<noun.person> we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us
something existing in perception only
<noun.cognition> a ghostly apparition at midnight
Phantasm \Phan"tasm\, n. [L. phantasma. See {Phantom}, and cf. {Fantasm}.] [Spelt also {fantasm}.] 1. An image formed by the mind, and supposed to be real or material; a shadowy or airy appearance; sometimes, an optical illusion; a phantom; a dream.
They be but phantasms or apparitions. --Sir W. Raleigh.
2. A mental image or representation of a real object; a fancy; a notion. --Cudworth.
Figures or little features, of which the description had produced in you no phantasm or expectation. --Jer. Taylor.
This phantasm was tucking into a tutti frutti ice-cream opposite the Minerva temple in Assisi. I nudged my brother-in-law.