ABSTRACT
The belief in ghosts and other revenants is nearly universal. It has been suggested that there is a correlation between the nature of child-rearing practices within a specific society and the character of that society's supernatural beings, including ghosts. The girl's ghost informs that her lover Benjie pushed her into the water, and they then ask her what kind of punishment they should inflict. "Sweet William's Ghost" has numerous variants in which the story line diverges somewhat, but the basic story is that the ghost of a man who died just before he was to wed appears to his lover to ask her to return his love token. "Ghosts punish failure to sacrifice to them" can be found in ancient Greek, South American Indian, and African tales. There is a large body of material involving the dead being unable to rest because of prolonged mourning by their survivors, which prompts the ghost to return to ask them to cease weeping.
