Is Peeves a Ghost? was Re: Wizard to ghost?

[dj_bagshaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 86181



 "meriaugust" <meriaugust at y...> wrote:
> Here's a question that popped into my head while reading the posts 
> about titles in the WW. People were discussing Nearly Headless Nick 
> and why he is refered to as "sir" ie: what had he done to get 
> himself a title and then what had happened to lead to his 
beheading. 
> Someone suggested that he perhaps had been discovered to be a 
wizard 
> and was executed for that, but is there any canon evidence to 
> confirm that every Hogwarts ghost (or every ghost in the world for 
> that matter) was a witch or wizard in life? Moaning Myrtle of 
course 
> was a Hogwarts stuident, and Professor Binns was boring students 
> there for years before his death, but what about Nick and the Fat 
> Friar and the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady? All magical (non-
> Muggle) people in life? Or is Hogwarts merely a haven for ghosts 
> regardless of magical status in life? Did the person have to have 
> some Hogwarts connection before they haunt there? What about the 
> muggles who become ghosts, if any? Do they fall under the 
> jurisdiction of the MoM or are they stuck with figuring out their 
> post-biological existence on their own? Any thoughts?


Yes, there is *very* clear canon evidence of this...

At the end of OoP, when Harry seeks out Nearly Headless Nick to ask 
whether Sirius will become a ghost...

Nearly Headless Nick hesitated, then said, "not everyone can come 
back as a ghost."
"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly.
"Only...only wizards." (UK ed p 758)

So you see, all Hogwarts ghosts *must* have been wizards before.

One other question though...I was rereading PS last night, and 
discovered an interesting passage about Peeves:

"He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a 
ghost" 

At this point, the speaker/ghost, who isn;t identified but whose 
description seems to fit that of Nearly Headless Nick, gets 
*interrupted* (and we all know what interruptions mean...)

So, ny question is, why is Peeves not really even a ghost?  Is this 
important, or was the speaker merely saying that Peeves didn't *act* 
like a proper ghost?  Is the distinction between ghost and 
poltergiest (which I belive Peeves is mentioned as) so great that he 
isn't considered a ghost?

Any thoughts?

~Kate