Pliny Book 7, Letter 27 (English)

Pliny the Younger recounts two ghost stories in a letter to Sura, including the tale of Curtius Rufus, whose prophesied career—from low birth to proconsul of Africa—was allegedly foretold by a supernatural female figure. The second, more harrowing account describes a haunted house in Athens where the clanking of chains and a emaciated phantom drove inhabitants to illness and death until the property was abandoned. The letter, part of Pliny's Book 7, uses these anecdotes to press Sura on whether spectres truly exist with divine shapes or are merely products of terrified imaginations. The stories matter as early literary evidence of Roman beliefs about the supernatural and the psychological toll of hauntings. What to watch next: Sura's reply, in which Pliny's correspondent is expected to weigh in on the reality of ghosts.