Peeves Not A Real Ghost?

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 47086

Karen askes;

>>Sir Nicholas is the one speaking in this quote.  What does he mean when he 
says Peeves isn't really a ghost?  Was there something in the other three 
books that I forgot telling why is isn`t a real ghost?  What does everyone 
think of this?<<

Peeves is identified from the beginning as a poltergeist. Poltergeists are 
not actually ghosts. They are a specific documented type of psychic phenomena 
in the real world. According to real world deffinition they are not the 
revenants of anything that was once alive, but a turbulent, malicious 
manefestation of psychic energy into the physical world which occurs in the 
presence of some "frequency" (my interpretation) of psychic disturbance -- 
usually in the proximity of a disturbed adolescent. One major distinction 
between a ghost and a poltergeist is that a poltergeist opperates in the 
physical world, while a ghost does not.

(Note, Scheeherazade's conflicting deffinition is sound insofar as it refers 
to the earlier attempts to explain the effects of poltergeist manefestation 
-- which has been documented for far longer than the modern deffinitions 
currently in use have been around. Evidently it took a while before anyone 
made the intuitive leap to postulate that these "ghosts" which interact with 
the physical world might be entities which were never actually alive.)

Hogwarts castle has been the holding ground of generations of psychicly 
"active" adolescents for centuries, quite a number of whom are probably 
opperating on whatever "frequency" is associated with generating 
poltergeists. That being the case, it would be remarkable if the castle 
didn't have at least one.

Note; there is no reason to suppose that Rowling has not used the real world 
deffinition as the basis for her version of a poltergeist. Much as she has 
used conventional deffinitions as the basis for her werewolves, giants or 
vampires, and the traditional folkloric tradition of the various styles of 
"brownie" as her basis for House Elves. Poltergeist is simply a more recent 
term, and consequently not as familiar to the reader.

-JOdel