Trauma face ghost Usually with screams ... seen being hit by a car over and over.... that would suck..

I had always thought that ghosts appear in the clothes they died in. I think that helps to date the era in which they passed on.

http://www.ghost-pictures.org/necropolis_ghosts/nude-women-ghosts-naked-men-naturist-teenage-1.htm

Actually I don't remember if my dog was wearing a collar...I'm not really sure.

:( Since i don't feel like retyping all of that..and theres no way to remember it all word for word...i'll just sumarize it =(

Okay...:) anyways...

i have seen many things..and yes, some are wearing clothes, or even a womans flowing gown...even...biohazard suits...now that was some sick shit, fading in and out of this reality...

okay..some of it..i think are ppl from the future, or other dimensions, parallel worlds, or secret organizations...
As for the ppl who have died...
I have a great explanation!
Since time is a persistant illusion, and the past and the future are ONE) and when htey die..sometimes theres a glitch in reality...kind of like their essence is a form of a glitch, and their conscious or energy, becomes stuck in time, or perhaps timeless...almost like its' stuck in another dimension, or perhaps fading in and out...no sense of (here) permanently because thers no constant physical body that ties you to a fixed (physical) reality like the one we exist in...and things are sort of sparatic..they exist, but not in so much of an order per se....kind of like, they exist, and that's a good thing..even though they are drifting in and out through this dimension in an unstable fashion..at least...it's unstable to the way our brains would generally interperet it :)

Haha, MisK that is a very good question and one which could knock a lot of theories out of the window. Maybe physical ghosts are all just imagination, or could it be relative to what they were wearing at time of death? Who knows the answer to this one!

They can also just aper as white orb's

Oh...As in response to a post above the last....
You said....

"Maybe physical ghosts are all just imagination, or could it be relative to what they were wearing at time of death? Who knows the answer to this one!"

It sure is relative to the time of death. I think so. It's like the time they die..Theres something that happens that moment in time...Their essence is preserved and trying to exist...Yet it's lost between dimensions...Fading in and out...Sparatically at times...Unstable...Unlike the illusions that make this world seem stable, due to the fact that we are bound to it with our physical bodies...(souls or no souls) if we are in the physical...we are bound to this dimension. atoms and all else.

as far as it being imagination...I don't think so...Not even hallucinations are imaginative...If you think about all the alternative realities, possibilities and parallels...which exist in the midst of existence..then...hallucinations i would have to say are more a glitch as well...kind of like...something experienced is not so false...though, not all applies to this physical reality...even if it exists in another plane of existence, that doesn't mean it has to be "real" in the physical...but sometimes it is real in both...or it exists but we just don't understand it. blablabla LOL

our dimensional perception is limited to projected images, a question earlier referenced what it would be like to fell a ghost, I think to the purpose of discussion for a good question both could both together in an answer, we seek with our senses some claim to hear chimes when they share testimony of angles, or smelling perfume or feeling a deceased one, through I think a ghost feels like a distant memory passing through you when a week after a loved one comes to you perhaps as you pack the persons effects. Or when you come out of mourning
and enter the next rite of passage the social grieving process.

When I hear of people seeing ghosts, they never really mention clothes. Just a silhouette that radiats light.

oh..and when i said it's not imaginative...
i forgot something....
Imagination is the beginning of creation here, as a tool for humans to manipulate the physical..and sometimes it's a higher view of something we can't yet do..
so...i have to restate that...even imagination, can be real...whether it's real in this reality or not.

Finding journals is always a treat as well, I have cirles of friends that I have write answers to questions they don't want to answer and seal them in an envelope for a nugget from beyond the grave. Sitting in a recliner that a loved one used shortly after death and the things you can find under the cushion. Hearing their voice in voice messages. things grief conselors have a person do.

If watching videos others have of a loved one is your thing hold a video collection party. But spooking people is fun as well. So I like my ghost in grisly costumes. Or the stand-by sheet.

ghosts come in all shapes and sizes..clothes no clothes..outlines, shadows...
from extraterrestrials to energy of the deceased...from orb like forms..to dark energy higher dimensional expressions..
not all are the same thing..and even ones that are similar may have differences.

You are my favorite preppy dressed apparition. I have no craft supplies. There is a short cut but the fun is in talking about your choice of clothes you want to be remembered in... I want to be buryed or burned in a Carnival Barkers Outfit. So when I get to the other side I'll Be ready for the action of the midway.

very good...........
I choose a red sequin skin tight gown......slit up the side.....you know, Marilyn style of ciurse my fav Carney ghost:)

Ilike the idea of projecting in the flashes on a midway, to dazzled crowds, that will doubt what they see, some person may even be taking pictures of the familty and when they develop the film or print the images they get the historically dressed carney in the back groud... shivers... but thats what could happen if you let a carney take a picture of your family...

appearing in unexpected places to surprised faces.........

or a casino ghost appearing in antique clothing the lights are already dazzling people there as well.

actually nightgirl, that is what bronze agreed with me about TV Land. Only Tv and Hollywood makes our imagination run wild when we see things of fiction

actually nightgirl, that is what bronze agreed with me about TV Land. Only Tv and Hollywood makes our imagination run wild when we see things of fiction

I think it`s state that you had die is how you look ..
Lets say your in a shower whoops slips bump ,your dead and naked.

i think that what you die in is what you will be seen in. thats just my opinion though.

That was a rather disturbingly named link, dabbler.

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