As well as Hallowe'en, today is also Reformation Day - commemorating the beginnings of the Reformation in 1517 - so today may be a good time to explore how the Reformation had an impact on beliefs about the supernatural

One major impact was the abolition of purgatory in reformed territories; purgatory had been at the heart of Luther's dispute with the papacy, but was also at the heart of medieval belief in ghosts - so Hallowe'en and Reformation Day are more linked than you might think!

The appearance of ghosts was linked to the return of souls from purgatory in order to demand masses, prayers, and the application of indulgences - which is why the reformers generally attacked belief in ghosts

Many reformers believed the Reformation would do away with ghosts because it abolished the doctrine of purgatory - but the ghosts just wouldn't go away

Reformers initially reacted by arguing that ghosts were not the returned souls of the dead, but rather demons from hell *pretending* to be the souls of the dead in order to deceive people into believing in purgatory

This convoluted reformed explanation of ghosts had little success, and some Protestants eventually abandoned it. Ghosts played important social functions and aided social stability. Ghosts appeared to right wrongs and guarantee hereditary rights (see Hamlet!)

By the end if the 17th century, many theologians in England also saw ghosts as a bulwark of supernatural belief itself, which was under threat from new radical thinking - leading the Anglican clergyman Joseph Glanvill to mount a famous defence of ghosts, Saducismus Triumphatus

So in spite of the centrality of abolishing purgatory to the Reformation, the Reformation essentially failed to get rid of ghosts as part of popular culture - meaning that ideas of expiation and placation of the souls of the dead survived in most Protestant countries...