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{{trope}}
[[File:ghost_movie_musical.jpg|link=Ghost (Filmfilm)|frame|Told you our ghosts are different...]]
 
 
{{quote|''"What is a ghost? A tragedy doomed to repeat itself?"''|''[[The DevilsDevil's Backbone]]''}}
 
Ghosts are usually people who have died, but their [[Our Spirits Are Different|spirits]] are still lingering around. Some are friendly, some are neutral, and some are wrathful. It all depends on what kind of story is being told.
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# [[Revenge|Avenge me]]! The ghost was killed through foul play, knows it, and wants the murder avenged. Sometimes, this also comes with a [[Clear My Name]] sidebar. This one can also lead to ghosts becoming violent and angry if not avenged. They may explicitly say that they can not rest easy in the graves until they are avenged.
# [[Unfinished Business]]: something that was significant or important to the person they used to be when alive remains undone. The ghost hangs around until this is done, and may or may not [[Undeath Always Ends|move on afterward.]]
# The ghost hasn't yet figured out they're dead, or are so attached to what they did in life they are still doing it out of habit and/or affection. This can lead to a [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror]] shock, an [[Obi Wan]] or a [[Ghostly Advisor]].
# They're aware they're dead and angry at the living for still living.
# The ghost suffered so in life that the spirit was drawn to the place where the worst torment took place.
# [[Living Memory|Resounding psychic echo]]. The ghost [[Our Souls Are Different|isn't even the person's soul]], but just a spectral imprint left behind by the person's death that's gained a form of sentience. In paranormal fields, these are usually called residual hauntings.
# [[The Power of Love]]. They feel someone they love can't make it without them, or needs protection.
# No funeral, no grave -- they can not rest without [[Due to Thethe Dead|proper memoralization]].
# [[Due to Thethe Dead|Their graves have been improperly moved or desecrated]], and they're angry about it.
# [[Due to Thethe Dead|Someone saw to it that they received proper funeral rites]], and they must reward this person before they go on.
# Someone is mourning them too much, and as a consequence, they are bound to this world.
# They were very, very naughty in life and fear crossing over and facing possible cosmic retribution.
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** For example; ghosts in [[Ghost Whisperer]] are always invisible to humans who don't have the gift required to see them.
* [[Blow You Away|Wind]] powers are usually a common ghostly ability.
** Sometimes they have [[Playing Withwith Fire|fire]]/[[Ghost Lights|Will-o'-the-wisp]] powers too.
** Or equipment the ghost used in life becomes an [[Jacob Marley Apparel|ectoplasmic version of same]] that can hurt other ghosts.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: Usually [[Mind Over Matter|telekinesis]] for throwing things around in a ghost tantrum/poltergeist fit.
** Other times, they can project [[Screamer Trailer|Scary Visions]] into the mind of a victim.
** [[Master of Illusion]] is also common, as are creating [[Cold Flames]] or ''actual'' [[Playing Withwith Fire|flames]] in the case of the ghosts of arsonists and their victims.
* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Ghosts can sometimes take on horrific (or amusing) shapes to terrify their haunts.
* Materializing: Ghosts can usually create a body/illusion of themselves as they were when alive. However posing as a human will usually result in [[Glamour Failure|slight flaws]] in their facade, like lacking a pulse or cold skin.
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* Good ghosts may be even more beautiful than they were in life, either as a reflection of their true self or as a reward.
 
Some good ghosts get to [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]] (either literally [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven|heaven]], or something else) once they've [[But Now I Must Go|sorted out]] their issues or unfinished business. Bad ones can get the express elevator [[Hell|down]]. Some of them have problems with [[Ghost Amnesia]]. Every ghost has different [[Ghostly Goals]], again depending on what they want.
 
Shows and movies will usually address these baseline rules, whether or not they're enforced.
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** [[Unfinished Business]]
* [[Jacob Marley Apparel]]
** [[Chained Byby Fashion]]
* [[Perpetual Motion Monster]]
 
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* In ''[[Bleach]]'' all the major characters and antagonists are fundamentally ghosts, or are humans with ghost related, derived, exterminating powers. Ghosts themselves come in three flavours: 'pluses' -- your regular unquiet spirits, 'hollows' -- pluses who lingered in the mortal world too long and became monsters, and [[Shinigami]], who have been granted tremendous supernatural powers to police the afterlife.
