A Bloody Baron Question

[psammeaddd at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30501

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Whirdy at a... wrote:
> Aside from Prof. Binns are the ghosts at Hogwarts members of the 
staff or 
> faculty?  They are noted as "house" ghosts, but are they mascots or 
former 
> students?  Are they tormented souls who are denied their final rest 
and 
> doomed to haunt the halls of Hogwarts?  
> 
> How does one become a ghost?   Binns simply got up and left his 
body behind - 
> is that a new definition of death a la Dumbledore?

In the standard mythology, people seem to become ghosts when they 
died violent deaths (like Nearly Headless Nick, Moaning Myrtle and, 
from his name, probably the Bloody Baron as well), or when they had 
unfinished business to take care of. (I'd hate to think something 
like having a class to teach the next morning, a la Binns, would 
count as enough unfinished business to turn a person into a ghost for 
all eternity!)

> Why is Peeves (and what is his status) terrified of the Bloody 
Baron?
> 
Dunno - maybe he was responsible for the Bloody Baron's demise!

Also, as Peeves is a poltergeist, maybe he's different from the 
others. I'm pretty sure a poltergeist is just another kind of ghost 
(I think it translates to "noisy ghost"), but is it supposed to be a 
spirit that never was human, or do human troublemakers turn into 
poltergeists when they die?
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]