Ghost stories have been popular for centuries.  In a literary sense, these tales often have a moral component.  A warning from past offenses to future generations.

One of the most ancient references to a haunted house comes from the Arabian Nights.

‘To whom doth the big house belong?’

‘To us!’

‘Open it, that I may view it.’

‘Thou hast no business there.’

‘Wherefore?’

‘Because it is haunted, and none nighteth there but in the morning he is a dead man; nor do we use to open the door, when removing the corpse, but mount the terrace-roof of one of
the other two houses and take it up thence.  For this reason my master hath abandoned the house and saith: ‘I will never again
give it to any one.’ ‘

Open it,’ I cried, ‘that I may view it;’ and I said in my mind, ‘This is what I seek; I will pass the night there and in the morning be a dead man and be at peace from this my case.’

So he opened it and I entered and found it a splendid house, without its like.

I won’t tell you what happens after that, but the ghosts have a story to tell.  What’s your favorite ghost story?