* {{spoiler|Nahashi and Lilith's ghosts}} in ''[[Venus Versus Virus]]'' episode 12 get summoned by Laura, and restrain [[Big Bad|Lucif]] from attacking the girls. See types 2 & 7.
* In ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell]]'', the "ghost" is [[Our Souls Are Different|the essential factor]] that can only be possessed by a truly sapient being. It can be housed in artificial hardware by replacement of organics with cybernetics (the Ship of Theseus model), though the main character worries about the certainty of her ghost's integrity. Direct copying not only produces an inferior knockoff, it kills the original.
* Despite being wrongfully imprisoned when she was alive, the [[Cute Ghost Girl]] in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' is not out for revenge or anything like that, she just wants to be noticed. She does have some poltergeist-like powers, like stealing and eating slices of cake right in front of a person. The crumbs somehow stick to her ghostly face. Unfortunately, due to everyone being sidetracked by the Keronians, the ghost girl was quickly forgotten until in one episode she [[Beware the Nice Ones|decides she's had enough of being ignored]] and spirits Natsumi and Keroro away. And it turns out she didn't even die in prison; she stuck around after her death because she wanted to see the "kappa" (hinted to be [[Ancient Astronauts|a previous visiting Keronian]]) she'd befriended when she was alive.
* In concept and execution, the ghosts from [[Panty and& Stocking Withwith Garterbelt (Anime)|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]] are closer to the [[The Heartless|Heartless]] rather than any of the several types of spectral beings listed in this trope. To elaborate: they are unholy abominations created by the sorrow and suffering of people (The [[Talking Poo|ghost shitbeast]] from "Excretion Without Honor and Humanity" being the spirit of a plumber that was killed by the stench of a clogged toilet) or even objects (the [[Panty Thief]] ghost from "High School Nudical" being the grudge of discarded underwear) that perished and got lost/trapped in the limbo.
* [[Honey Crush]] revolves around ghost of [[Schoolgirl Lesbian]], who later meets another (living) [[Schoolgirl Lesbian]] who can see ghosts, who she develops feelings for, who is then targeted by (another dead) [[Schoolgirl Lesbian]]. You might have guessed that series is [[Girls Love]] series.
* One of the weirder episodes (which is saying something) of ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'' revolves around three people trying to kill themselves. At its conclusion, they realize that they succeeded early on and didn't notice. The implication is that ghosts in the ''Paranoia Agent'' universe don't know they're dead. The only visual sign of their death is that ghosts don't have shadows (as made clear when a man tries to kill himself by jumping in front of a subway train; he staggers away, bitching about his failure, but he has no shadow - and really, you can't survive that). There's an odd moment after [[The Reveal]] when the ghosts, happy to have died, stop in the background of a schoolgirl's picture-taking; when the girls look at their photo, they scream in terror. We don't see the picture, so it's not clear what happened (though it's possible only ''we'' see the ghosts as they were in life, and the ''girls'' saw their corpses).
* In ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', Nadeshiko (the protagonist's mother) died at age 27 from [[Ill Girl|an unknown illness]]. She was very attached to her family, so she often makes appearances to check up on them. She eventually stops doing that, particularly after {{spoiler|Touya gives up his clairvoyant ability to save his boyfriend.}} She is notably very different in that she appears more like an angel than a ghost.
** Also, from the first movie to that series, we have "Madoushi", Clow Reed's ex-girlfriend (and former student) who has been waiting for centuries for him to free her from [[Sealed Room in Thethe Middle of Nowhere|an interdimensional prison]] he made for her after [[Moral Event Horizon|she started practicing dark magic.]] {{spoiler|Sakura helps her move on, even facing her fear of ghosts...and this particular one's wrath.}}
* [[Ano Hana]] revolves around Memma, a [[Cute Monster Girl|Cute Ghost Girl]] trying to rest in peace sort of.
* ''[[Ai Kora (Manga)|Ai Kora]]'' had a chapter involving a [[Cute Ghost Girl]] who was being haunted by a horde of other, male ghosts who had fallen madly in lust with her and who wouldn't pass on until she did a sexy dance for them(with some encouragement from Hachibei and Shibusawa). She showed up in a later chapter having possessed Shibusawa's mentor Aburazaka, where it turned out {{spoiler|she was actually the spirit of a girl who was still alive, but in a coma.}}
 
 
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* Many [[Child Ballad|Child Ballads]] have ghosts coming back to drive their killers crazy ("The Cruel Mother", Child #20), or just to say goodbye ("Sweet William's Ghost", Child #77; "The Wife of Usher's Well", Child #79).
