Oldest Know Drawing Of A Ghost Discovered

British Museum

By Roger Norquist

A drawing of a ghost dating from 1,500 BC has been found in the vaults of the imperialistic British Museum.

Evidence from a collection of tablets from Mesopotamia (originated in ancient Babylonia) is theorized to have proof that stories of ghosts and spirits have been part of human society for millennia. One tablet is thought to be the earliest surviving depiction of a ghost.

The drawing, extremely faded by time was overlooked for years, is part of an exorcist’s guide to removing an unwanted ghost by addressing its ailments. The specific tablet shows a ghost being led by rope to the land of the afterlife by his female lover.

The tablet is being studied by curator Dr. Irving Finkel.

“It is obviously a male ghost and he is miserable,” Finkle says, “You can imagine a tall, thin, bearded ghost hanging about the house did get on people’s nerves.”

Finkel says of the ghost problem depicted on the tablet, “the final analysis was that what this ghost needed was a lover.”

"Something that everybody knew was that the way to get rid of the old bugger was to marry him off. It's not fanciful to read this into it. It's a kind of explicit message. There's very high-quality writing there and immaculate draughtsmanship."

The tablet went unnoticed because of the extreme difficulty of seeing the image unless held at a certain angle against the light. Researchers were able to make out an extensive script describing the exorcism procedure written on the back.

"At sunrise towards the sun you make the ritual arrangements and set up two carnelian vessels of beer," it reads. "You set in place a special vessel and set up a juniper censer with juniper. You draw the curtain like that of the diviner. You [put] the figurines together with their equipment and place them in positionâe¦ and say as follows, Shamash..."