Identify Your Ghost

Perhaps you (or someone else) has seen the ghost, or received a fairly clear impression about the appearance of the ghost.

In addition to the obvious things (such as if the person wears a noose or has a weapon in hand), carefully observe the clothing if you can.

In most cases, you'll develop a "gut feeling" as you research, and soon conclude the most likely identity of your ghost.

Then you can ask your ghost, aloud, if he/she is that person. Most ghosts respond to their names. They may look startled or angry, but you'll almost always get a dramatic reaction to the correct name.

Fashions

You can often guess the approximate era that the ghost lived in, from the clothing he or she wears. With women, you can often narrow the time to a ten-year period, based on fashions. Men's styles vary less dramatically from year to year.

For example, a woman with a very large and extreme bustle extending over the back of her skirt (possibly a fairly narrow skirt to the floor), is probably from the 1880's. Bright yellow was fashionable for both men and women--particularly for footwear--in the 1890's.

A woman with sloped shoulders and large, poofy sleeves plus a full skirt, is possibly from the American Civil War era. Affluent women of the 1620's through 1640's would appear in this profile, too.

High-waisted gowns are reminiscent of the "Titanic" era, but they were also worn during England's Regency period, in the early 19th century.

In America, a powdered wig will usually be seen prior to the Revolutionary War, and even then, only among the upper class or those who aspired to appear influential.

For men, hats and lapels are key points. The length of the jacket is also helpful.

Tricorns, the three-cornered hat usually shown on Patriots in illustrations of American Revolution, were worn from the late 17th century through the late 18th century, but were soon replaced by hats with flat brims and taller crowns. Likewise, longer pants, also called "Irish trousers," replaced breeches after the American Revolution.

Men did not wear "top hats" with tall crowns until around the 1820's.

Men's suits, as we know them today, did not come into fashion until towards the end of the American Civil War. Gaudy fabrics in suits, including brilliant colors and plaids, usually represent fashions after 1885.

For more information on costuming, check your public library. We recommend illustrated guides by artist John Peacock.

If you can narrow the time period using clothing or some other means, you can then learn who lived in the house, or--if it is/was a business--what company was in the building.

Site and residents' history

For houses, you can go to the city hall and search records of ownership for the property. Or go to the public library (or a genealogy library) and use the census records which are generally listed by state, then town, then neighborhood, with all the houses on one street usually grouped on one set of pages, in order.

Census records from the mid-19th century will usually tell you the names, ages, and professions of everyone in the house, and their relationships to each other.

City Directories are another resource for homes and businesses. Before there were phone books, there were directories which listed, street-by-street, every adult in a particular household. Sometimes these listings included where the person was employed.

These directories also listed businesses by street address. Many businesses advertised in these directories, providing additional information.

Once you enter the era of the telephone book, look for "reverse directories," which list names and phone numbers by their addresses. If all you know is that the house was at 123 Main Street, you can look up Main Street and then find who (or what business) was in number 123.

With this information, you can then use genealogical resources such as Vital Records and church records, to find out what happened to the occupants of the house, or the owner of the business.

One of the best books to learn about using genealogical resources to discover your ghost's identity, is Unpuzzling Your Past: The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy.

Other resources

Newspaper articles are often indexed, as are obituaries, and they can provide considerable information as well. Once you have the name of previous residents, you can look for articles about their lives. There may be a clue there.

Court records can be used to learn more, for example, if there were a series of lawsuits disputing a property line. And after a person had died, their will and probate records can provide insights into family relations. These records are at the courthouse.

Town and city histories often provide colorful (but often fictional) biographies of leading citizens, to make them seem even more noteworthy. No matter how much the person's background was embellished, you can find clues to their real lives amid these grandiose biographies.

This is a simplified explanation, but hopefully it will help you identify your ghost, or narrow the possibilities to just a few people.

However, don't forget that ghosts sometimes wander. One famous example is the ghost of Room 214 in the Sise Inn of Portsmouth, NH. The Sise Inn--shown at right--appears to have no violence in its long history. However, the ghost may be a visitor from a house two doors away, where a murder was committed many years ago.

Additional information on the subject of Identifying Your Ghost will appear in an upcoming book by one Hollow Hill researcher. Watch this website for updated information about that book, as it becomes available.