* In some variants of ''The Famous Flower of Serving Men'', the heroine's love appears to the king as a bird to explain how he was murdered and the heroine had to disguise herself as a man and go to work for the king.
* In "The Unquiet Grave", the dead love begins to speak after [[A Year and Aa Day]] to complain that the lover's laments will not let her rest.
 
 
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* Johann Kraus from ''[[BPRD]]'' is a ghost that's technically still alive.
* Ye Olde Tyme Golden Age Comics had Sgt. Spook, the ghost of a police officer who was able to interact with his medium - an orphan boy, of course - and solve crimes. These crimes varied from bank robbers and gangsters to supernatural romps.
* The comic book mini-series ''[[BrodysBrody's Ghost]]'', naturally enough, has several types of ghosts.
** Regular ghosts, like title character Talia, are invisible and intangible, but can interact with the world in one specific way that’s different for every ghost. Talia, for example, can break glass with her mind.
** Site specters, are the same as regular ghosts, except that they attach themselves to specific locations.
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== [[Fairy Tales]] ==
* One tale by [[The Brothers Grimm (Creator)|The Brothers Grimm]] featured a ghost of a little girl. Someone finally realized she looked like she was trying to pull up a board in the floor. They looked, and found a coin her mother had given her to give to a beggar, but which she had kept for herself. They gave it to the next beggar and she stopped walking.
* A common trope in fairy tales is the hero having paid off a dead man's debts so he could be [[Due to Thethe Dead|buried]], he [[Hitchhiker Heroes|acquires a companion]] who aids him. In the end, the companion tells him that he was the dead man. This is known as the "grateful dead man." (Yes, BTW.)
** One such is ''[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/stories/birdgrip.html The Bird Grip]''.
** A great many more [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0505.html here].
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== Film ==
* ''[[The Others (Filmfilm)|The Others]]'' has the [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror]] ending.
* ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'' has the [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror]] ending.
** Cole himself is the medium.
** The ghosts tend to be the Avenge Me! types, mostly.
* [[Star Wars]] is the [[Trope Namer]] for the [[Obi Wan]].
* ''[[Thir 13 en Ghosts]]'' had ghosts with the following:
** [[Jacob Marley Apparel]], [[Fan Service|(more a lack thereof in one case).]]
** Containment - a clockpunk house made almost entirely of shatterproof, soundproof glass, the walls of which were covered in spells. This keept the ghosts from moving through them, logically granting said ghosts intangibility.
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* ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' and its related media have hit just about every example on the list, although their ghosts have less limitations than others, like when Stay Puft steps on the church in the first film. They even tackled the odd demon here and there, up to and including [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Cthulhu.]]
** The expanded universe details the nature of ghosts in much greater depth. Ghosts are classified by nature and [[Power Levels|power level]] but to make things confusing the "Class" terminology is used for both. In terms of classification - Class 1 is incomplete manifestations like sounds or lights, Class 2 are partial manifestations like hands or heads, Class 3 are complete humanoid manifestations - but are spirits representing ideas like Christmas or greed rather than deceased humans, Class 4 are full-fledged apparitions and the only class that can be determined a traditional ghost of a deceased human, Class 5 (like Slimer) are non-humanoid extradimensional spirits representing emotions or emotionally-charged events (like Gluttony in Slimer's case), Class 6 are the ghosts of animals, and Class 7 are demons and gods. In Power Levels, they're ranked from Class 1 (able to cause minor lights and move small objects) to Class 11 (essentially a god).
* ''[[Ghost (Filmfilm)|Ghost]]'', with Sam Wheat being the ghost in question:
** he had [[Jacob Marley Apparel]]
** he believed he'd been mugged but turned out to have been murdered. So he became an Avenge Me!
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** Oda Mae was the [[Psychic Powers|Medium]] Sam tormented with bad singing until she agreed to help him. Oda Mae was also the one possessed; once willingly, once not.
** With effort and training, Sam mastered the [[Intangible Man|intangibility]] power. He was able to physically lift a penny to prove to Molly he was really there.
** [[The Power of Love]] gave his girlfriend Molly the ability to hear him so he could tell her goodbye before he [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|ascended]].
** He got [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]] when all was said and done.
* ''[[Stir of Echoes]]''
** The ghost who haunted him and his [[Psychic Powers|Medium]] child was of the Avenge Me! variety. She was very passive, though.
