For Halloween, today’s Scrabble blog post is devoted to words for ghosts. Two of the words (banshee and eidolon) are seven letters long, enabling a player or team to Scrabble, or bingo, earning an additional fifty points for the play. Another two are eight letters long (barguest and fairyism) and can be formed by adding letters to a word played previously.
- banshee: a female spirit in Gaelic folklore that wails to warn of a family member’s imminent death. Note that this word is featured in Stephen King’s short story “Strawberry Spring,” which we examined in class yesterday.
- barguest: a goblin (also barghest)
- bogy: a goblin
- daimon: a spirit (also daemon and demon)
- eidolon: a phantom or specter
- fairyism: the quality of being like a fairy (not really a ghost but a great word)
- haint: a ghost
- kelpie: a water sprite in Scottish folklore known for drowning sailors
- wraith: a ghost of a person, often appearing just before that person’s death
- zombi: a zombie
Next Up
At the beginning of class on Wednesday we will briefly review “Strawberry Spring,” and you will have the remainder of the period to continue your work on your final essay and annotated bibliography.
Jane Lucas 