Do you believe in ghosts?

I think, in a metaphorical sense, that ghosts do exist.

But first, what is a ghost? Ghosts tend to be lingering phantoms, tied to an object or a place, unable to find peace because they left the world with unfinished business.

So what do I mean by 'metaphorical' ghosts? Well, ghosts are haunted themselves as much as they haunt others, I think. It's like trying to go to sleep, but there's this niggling in the back of your mind all the while. Maybe you're too tired to work on that big project, but you just can't seem to put it entirely out of your mind. Maybe you #ragequit your favorite video game, and after hours of stewing and ruminating about what you could've done differently, you've hit a breakthrough. Only problem is, it's now six in the morning, and you've got things tomorrow to do.

If ghosts exist as described, I imagine their frame of mind is perpetually like that: 'I want to go to bed, but I can't stop thinking about 'X'.'

But that still doesn't describe 'metaphorical' ghosts, does it? Doesn't it? If you have a troubled past that you just can't seem to put behind you - everything is fine, until your mind wanders down that long, dark hallway - couldn't you call yourself 'haunted by a spectre from your past'? Maybe you did something truly horrific, but nobody ever found out. Maybe it's more tame than that: you just never worked up the courage to do something you wanted to. Things you've done, things you didn't do, things you witnessed and couldn't do anything about: are ghosts just the personification of regret?

What do you think? Do you believe in ghosts, now?