Ghosts

In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal, that is believed to be able to appear to the living.
Descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms.
Belief in ghosts is found in most cultures around the world (although not all, as most vlogger would have you believe) and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form.
What strikes me in looking at how ghosts have evolved over time and differ between cultures is that are we correct in defining all as the same phenonium, undetected through the homogenisation I speak of?
Perhaps, it is more practical to study ghost stories than ghosts, although inevitably the two are inseparable.
Nevertheless, once we understand that we are describing literature, or oral traditions, we become more impartial in spotted external factors impacting on these stories.
Given my interest in folklore, I am stuck by how often the same stories reappear in differing locations, often with very little changed between these stories save for the names and locations.
I believe the reason for these tropes is that ghost stories rather than being observations, are actually created as forms of morality tales.
Thus I am suggesting that the oral tradition follows the written and not the obverse.
I would argue that like the practice of magic, our belief and understanding in ghosts has been informed by religion, more so than religion responding to a belief in ghosts, however, much religious authorities may protest.
Indeed, as I have mentioned a belief in ghosts is predicated on a belief in the afterlife, a central premise of most religions.