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This article is about a deceased person's spirit in visible form.
You may be looking for the non-corporeal essence of a being or entity.
For other uses, see Ghost (disambiguation)
Salazar's crew

The ghostly crew of the Silent Mary.

"A ghost sir. A revenant, that's what they calls 'em. Came out of that haunted fogbank. Must have, sir. That fogbank, it was haunted right enough. My friend, Etienne de Ver, he said that there's an old fortress near where he grew up in France that was haunted. He said that he—"
"Mr. Featherstone, I asked you about this apparition that came aboard that same night. Can you please describe it, and then tell me you why you believe it was not simply a man?
"
Lucius Featherstone and Cutler Beckett[src]

A ghost was the soul or spirit of a dead human or animal that is believed to be capable of appearing or otherwise manifesting itself to the living. According to folklore and traditional belief, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions or forms. Other terms associated with it are revenant, apparition, haunt, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul.

The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences though stories of ghostly armies, ghosts of animals other than humans, and ghost ships have also been recounted. They are believed to haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. Historically, despite centuries of investigation, in which the overwhelming consensus of science is that there is no proof that ghosts exist, their existence is impossible to falsify.

History[]

Ghost Captain

The Ghost captain.

"It's not like that, sir. This ship is haunted."
"Is it, now? And you?"
"There's a female presence amongst us here, sir. All the men, they can feel it."
"It's the ghost of a lady widowed before her marriage, I figure it, searching for her husband, lost at sea.
"
Bursar, Captain Bellamy, Quartermaster, Sailor, and Cook[src]

When the Spanish conquistador Humbert "El Patron" Diaz forced the inhabitants of Raven's Cove to forge weapons for him, they sealed him, his crew, and his ship, inside his mines in the Cove. When the crew mutinied against him, El Patron and his men were cursed to remain inside the mines as ghosts and haunt them for all eternity.[1]

When the young adventurer Jack Sparrow and his crew found the legendary Sword of Cortés on Isla Fortuna, they unintentionally summoned the spirit of the conquistador Hernán Cortés, the original owner of the Sword and the man who destroyed the Aztec Empire. The ghostly Spaniard tried to trick Jack Sparrow into doing his bidding for him, so he could make himself ruler of the Seven Seas, but with the few advices from the voodoo witch Tia Dalma, Jack was able to summon the spirit of the Aztec Emperor Montecuhzoma, who attacked and destroyed Cortés.[2]

A few years after his teenage adventures Jack Sparrow served as a pirate aboard the Wicked Wench. During a battle off the coast of the mysterious Devil's Triangle, he tricked the notorious Spanish pirate hunter Armando Salazar into steering his ship into the Triangle where the ship was destroyed and him and all his men were killed and turned into ghosts. Due to the magic of Jack Sparrow's compass Salazar and his undead crew were unable to escape from the Triangle, and were forced to spend several decades in it.[3]

At the end of his quest for the island of Kerma, Jack Sparrow dueled and killed the rogue pirate Christophe-Julien de Rapièr on the deck of his ship, the Wicked Wench. When he returned to Calabar and had to give his report to Cutler Beckett, Sparrow lied that he had actually fought against the ghost of his old fencing master from Marseilles.[4]

445px-Wayward ghosts

The ghosts on Raven's Cove.

Shortly after the battle of the Isla de Muerta, a mysterious ghost ship sailed into the Port Royal harbor. The ship's crew of ghosts terrorized the inhabitants of the city until the blacksmith Will Turner made a sword and gave it to the ship's ghostly captain.[5]

During the War of Jolly Roger, when the forces of the East India Trading Company and the undead army of Jolly Roger fought a battle over El Patron's weapons left on Raven's Cove, the entire population of the island was wiped out. However, their ghosts soon began appearing to pirates who came to the island. Some ghosts were friendly, but others were hostile.[1]

When Elizabeth Swann sneaked onboard the Edinburgh Trader as a sailor, she tricked the superstitious crewmen into thinking that her wedding dress was a spirit to force them to sail the ship to Tortuga.[6]

After Captain Jack Sparrow betrayed his compass, Captain Armando Salazar and his crew were released from the Devil's Triangle. After the Trident of Poseidon was destroyed by Henry Turner, all the curses of the sea were broken, which resulted in Salazar and his crew becoming human and mortal once again.[3]

Behind the scenes[]

"Looks like you've seen a ghost."
Will Turner to Jack Sparrow[src]
CS 04

The ghost of Captain Morgan, as imagined by Chris Schweizer and Joe Flood.

Appearances[]

Sources[]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

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