What is a ghost? How long have we believed in them? For the re-debut of Spiritus, paranormal investigator and anthropology student Ivy Boyd offers insight into the earliest beginnings of our belief in the other.

Instagram: instagram.com/spirituspodcast

Email: [email protected]

Music: "Beethoven Moonlight Sonata" by Gregor Quendel from Pixabay

Resources and Recommendations

Articles:  




JoAnn Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls, Ghosts and the (Restless) Dead in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Religion Compass, 2016 
Joshua J. Mark, “Ghosts in the Middle Ages”, World History Encyclopedia, 2019 
Rob Dunn, “What Are You So Scared of? Saber-Toothed Cats, Snakes, and Carnivorous Kangaroos - The evolutionary legacy of having been prey”, Slate, 2012 

Books:  




Ann Braude, "Radical Spirits", second ed., Indiana University Press, 2001
Dr. Irving Finkel, “The First Ghosts”, Hodder, 2021 

Videos and Lectures:




Dr. Irving Finkel, “The First Ghost Stories”, Archaeology Now (YouTube), 2020
Dr. Justin Sledge, “The Evolution of Ghosts”, Esoterica (YouTube), 2025
Dr. Eleanor Janega, “Did People In The Medieval World Believe in Ghosts?, History Hit (YouTube), 2024 

Project Gutenberg - Pliny the Younger Letters to Licinius Sura (LXXXIII) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2811/2811-h/2811-h.htm#link2H_4_0083

This podcast is researched, hosted, edited, and produced by Ivy Boyd.

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