Keres
The spirits of the dead in ancient Greece. It was believed that they escaped
from the pithos, the jars used to contain the bodies of the dead, and
devoted themselves to pestering the living. They were exorcised by ritual
and incantation. Sticky tar was painted on doorframes to catch them and
prevent them from entering a dwelling. Plato observed, "There are many
fair things in the life of mortals, but in most of them there are as it
were adherent keres which pollute and disfigure them."