** The Sequel was a lot darker and nastier and was also an Avenge Me!
* ''[[Beetlejuice (Film)|Beetlejuice]]'' has
** Ghosts who don't know they're dead
** Ghosts whose [[Jacob Marley Apparel|method of death shows on the ghost]] ... quite grisly in some cases.
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** A ghost who'd been in the military in life had spectral, ectoplasmic machine guns that could deal damage to other ghosts.
** A ghost who was masquerading as [[The Grim Reaper]] had a scythe that could deal damage equally to humans or other ghosts. And when this ghost was defeated, its victims turned out to be very polite, laid-back Avenge Me! types.
* ''[[Poltergeist (Filmfilm)|Poltergeist]]'' had a group of ghosts who were of the "angry at the living" type. Adding insult to injury, their graves had been desecrated.
** These ghosts were adept with the haunting.
*** They turned an already-creepy clown doll into an [[Monster Clown|extremely creepy one]]. They also used trees and ectoplasmic tentacles.
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* ''Scoop'' had a recently deceased legendary reporter interview a recently deceased secretary who thinks she was poisoned because she found out information that could lead to a notorious serial killer. The reporter escapes back to the land of the living a few times to reveal hints, clues, or whacks with a guilt club to the school newspaper reporter he randomly appeared to the first time appeared.
* The '90s horror flick ''[[Idle Hands]]'' has examples of Jacob Marley Apparel and possession. After the protagonist's best friends are murdered by his hand they decide not to go to heaven and possess their own dead bodies. The bodies function normally despite the fact that one has a beer bottle in his head and the other was decapitated. They can interact normally with everyone else too. Once they duct tape the head back on they can even go out in public. So I guess they aren't really ghost even though they are dead. You know what, never mind.
* ''[[Repo! theThe Genetic Opera]]'' has Dead Marni. She died of a rare blood disease shortly after her daughter was born, and apparently hung around. She mostly appears to Nathan to guilt trip him.
** She's also once helped along in the apparition department by Blind Mag in 'Chase The Morning.'
*** She's a ''hologram.'' A ethereal lookin' one, but still...
* The ghost in ''[[The Devils Backbone|The Devil's Backbone]]'' is caught in an existential loop, doomed to repeat his death until he can get revenge. {{spoiler|The heroes help him out (and vice versa), but he actually kills the bad guy personally.}}
* The [[Creepy Child|child ghosts]] in ''[[The Orphanage]]''.
* The ghosts in ''[[Ghost Town (Filmfilm)|Ghost Town]]'' reverse the traditional Unfinished Business idea - it is the inability of the ''living'' to let their loved ones go that keeps the ghosts around.
* Ben Willis/The Fisherman in ''[[Ill Always Know What You Did Last Summer]]'' appears to be the Resounding Psychic Echo type. He's actually lacking in a lot of powers associated with ghosts (apparently only able to appear and vanish at will) and can be physically harmed (even bleeding, though it's evident the only thing that actually hurts and doesn't just annoy him is his original hook).
* From the film versions of ''[[The Ring]]'':
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* Dave Bowman in ''<nowiki>~2010: The Year We Make Contact~</nowiki>'' was kinda-sorta a ghost of the "resounding psychic echo" variety. He even says at one point "I was Dave Bowman."
* Although ''[[What Dreams May Come]]'' is primarily about the afterlife, its protagonist does hang around in the living world as an invisible, intangible ghost for a bit, unwilling to bear leaving his home or wife. When he tries to touch her, she's immediately overwhelmed by her grief and wails miserably, which convinces him he should move on and spare her from the pain of his unseen, unreachable presence.
* [[Lake Mungo (Film)|Lake Mungo]]: Alice's ghost is pretty standard with the exception that {{spoiler|she saw her own ghost before she died.}}
 
 
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* The Sonja Blue Series by Nancy A. Collins had a mad architect design a house he called Ghost Trap; and it did just that -- trap and confuse ghosts inside its bizarrely designed walls. (Collins probably based this on the real life Winchester Mystery House, designed to do just that.)
* The title character of the 1965 young-adult book ''The Ghost of Dibble Hollow'' by May Nickerson Wallace had unfinished business holding him to the earth, and very strict conditions controlling who could see (and thus help) him.
* King Verence I and the other ghosts in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]'' cannot rest until they've been avenged(which, given the castle is crowded with ghosts, including the ''first'' king, must almost never happen), can only be seen by close relatives, psychics and cats, and, officially, cannot leave the castle (although if a ''bit'' of the castle, such as a single stone, is moved they can go with it). [[Jacob Marley Apparel]] also applies; Verence is wearing his crown, and at one point, when trying to decide if his son is wearing the real crown, takes off the ghostly version to compare them.
