Why Are Ghosts Depicted Wearing White Sheets? This Video Explains the History Behind the Classic Look

When you picture a ghost, there's a good chance you imagine a floating white sheet with a couple of eyeholes. It's one of the most recognizable images in horror, but have you ever wondered how ghosts ended up looking like laundry with a supernatural problem?

In a video from the PBS series Monstrum, Dr. Emily Zarka explores the history of ghosts wearing white sheets and how this once-creepy image became a Halloween favorite.

The tradition actually goes back centuries to burial shrouds, the cloth coverings used to wrap the dead before burial. Since these shrouds were often white, it made sense that people began imagining spirits wandering around in the same fabric they were buried in.

Victorian ideas about modesty also played a part in shaping the classic ghost costume. “Victorian-era illustrator George Cruikshank once mused that it would be strange for an intangible spirit to wear physical clothes, but on the other hand, depicting ghosts in the nude would be shamefully indecent.”

Apparently, even the dead had to follow a dress code! By the early 1900s, the floating white sheet had become the standard look for ghosts. However, as the image made its way into cartoons and entertainment, it gradually became more funny than frightening.

“In the early 20th century, the floating white sheet had become one of the most recognizable ways to depict a ghost. And then pop culture started making it a lot less scary.”

Disney's Lonesome Ghosts and characters like Casper the Friendly Ghost helped turn the spooky supernatural figure into something audiences could laugh at and even love.

It's pretty funny that one of Halloween's most iconic costumes started with centuries-old burial traditions and Victorian concerns about naked ghosts.

Check out the Monstrum video for a fun history lesson on how the classic white-sheet ghost came to be.