Inspired by this one time a family member was watching a ghost hunters show and I overheard the presenter say something like "we're going to try and answer the greatest of ALL mysteries: are ghosts real?" to which I couldn't stop laughing at how absurd their philosophical priorities were.

No - not remotely in any of the ways mentioned below

Kinda sorta maybe at a stretch - consciousness/souls do exist but they cease to exist when the body dies

Kinda - souls continue to exist after the body dies, but they go to an afterlife or are reincarnated e.g. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism etc.

Yes - souls continue to exist on Earth after the body dies, but they can only observe, not interact e.g. "my ancestors smile upon me"

OH YEAH - souls continue to exist on Earth after the body dies, and can interact, but rarely and in ways unlike pop-culture depictions

HELL FUKIN' YEAH BABY - souls continue to exist on Earth after the body dies, look and act exactly like pop-culture ghosts, are genuinely responsible for most reported hauntings, and make the sounds they hear in ghost hunter shows