“A friend of mine, his grandma could see ghosts, and he too could see ghosts. He said they were blue see through people. Nigel was his name.”

Context: I collected this folklore from Ben in our Folklore class. Ben is an American with roots in the American midWest. Ghosts are a fairly common belief in America, and is one of the most common supernatural sightings in this country. Everyone has their own rendition of what ghosts look like and how they haunt a place. This description is interesting because in Nigel’s account, the ghosts are blue. This is uncommon for a ghost account, as they are normally depicted as gray.

Analysis: Ghosts are partially peoples way of dealing with the concept of death. They validate the idea of an afterlife, which is central to many people’s belief in America. As majority Christian country, the afterlife is an important element for a lot of people. Ghosts are a supernatural belief that do not directly contradict that idea.