Of Shadows and Fears: Nepalese Ghost Stories from Classical Texts and Folklore to the Social Media

What are we talking about when we are talking about ghosts? A ghost is, first and foremost, a story: it exists in a narrative dimension and perpetuates itself by it. Before witnesses, a ghost needs listeners. In this regard, it is a story which unsettles and scares, something which keeps coming back from the past. It is the past which has not died yet, forced to resurface again and again in order to be acknowledged, solved and settled. In this chapter, the author will explore the topics and contents highlighted by ghost stories and narratives from Nepalese classical texts to contemporary social media, in order to analyze their meanings, roles and functions while at the same time mapping continuities and discontinuities between religious, folkloric and popular themes.