Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter or spectre, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance.
In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike forms. In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living.