*** Note that ghosts' [[Psychic Powers]] seem quite limited in this setting, as it took every bit of fortitude Verence I had, merely to sprinkle unpalatable amounts of salt on his killer's food.
** One-Man-Bucket from ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]]'' admits that he remained around as a ghost because he can't set aside his craving for alcohol. He plays the role of "spirit guide" at Mrs. Cake's seances; because she's a medium, his voice can be heard by anyone who is in her presence.
* [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[Dirk GentlysGently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'' features a character who's learning what it's like to be a newly restless spirit. He's definitely in the Unfinished Business camp; luckily his business consists merely of {{spoiler|finishing the long-winded voice messages he was in the middle of when he was so shockingly, unexpectedly shot}}.
** Although the main point of {{spoiler|finishing his message was to warn his sister.}}
* [[Forgotten Realms]] in addition to usual [[Dungeons and Dragons|xDnD]]'s cloud of incorporeal undead has its own phantom people. Watchghosts, watchnorns, spectral harpists... Few are even more unusual, like ancient archwizard Mharrander Dorolkh ("Ander" for friends) who got some disembodied sort of "immortality": he has a low opinion of [[Dem Bones|liches]] "shuffling about as crumbling, putrefying wreckage until they collapse altogether" (''Elminster: The Making of a Mage'').
* [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''A Fine And Private Place'' revolves about a romance between two recent ghosts.
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Graveyard Book (Literature)|The Graveyard Book]]'' features a young boy who lives in a cemetery that is inhabited by ghosts and ghost-like creatures, and they accept him as one of their own. The villain is actually another human.
* In the medieval [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Sir Amadas'', Sir Amadas pays a dead man's debts so that he can be buried. A White Knight appears to help him. After Sir Amadas has [[Rags to Royalty|married a princess]], the knight reveals that he is the ghost of the dead man.
* E.W. Hildick's ''Ghost Squad'' books followed a group of ghosts who band together for company. [[They Fight Crime]] with the help of living friends who they communicate with via a homebrew word processor. Here, the ghosts are invisible but not intangible, stuck with Jacob Marley apparel, and can only exert a very small amount of physical force at the cost of great effort. A human being touching a ghost feels a slight chill while the ghost feels a cold and sharp pain. Ghosts themselves can interact physically with each other. While lacking psychic abilities, the ghosts are very good at reading facial and body language on account of lacking things like breathing to distract them. Lastly, the ghosts are prone to falling asleep for days at a time, especially after exerting the energy to physically manipulate things.
* Ghosts in ''[[The Hollows]]'' seem to be of the 'unfinished business' variety. The ghost Pierce's unfinished business was bringing a vampire pedophile to justice though being buried in blasphemed soil likely didn't help. {{spoiler|Later Pierce's 'unfinished business' turns out to be an attraction to Rachel}} [[White Magic]] can be used to summon a ghost and give it solid form for one night though they arrive [[Naked Onon Arrival]]. [[Black Magic]] can be used to anchor a ghost into a recently dead body permanently.
* The title character of ''[[Odd Thomas]]'' can see the spirits of the lingering dead, who look much as they did in real life, save that some may manifest the wounds of their deaths. They are unable to speak, but they can touch him (and seem to be able to see in complete darkness). Most of the time, they cannot harm the living, but if sufficiently angered, they can cause poltergeist activities that can hurt the living via shrapnel and flying objects.
* In one ''[[Goosebumps]]'' book that had a girl suspect that her new neighbours were ghosts only to find out that that [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror|she was actually the ghost]], having died when her house burnt down. She proceeds to save her neighbour girl from ending the same way she did.
* Invoked in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]''
{{quote| ''"You don't care for Ghosts, then," I ventured to suggest, unless they are really terrifying?"<br />
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** Central to his poem "Phantasmagoria"
* In the [[Night Huntress]] series, sentient ghosts are rare and are created when a person felt an usually strong emotion at their time of death. They can only be seen by the undead. They cannot possess humans but they can experience sensations such as drinking alcohol by passing through the human's body.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''The Hour of the Dragon'', [[Conan the Barbarian]] surprises a follower who thinks he's this.
