There are several reasons for this switch. One is because some people don’t necessarily dream about ghosts, and merely have dreams where there is a dead relative and they are attending their funeral. The meaning of dream about dead relatives in a case such as this could not be discerned by looking up ghosts in a dream dictionary. Another reason for the switch is because sometimes the ghosts in dreams are not relatives at all, but friends, or sometimes strangers. If this is the case, then surely looking up the meaning of dead relatives would not help to get a full picture of ghosts. Be all of that as it may though, ghosts do share some things in colon with dead relatives in dreams.
The dream meaning of dead relatives is not always so clear cut for some people, but most of the time seeing the death of a relative in the dream can be due to grief. This is the case of the relative is dead already in life. Recalling the fact that they are dead or images of them dead is just a way of letting you know that you still care about them and that their death still affected you. If the relative in your dream is dead, but you are witnessing images of their death, this could also be associated with guilt, particularly if anything that you have done could have played a part in the death of your relative in any way, even if it was a very small part that was played.
It is common to feel feelings of guilt when someone dies in a car crash because you held them up for a few extra seconds. A common line of thought is that you could have saved them if you had just let them go. A matter of seconds is all it takes to save a life or end it on the road. This is just one example of many dream meanings associated with dead relatives though.
If you happen to have a dream where you are seeing a relative that is currently alive, being killed, or worse, being murdered, then this could mean that you are sensing danger in their near future. If this is the case, some dream interpretations would want you to go to that relative the next time that you had a chance, and let them know how you have been feeling. It may not change their opinion at all, but the very fact that you have shared with them, information that could have saved their life will left any weight of guilt off your shoulders. You still may feel that they are in danger, but it will likely be less severe, and something that you can get over much more easily .Traditionally dreams involving death are either attached to emotions of grief or fear, but it is up to the dreamer to decide which option applies to them best.