Ghost tattoo: best ideas and meaning

Ghost tattoo: meaning and symbolism

Ghosts appear across cultures as a link to what remains after death. In tattooing they therefore most often stand for the memory of people who are no longer here, or for a spiritual path of one's own. In some traditions ghosts protect those they loved – hence the reading of a ghost as a guardian.

The other register is entirely different. A ghost drawn as a simple white silhouette with eyes is a playful, modern motif that carries lightness and a certain distance from the subject of death. That range is what makes the ghost a motif everyone fills with their own story.

Modern meaning and personal reading

Most of the small ghosts we tattoo belong to the playful register – they are motifs for pleasure, often a first tattoo or a matching piece. There does not have to be anything more behind them.

The second group is memorial, where the ghost stands for a specific person and comes with a date, a name or a small object. An addition – a candle, a lantern, a gravestone or mist – decides which way the motif leans.

Styles and design variations

Our gallery is dominated by small minimalist silhouettes in black line – a rounded shape with eyes, quick to do and easy to place almost anywhere. Ghosts with a small heart, a flower or a short line of text are common too.

The darker branch goes towards horror and gothic scenes: apparitions in mist, old lanterns, gravestones, skulls and heavy shading. Watercolour works unexpectedly well on a ghost, because the bleeding edges themselves create the impression of something floating. We tattoo ghosts most often on the forearm, wrist, ankle and behind the ear, and larger scenes on the arm or thigh.

Our artists like to experiment, and they will build you something that still makes sense to you years from now.