Ghosts, as a monster of interest to horror fans, have fallen on hard times. Films, cartoons and comic books like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Ghostbusters play up the comedic angles of ethereal spirits. The Ring (2003) was a huge success as a horror film because its creator remembered something we have all forgotten after our endless white-sheet ghosts: ghosts must be scary.
The idea of the transparent version of a human soul, that looks and acts like its corporal self, dates back to ancient times. The Greeks peopled their underworld with such specters. Were they scary? Not really, nor were they meant to be. Such tales of Hades and Tartarus are more symbolic or mythological. They were never meant to be ghost stories per se.
If you’d like to read the rest, please check out Monster 2: From the Pages of Dark Worlds Quarterly.