Grateful dead (folklore)

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Grateful dead (or grateful ghost) is both a motif and a group of related folktales present in many cultures throughout the world. The most common story involves a traveler who encounters a corpse of someone who never received a proper burial, typically stemming from an unpaid debt. The traveler then either pays off the dead person's debt or pays for burial. The traveler is later rewarded or has his life saved by a person or animal who is actually the soul of the dead person; the grateful dead is a form of the donor. The grateful dead spirit may take many different physical forms including that of a guardian angel, animal, or fellow traveler. The traveler's encounter with the deceased comes near the end of the traveler's journey.