What Jo says about...
Ghosts at Hogwarts
Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.
- JKR speaks of researching specific ghosts, implying that one or more of the ghosts in the books are based on ghosts from folklore. [Read the exact quote from the Diane Rehm Show interview, 1999]
- The characters she created the very first day were Harry, Ron, Nearly Headless Nick, Hagrid and Peeves, then she developed Hogwarts. Conversations with JK Rowling, p.37-8
- Wizard portraits are not living or thinking entities, they are only a "distillation" of the real person. This "aura" can give advice or repeat catchphrases but not much more. [Read the exact quote from Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
- Ghosts can communicate more effectively with people than the portraits. [Read the exact quote from Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
- Ghosts were people who were very afraid of death. [Read the exact quote from Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
- If a teacher is head of a Hogwarts house, we can assume they were in that house; that goes for ghosts as well. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
- JKR: "Peeves isn't a ghost; he was never a living person. He is an indestructible spirit of chaos, and solid enough to unscrew chandeliers, throw walking sticks and, yes, chew gum." [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
- Peeves "comes with the building" and doesn't really answer to Dumbledore. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
- Moaning Myrtle was in Ravenclaw House. [8 May 2007] [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]