Ghost stories - Definition and Overview

A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief of some character(s) in them. In that sense The Tale of Genji contains ghost stories, and Shakespeare's Hamlet is a ghost story. Henry James used the ghost story premise. Stories involving ghosts are found in traditional cultures worldwide

In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. As such, it may be a relatively restrained form of supernatural fiction, compared with the excess of the horror story. The ghost stories of Montague Rhodes James are a classic expression.

Many ghost stories are really folklore, passed on verbally. They may be about everyday life. A subway train that comes at night and when you enter it you're doomed to go with it forever...

• See also: A Chinese Ghost Story.