The term "apparition" originates from the Latin word "apparitio," meaning an appearance or becoming visible. In the study of parapsychology, an apparition, in the simplest terms, is the manifestation of the spirit of a dead person or a ghostly figure.

The categorisation of apparitions has changed significantly over the past century. In the late 1800s, apparitions of living people, known as phantasms of the living, were frequently reported. These were typically visions of friends or family members who were alive but often in a state of distress or near death. The prevailing belief was that these apparitions were not spirits but possibly a form of telepathic phenomenon, where intense emotional or physical states could project an image of the person to someone far away.

Over time, reports of phantasms of the living have declined significantly, with modern paranormal lore focusing more on ghosts of the dead. This shift in the categorisation of...