Lemures
There are many kinds of ghosts and hauntings, from orbs to poltergeists the ghost world is much more complicated than it seems at first glance. One of the strangest and most sinister types of ghosts that exist are Lemures. In Roman lore, Lemures were the spirits of the dead that returned to the upper world to harm the living and create chaos.
Lemures haunt the night and are known to be angry, volatile, and extremely dangerous. These spectres are said to be the ghosts of dangerous, evil people (like murderers) or people who died in evil ways (like being murdered). Additionally, there was also a rumor that those who died without a family or children were doomed to become lemures. Those whose lives were cut short were also at risk at becoming lemures and wreaking havoc on the living whose lives continued on.
These souls are violently unhappy and, because of this primal and all-consuming unhappiness, attack and haunt the living. Typically, they drive those who they haunt to madness and some of their actions are consistent with poltergeist activity. They were often described as humanoid and skeletal that stalked their victims during the dead of night.
If you did not perform the proper rituals you would be cursed with lemures. There are a few things you can do. If you know of a person who recently died and is at risk of becoming a lemure, you can go to their grave and burn black beans around the tomb and body as this ritual was said to prevent the potential lemure from leaving its grave.
The festival to keep your family safe from lemures was called, fittingly, Lemuria. Lemuria took place on the nights of May 9th, 11th, and 13th each year. During this time, the head of the household would have to wake and midnight and go to the front door. Once at the front door, he would make signs of life with his hands to keep the lemuria away. After this was completed, he would wash his hands three times in spring water, turn around, and put black beans into his mouth which he would throw behind him. The Lemuria were doomed to pick up all of these beans, thus distracting them from haunting. During Lemuria observances temples were closed, the days were considered unlucky, and marriages during May were considered unlucky.
If you’re wondering why ‘Lemures’ sound so much like the cute, spunky animals lemurs...you’re not alone. In fact, lemurs got their name thanks to these creeping, vicious ghosts. Linnaeus, father of the Linnaean system of classification, named lemurs! He noted in the mid-1750s why he chose this name, "I call [the creatures in this genus] lemurs, because they go around mainly by night, in a certain way similar to humans, and roam with a slow pace."
The above is image is of Sepulcher of the Scipioni, Rome, entrance and is licensed under This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