{{quote| ''Why have you come back from the gray lands of death to terrify me? I was always your true liegeman in your lifetime--''}}
** In "The Phoenix on the Sword", Conan is surprised at the [[Dead Person Conversation]] because although tales tell that his ghosts helps the country, he's a foreigner.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Kull]] story "The Shadow Kingdom", the Snakeman control the ghost of a long dead king.
{{quote| ''"Yes, I remember the tale now. Gods, Kull! that is another sign of the frightful and foul power of the snake priests—that king was slain by snake-people and thus his soul became their slave, to do their bidding throughout eternity! For the sages have ever maintained that if a man is slain by a snake-man his ghost becomes their slave."''}}
* In the short stories of the book ''Women and Ghosts'' by Alison Lurie, ghosts can be [[Living Memory|projections of people still alive]], ex-employers seeking for a Revenge, a strange chest of drawers, a jealous dead lover, [[Hindu Mythology|an incarnation of Laksmi]], fat people who seem to be supernatural apparitions, [[Creepy Child|the ghost of a little girl]], or even an [[Evil Twin]].
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[ProsperosProspero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', Mephisto's [[Familiar]] was hit by a car. He still, however, can summon it, and it looks like there ought to be a cat there, but there isn't one.
* In [[The Pale King]], Post 047 is haunted by two ghosts: Garrity and {{spoiler|Blumquist}}. The former is extremely chatty and distracting, and the latter is silent but companionable.
* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: anAn Autumn Tale (Literature)|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', Lucian hears Matthew Kellogg speak to him after his death, and later, when the horse refuses to go down any path but one, sees him wink before he fades away.
* In ''[[Magic for Beginners|Magic For Beginners]]'', a collection of short stories by Kelly Link, there is a story called "The Great Divorce" wherein [[Mundane Fantastic|the existence of ghosts is common knowledge]]. Living people and ghosts can marry and are even able to have children together (the offspring of the coupling are usually born dead). Predictably, marrying a ghost is not without its complications. The story is probably one big metaphor, but the events and descriptions are played straight enough.
{{quote| Life, like red hair and blue eyes, is a recessive gene.}}
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
* In the TV version of "[[Topper (TV)|Topper]]'' it's not really made clear if George and Marion are being forced to try change Cosmo Topper's stodgie ways in order to move on to pay for their own wasted lives, or if they are just doing it for fun and their own concern for the banker. Ether way, Neil's just in it for the booze.
* The [[Too Good to Last]] ''[[Dead Last]]'' was about a band ready to break through until they find the amulet that turns them into a ghost Unfinished Business Resolution Service.
* ''[[Reaper]]'' is about a kid forced to apprehend souls escaped from Hell. As they're escaped from Hell, they're all of the nasty poltergeist sort. They were murderers and vandals in life, and they have powers that reflect what they got sent to hell for.
* This editor isn't sure why the ghost in ''[[The Ghost and Mrs. Muir]]'' stayed around in the movie or the TV show.
** In both the series and the film, it is stated that Captain Gregg the Ghost remained more out of stubbornness than anything else: he had intended to renovate the house, and he was not about to let his unplanned death interfere with what he had decreed would occur! As film/series continues, he realizes how foolish it has been for him to haunt the house over petty mulishness, but by then, he had fallen in love with the widow Mrs. Muir.
* Marty Hopkirk in ''[[Randall and Hopkirk Deceased (TV)|Randall and Hopkirk Deceased]]'' was of the Avenge Me! stripe. He stayed out of his grave for too long and couldn't go heaven for another 100 years (in the Remake he only had to wait until the person he was haunting, his ex PI Partner Jeff Randall, dies). Ghosts can only wear white. The only people who can see him are Jeff (who he's haunting but in a non-malicious way), animals, and occasional psychics and very young kids.
* Of course, ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' and ''[[Medium]]'' are [[Dueling Shows]] that involve psychic women helping ghosts finish their business. Medium uses the dream method, while in GW, the ghosts are only visible to the lead (and her coworker's son in later eps).
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] had an episode wherein there was a spell in effect that turned your costume literally real. Willow was wearing a ghost costume, so she became ghostly without dying.
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* [[Angel]] had Spike turn up as a ghost after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] finale.
** The show also has the recurring character of Dennis, Cordelia's phantom roommate. He's a surprisingly nice guy, considering {{spoiler|his own mother bricked him up in a wall because she didn't like his fiancé.}}
* ''[[Ghostwriter]]'' was a ghost which could read and arrange letters and phrases to communicate with persons he choose, but couldn't see any images or talk. Just who or what he was before is very ambiguous. He also gains [[New Powers Asas the Plot Demands]], such as traveling over the Internet or ''[[Time Travel]]'' with enough concentration, though that one takes enough out of him that he wound up having to take [[The Slow Path]] back to the present after repeated trips. What non-word-related aspects of the world he can see can vary with the plot as well.
