The medieval belief that certain corpses could rise from the dead in order to bother the living. Causes for revenants include such things as problems with handling the burial, jealousy on the part of the deceased, a curse, etc. A vampire is a type of revenant.

Numerous descriptions of revenants by medieval English historians are still available. Such descriptions are usually of particular individuals who recently died, although animals can be revenants. In fiction, revenants return from the dead to achieve a goal (usually revenge) or to complete an unfinished task. Also the name of a popular computer game, a monster in another computer game (Doom), the name of a space ship in a comic book, and a record label.