Why Do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

[Spungle]

Someone else asked this question on another thread earlier, but it is such a striking question I believe it merits it's own post.

Why, indeed, do ghosts wear clothes? If there was any logic to the assumption that ghosts are departed spirits from people who have died, surely there wouldn't be clothes. Or would there? Has anyone on here seen a naked ghost?

[jourdain2]

Because they expect to - and we expect them to. If a lost spirit were roaming it would use its self-image is as near as I can get.

[Arksided]

You wouldn't be able to see them if they didn't wear a bed sheet.

[Prudie]

Because they don't want to give us the willies

[Hopkirk]

Yes it was me that asked the question.

My white suit was issued by St Peter at the pearly gates.

[Arksided]

I rest my case... unless you're named Jeff.

[douglas9401]

Because it suits them.

[Old_Geezer]

Since they are spirit and no longer physical why would they not be able to create an image as they wish to look to you ? Why does my avatar here look as it does ? They could opt to look like a pink unicorn if they wished, but I don't suppose many friends/family would recognise them like that. I'm unsure why some folk seem to think this is such a big question; isn't it obvious ?

[Jackdaw33]

Prudie has taken the words out of my mouth!

[anneasquith]

Well they would be very cold without them !!

[Voltage]

Lol @jack

[playersdigger]

I assume they are the deceased person as they were in life,even if they have lost their head!! No I have not seen a ghost,it sounds a bit obscene but if they were naked at death that's probably how they will stay throughout the centuries.

[Spungle]

Old_Geezer, my late grandpa had a very poor taste in clothes and always wore a beige cardigan several sizes too large for him. He also had a broken and subsequently mis-shapen nose (allegedly from his days in the army, but according to our grandmother from a pub fight a couple of weeks before they were married.) Are you suggesting that if he wished to haunt us, he has the power to give himself a nose-job and get a new outfit if he so chooses? I'm amazed, and actually quite delighted for him if this is the case.

[Spungle]

Thanks Spath, that's an interesting take on it! So you basically disbelieve all the youtube CCTV images of ghosts etc, but accept that individuals can see them, but it's actually just a projection from their own minds rather than an actual "real" being in front of them? I'd never thought of it like that. Could two people not see a ghost simultaneously which appeared identical to both? Or is that stretching it?

[Spungle]

Okay, that's interesting... But surely a CCTV image where I can see the "ghost" doesn't mean that a spirit has entered my head?

[Spungle]

Someone else has suggested that they wear clothes so we don't see their "ghoulies"!!

[Old_Geezer]

Starting with the premis that they exist and are what remains of an individual after bodily death, then surely the physical body they once inhabited no longer exists. Whatever form is natural for spirit (if form even exists) it's unlikely to be ape-shaped. So why wouldn't one project a recognised form or an 'improved' version representation when wishing to appear to sensitive folk one knew when alive ?

If he rejected suits for loose fitting cardigans in life, would he choose otherwise now ?

[Kromovaracun]

//They could opt to look like a pink unicorn if they wished, but I don't suppose many friends/family would recognise them like that//

Do you really believe that when you die you become incorporeal and automatically obtain the ability to shapeshift? That you'll be able to transform into a pink unicorn and weird out your family and friends if you want to?

This is where choosing to believe in ghosts gets you. It might seem private and inconsequential, but let the actual implications of that belief play out and it soon becomes quite silly.

[Kromovaracun]

//But i do believe to be haunted, is a mental state, where spirits access your mind and then self project themselves for you to see. I think t's more an internal representation..//

Um

//How demons cling on to people in the films supports my theory's, this also allows people to be haunted on their own. //

.............................................
what?

Films are works of fiction, spath. They don't support anyone's theories about anything!