Spirits

SOULS

They’re said to leave the body at death but linger in stories and songs.

"Spirits" is a clever double-meaning clue where the word can refer to both ghostly entities and the essence of a person. In this case, it’s hinting at the latter—what many believe to be the non-physical part of a human, which is "souls." The plural form matches the clue’s wording, making it a straightforward but elegant play on the term’s different interpretations. It’s a common crossword trick to use words with multiple definitions like this.