supernatural

Date: 15th century

1 : outside the natural world

2 : forces, occurrences and beings that cannot be explained by science

Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin supernaturalis, from Latin super- + natura nature

ghost

Date: before 12th century century

1 : The spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or to haunt former habitats.

2 : SPIRIT, DEMON

Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gast; akin to Old High German geist spirit

spiritualism

Date: 1796

1 : a: a belief that spirits of the dead communicate with the living usually through a medium b: capitalized : The practices or doctrines of those holding such a belief

Ghosts, spirits, demons and otherworldly entities dwell in the realm of the supernatural. Stories abound throughout history and among virtually every culture. As long as there have been ghost stories, there have been attempts to communicate with the other side and prove its existence.