Illustrating Ghosts

Walter MacEwen - The Absent One on All Souls' Day ghost

The day before the examination my father took me out for ice cream. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d done something together, just the two of us. He was always working, gone before the sun rose, sometimes not making it home at all, opting to sleep in the dorms at army headquarters. Like a ghost, he came and went, his presence only detectable from the half-empty bowl of fried rice on the kitchen counter, his smudged fingerprints on the doorknob from the morning newspaper.

from When We Fell Apart, a novel by Soon Wiley
Faun spirit in Spring (1908) Walter King Stone
James William Carling illustration for “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1880
‘Haunted’ from The Tatler, circa November, 1927
Lt. Joe Petrosino NYPD, the Italian Sherlock Holmes ‘The Beautiful Nurse’ Illustrator unknown, 1910
Morris Kantor (1896 – 1974) Haunted House, 1930
Faust in his Study or Faust’s Dream, 1852, by Carl Gustav Carus
Virgil Finlay (194-1971) was an American pulp fantasy science fiction and horror illustrator.
Adelaide Claxton (British painter) 1835 – ca. 1905
The Ghost Story by Alfred Bestall 1930
Lt. Joe Petrosino NYPD, the Italian Sherlock Holmes ‘The Beautiful Nurse’ Illustrator unknown, 1910
Charles Altamont Doyle (1832-1893) His St Giles bells personified memories recalled by the bells as they ring a merry midnight
Poster advertising The Ghost Breakers
A ghost by Hannes Bok
Kazuno Kohara
The House Ghost by Ludvig Holberg, illustrated by Hans Tegner 1896
Carl Larsson, Guardian Angel ghost
Ghosts! George Cruikshank (1792–1878); from George Cruikshank’s Omnibus, 1842
Illustrator-Rea Irvin (1881-1972)
The Illustrated Police News, London, England, December 28, 1872 The Appearance of Another Ghost
Edward Gorey 1974. See: Edward Gorey, Misunderstood Genius
Dorrie and the Screebit Ghost 1979 from the series by Patricia Coombs
Leonora Carrington, British-Mexican painter
Ghost, Thomas Nast, 1867
Ghost, Thomas Nast, 1867
HALLOWEEN POSTCARD, GIBSON PUBLISHING, ca 1915 ghost
Elizabeth, the Cow Ghost, 1936, William du Bois
Pictorial Review magazine, October 29, 1950 before release of Alice In Wonderland 1951
Ghost mother and child (In Abol Tabol)… Originally published in the year 1909 Painted by Sukumar Ray
Ghost mother and child (In Abol Tabol)… Originally published in the year 1909 Painted by Sukumar Ray
Frank C. Papé (4 July 1878 – 5 May 1972)
Alberto Martini (1876 – 1954) for an Edgar Allan Poe poem ghost girl art deco
The Case of Mr Helmer
The Haunted Auto from Puck Magazine
Het Spook, John Pettit, after Frederick George Byron, 1789
Spook’s Number by Rea Irvin, 1909, Life Magazine
“Mountain Ghost,” illustration by Hwa San-chiuen (1930–2004)
Frontispiece to Kwaidan Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904), traditional Japanese ghost stories compiled by Lafcadio Hearn
Draugen, ca. 1891 The Sea Ghost, Theodor Kittelsen
The Open Road For Boys Magazine  ghost knight
The Open Road For Boys Magazine ghost knight
George Grosz. Ghosts. 1934
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
How To Make Friends With A Ghost the ghost
How To Make Friends With A Ghost
Fern Bisel Peat (US, 1893-1971) was art director  dancing with ghost
Fern Bisel Peat (US, 1893-1971) was art director of Play Mate magazine at this time. A girl dressed as a witch dances with another child dressed as a ghost.
Leo A Ghost Story

Header illustration: Walter MacEwen – The Absent One on All Souls’ Day

Whether they appear wispy or solid, often a full-bodied, non-Bedsheet apparition is depicted in values of only one color, often white/grey or blue. If there is an exception, however, it will be for the eyes.

Monochrome Apparition at TV Tropes
CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.

Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:

1. Get a pet dog

2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.

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