* ''[[Beetleborgs]]'' had this in the form of Flabber- a phasm who looked like a cross between Jay Leno (host of ''The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'') and Elvis Presley. Flabber's a rather genie-like ghost who lived in a pipe organ until he got freed accidentally by those kids. Plus he's the one that gave them their powers.
** On one episode of ''The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'' during the Monday headlines segment, a picture of Flabber was sent to Leno, which got laughs from the audience but Leno was more than just not pleased with it.
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* Subverted on [[Eureka]], when Allison thinks she's seeing a ghost, but really it's a hologram programmed into her logic diamond necklace.
* ''[[Bones]]'' had a full-on TANGIBLE ghost showing up when Booth was trapped on a ship about to explode. Tangible as in, could pick stuff up, could help Booth open doors, Booth physically picked the guy up and carried him... and then the guy disappeared as the helicopter came to rescue him.
* ''[[Being Human (TV)|Being Human]]'' has Annie. She can interact and pick things up like a living human, but her visibility rides up and down the scale with her confidence. She can also teleport.
** There's also Gilbert. In the episode he's in, it's explained that when a person becomes a ghost they can only pass on to the afterlife once they've solved whatever problem kept them from passing on in the first place (for Gilbert, it was that he never loved anyone which is solved when he falls for Annie. For Annie, {{spoiler|it was her fiancé killing her, which is solved when she drives him mad with a secret}}). Once they are able to move on, a ghost sees a door appear and walks through it. If a ghost is upset enough, they can become a poltergeist and move or break things mentally. Also, all ghosts can't eat or drink, can randomly teleport, and are stuck in whatever clothes they died in ("It's just as well I didn't die in a Star Trek uniform or a giant squirrel costume..."). Ghosts can also hide the living or undead by wrapping them in their clothes, referred to as "swaddling".
** They also apparently date other ghost people and force their friends to babysit their ghost babies (who need to be kept the colder the better and can't be hurt if you drop them) so dead firemen are not scared of by the commitment issues caused by the ghost baby. It's not clear if ghost babies age but they don't seem to until they pass on. They can also be calmed down by telling them ghost stories. And you need to be biologically linked to a ghost baby to teleport it to you, by which logic Annie is biologically linked to a Ummm... a toaster.
** The [[Being Human Remake (TV)|US/Canadian remake]] has Sally. She is intangible all the time and invisible to normal humans. She cannot interact with physical objects, but seems to be able to sit on objects ([[Fridge Brilliance|the production team made special wooden and concrete cushions for her to sit on, but they do not conform to her body]]). When upset, she disrupts the electronics and pipes around her. While she is initially not able to leave the house she died in, she is later taught how to leave. Objects close to the ghost, such as Sally's engagement ring, will constantly find their way back to the owner. Salt will create a barrier that ghosts cannot cross, and iron will disperse a ghost's energy, causing it to reform in the location in which it died. A ghost passes on to the other side after resolving unfinished business. As with the British version, Sally's door does not appear until {{spoiler|she forces her fiancé Danny who killed her to admit to his crimes}}. However, {{spoiler|she has to pass up her door to save Aidan}}. It is after this event that Sally discovers she can pick up and interact with physical objects. This also appears to be an ability that stronger ghosts exhibit, {{spoiler|such as when Danny is able to hold the iron poker that Sally intended to disperse him with}}. Ghosts can also possess humans, so long as the human is willing (or inebriated), and destroy each other, defined as "shredding".
* This is played with in ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', when Hurley learns of Miles' ability to talk to ghosts. Hurley says that ghosts regularly talk to him and even play chess, but Miles insists that, in his experience, ghosts only represent the last thoughts of dead people and cannot interact with the living.
* Ghosts appear regularly on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. Their appearances are heralded by a [[Ghostly Chill]]. They can be repelled with salt and iron. Laying them to rest usually involves destroying their remains with fire, though one was simply persuaded to [[Go Into the Light]].
** Hostile ghosts tend to be [[Stringy Haired Ghost Girl|pale with stringy hair]]. Many attack the living through [[Mind Over Matter|telekinesis]], and some are capable of [[Demonic Possession|possession]].
