Phantoms appear frequently in a town, often among woods but not always in the dark. When they appear, it is only for a second, and the person to whom the phantom appears feels a ripple up their arms. The phantoms are a part of the town's past and its present, and though the townspeople feel that they could leave and not have to worry about the ominous ghosts, they miss the phantoms when they go. The figures appear to anyone, from full-grown men to little girls; one woman saw one when she was a little girl, and three when she was a middle-aged librarian. While some people do not believe in the phantoms, most townspeople do. They always appear for only a second or two, and never "cross over" or interfere with the human world. They never look particularly welcoming. Some people think they are hallucinations, while others think that humans and phantoms might have been a single race in the past. Still others think that the phantoms have always lived on the earth. Some people try to use the phantoms as an explanation for missing children, but there is no evidence to back up this theory. There is not photographic evidence of the phantoms, and they cannot be captured. As children, the townspeople are told of Phantom Lorraine, a legendary phantom who befriended a pair of siblings and was eventually adopted by a family. Many know that this legend is false, because phantoms stay out of human affairs. Some people think that the humans themselves are the phantoms. But in the end, there is no definitive explanation or reasoning behind the phantoms; they are simply there, a part of the town.