A wraith is an apparition of a person who is still alive, seen as an omen that the person is about to die. It is a Scottish word, first attested in English in 1513, and the etymology might be from an Old Norse vörðr (lit. "warden"), denoting a kind of spiritual being in Norse faith. In the Harry Potter book series, by J.K. Rowling, Dementors are wraith-like creatures that psychically feed off of human misery and, if they are allowed to do so, will devour a person's soul.