Gjenganger

In Nordic folklore; Danish: genganger, Norwegian: gjenganger, Swedish: gengångare ("(a)gain-walker"), among more, is a term for a revenant, the spirit or ghost of a deceased from the grave,[1] meaning "someone which goes again", from the Scandinavian verb of "going again" (Swedish: gå igen) in the sense of a deceased person haunting post-mortem.

It is related to the Scandinavian verb of "going again" (Swedish: gå igen) with the sense of haunting post-mortem,[2] for example: Swedish: en död som går igen, "a dead which goes again → a dead person which refuses the afterlife to walk the earth again as a revenant".

In older traditions, the gjenganger was very malicious and violent in nature, coming back from the grave to torment its family and friends.

In slightly newer tradition, the gjenganger remains a violent entity, though in a less direct way, now becoming more of a disease-spreader.

Both the forest creature (huldra) and the water spirits (nøkken) were also accused of doing the same, using bites instead of pinches, often aimed at the victim's face.

Whereas the gengångare looked virtually identical to a living human, the gast was known to be transparent and/or skeletal in appearance, making it impossible to see who the phantom had been while alive.

Today it mostly compares with the modern perception of ghosts, most often being ethereal in form, and non-violent in nature.