Jem, Scout and Dill were deeply involved with their fantasies about Boo Radley in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, when Jem told Scout that "you act like you believe in Hot Steams."
"What's a Hot Steam?" asked Dill.
"... A Hot Steam's somebody who can't get to heaven, just wallows around on lonesome roads, an' if you walk through him, when you die, you'll be one, too...
Jem actually explained it pretty well. Hot Steams are supposedly the ghosts or spirits of people that can't get into Heaven, so they are forced to walk the Earth forever. According to one source, the term may have originated from multiple accounts of ghosts being seen in the area of hot springs or geysers. If you recall the movie, Ghost, there were several examples who hung around trains, another form of steam.
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