Bedsheet Ghost: Difference between revisions

[[Our Ghosts Are Different]], and they look like refugees from the linens aisle.

Like many images common to modern culture, the Bed Sheet Ghost began as a theatrical convention that has long lost its context. In Shakespeare's day, it was common to portray ghosts in armor on stage (for example, Hamlet's father is often depicted in a full suit of armor in historical depictions.) In Elizabethan England, armor was no longer worn in combat, and the costuming convention at the time was to dress characters in contemporary (Renaissance) clothing. So, by dressing a character in armor, the character was given an out of date look, and recognized as a ghost. However, as special effects became more elaborate, it became common to lower the actor playing the ghost onto stage with a pulley. Of course, the heavy armor clanked loudly, and by the 19th century, the sight of an armored ghost on stage was more likely to bring laughter than fear.

Definitely [[Truth in Television]] for anyone who's celebrated [[All Hallow's Eve|Halloween]]: If you haven't dressed as a bedsheet ghost at some point, you know someone who has. Unless you're from the [[Deep South]].

{{examples}}

* ''[[The Muppet Christmas Carol]]'''s version of The Ghost of Christmas Past, which also somewhat resembles a [[Ghost Lights|Will'O the Wisp]].

* In ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]'', when Eliot has to take his little sister out for trick-or-treating, he dresses ET up as this.

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Oscar Wilde]]'s ''The Canterville Ghost'' originally popularized this trope.

* The M.R. James story "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad" has...''something'' that manifests itself in the sheets of the unused bed in the hero's hotel room. It's implied that the thing has next to no physical form of its own.

** The [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063381/ TV adaptation] plays it straight ''and'' makes it work.

*** There's something darkly comical about it all. The hero, Parkins, is a po-faced academic who has very definite views on ghosts, so it's deliciously ironic that the thing that terrorizes him chooses to manifest itself in a bedsheet. Not that it makes the story any less terrifying.

* In Clifford D. Simak's ''The Goblin Reservation'', the character of Ghost (yes, that's how he's called) is depicted this way.

* One of the solve-it-yourself mysteries of the ''[[Clue (game)|Clue]]'' books features Mr. Boddy's six guests all dressing up as ghosts to try to scare each other, which makes them all feel a little silly—until they notice there are ''seven'' ghosts in the room, and one of them doesn't have feet...

** However, Chuck shows up in a white sheet later that episode.

* The Janitor on ''[[Scrubs]]'' dresses up as one of these to haunt pediatrics.

*** Also, in-line skates.

{{quote|'''Carla:''' You're a monster.

* Subverted in ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'': Dewey appears to be dressed up as a bedsheet ghost, but he claims to actually be a marshmallow.

* ''[[Ace Lightning]]'' plays this trope absolutely straight in one episode - and the bad guys are ''terrified'' by a kid stuck under a bedsheet.

== [[Music Videos]] ==

* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had Beezy being haunted by one. Its sheet is eventually removed, revealing a body of pizza crusts.

* High-Five Ghost and his family in ''[[Regular Show]]''. Then it gets...odd when Mordecai and Rigby are turned into ghosts, and they just look like themselves, with a ghostly squiggle instead of legs.

* In ''[[Scooby Doo]] Where are you''?, one of the projections used to scare the gang is one of a Bedsheet Ghost.

* ''[[Duckman]]'' has a surprise cameo from the last person you would expect pulling this. {{spoiler|Homer Simpson.}}