[HPforGrownups] Peeves Not A Real Ghost?

[alicit at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 47050

Well, from my limited knowledge of ghosts: I think that Nick here is 
referring to Peeves being a poltergeist instead of a ghost.  However, Peeves 
isn't the classical sort of poltergeist, if he was, Nick would be right about 
him not being a ghost, but there doesn't seem to be a distinction between the 
two in the Potterverse.

Let me explain *clears throat* A ghost is the spirit of someone who has died 
that haunts either the place they died, where they are buried (or not...) or 
another place that had some importance to them in life.  They are usually not 
aware of people/objects that are in the present world, although they are 
aware of objects that were in their world.  (i.e. they may go to a bed that 
was in the house when they lived there, if there is currently a bed there, 
they may seem to interact with it)  Sometimes ghosts interact with people, 
usually it is when the people are doing something that is similar to their 
life/death experiences.  In summary: ghosts-not aware of surroundings, aware 
of past

Poltergeists are souls that haunt the place where they died/are buried.  They 
do not usually have an identity (Peeves is unusual in this) that is brought 
over from their real life.  Unless Peeves has only been named after his 
death, he doesn't seem to have much of a history or any reason for being 
where he is.  Poltergeists are famous for disrupting objects in the places 
they haunt.  They do this presumably because the new objects disrupt their 
reality, which is stuck on how the room was before they died.  They do not 
have form (another way in which Peeves is odd) and do not communicate, except 
for the few who write on walls and such.  Summary: Poltergeists-not aware of 
past, aware of surroundings.

This is perhaps not what was meant in the book, but it may be the basis.  
After all, neither the resident ghosts nor Peeves seem to fit our normal 
requisites for what makes a ghost.

-Scheherazade


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