** Benign spirits and those [[Tomato in Thethe Mirror|who don't know they are dead]] can be indistinguishable from the living.
** Eventually ''all'' ghost that haven't ascended to the afterlife end becoming vengeful spirits.
* [[Poltergeist: theThe Legacy]] tends to feature the wrathful variety, with the occasional [[Unfinished Business]] thrown in.
* ''[[Round the Twist]]'' varies from episode to episode. It was based on short stories mostly out of continuity with each other, but [[Unfinished Business]] is a common theme - even for a ghost dog and a ''[[Widget Series|ghost seagull]]''. The ghosts often seem bound by different rules - some ghosts are mute, whereas others can talk. Then out of the blue there was a (pretty hilarious) episode about a ghost who needed to complete his 'scare test' to get a better site to haunt.
* Ghosts appear all over Earth in the season 2 finale of the new series of ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''. {{spoiler|Subverted, however, in that they are actually beings from a parallel Earth that haven't quite broken through the barrier between the worlds yet, making their appearance ethereal and roughly humanoid, although specific characteristics are impossible to make out. Of course, this doesn't stop humans from assuming they are literally their dead loved ones returning, even believing they can smell/see certain traits associated with the real person (for example, Rose's mother believes she can smell her father's cigarettes).}}
* In ''[[American Horror Story]]'' the Ghosts are confined to the house and its grounds. They can manifest physically to an extent that they are indistinguishable from the living, which can get really confusing. They can also be invisible but can still affect the physical world.
* ''[[The Fades (TV)|The Fades]]'' has the titular Fades, spirits unable to move on to the afterlife. They're [[Invisible to Normals]] and can't generally interact with anything physical, though they aren't intangible and can't fly. They can, however, regain a physical form by [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating human flesh]].
 
 
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The [[Old World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|Old World of Darkness]] games ''[[Wraith: The Oblivion (Tabletop Game)|Wraith: the Oblivion]]'' and ''[[Orpheus (Tabletop Game)|Orpheus]]'' were both about ghosts, dealing with them in different ways. ''Wraith'' focused on spiritual existence and society, while ''Orpheus'' dealt more with blurring the lines between life and death.
** [[The Fair Folk|Changelings]] killed by cold iron would not reincarnate and could become ghosts.
** People and places that kept a ghost attached to the world of the living were called fetters.
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** Wraith powers are called Arcanoi (plural of Arcanos), and range from telekinesis to limited substantialness to emotion control to possession of objects and people. ''Orpheus'' had similar skills, called Shades, but they were more of a direct reflection of the character's personality.
** Wraiths bear remnants of how they were killed, known as "Deathmarks."
* In the [[New World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|New World of Darkness]], ghosts are somewhat less elaborate. Whether or not they are the human soul is deliberately unclear, but magic can bind a person's soul to an anchor and thus make it into a ghost. They have trouble communicating with mortals, and the specifics of their powers (Numina) vary from ghost to ghost. A ghost tied to its Anchors is basically a psychic echo of the actual human, unable to fully comprehend that they're dead and unable to change. Once the ghost is free of its Anchors and descends to the Underworld, however, it regains its sense of self and is able to change.
** And then there's ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters (Tabletop Game)|Geist: The Sin Eaters]]''. The geists of the title are essentially ghosts who've been boiled down to the bare essence of what defined them in death (e.g., a soldier who died at Ypres in a gas attack becomes the Gasping Colonel, a gaunt figure with wheezy breath and a gas mask that appears to be made of tanned human skin). As a result, their human memories are fragmented, to say the least, but they gain access to the power sources of the Underworld and can make bargains to bring the mystically inclined back from the dead... as long as they get to come along as passengers.
* [[Warhammer 40000 (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer 40000]] brings rather different sorts of ghosts to the field-all of which are armed to the teeth. Eldar Wraith-constructs are the souls of dead Eldar given material form, and the robotic shells of the Necrons house the souls of the long-dead Necrontyr. Necrons Wraiths in particular drive the point home, being able to phase in and out of existence. Space Marine Dreadnoughts aren't technically dead, they're just the head and vertebrae of a 'mostly dead' Space Marine hero. Although since they are inside a tank sized mini-mech you'll call them dead if they wish to be called so.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has creatures known as Allips. To quote the book, "An allip is the spectral remains of someone driven to suicide by a madness that afflicted it in life. It craves only revenge and unrelentingly pursues those who tormented it in life and pushed it over the brink."
** D&D in its various incarnations has so many different types of undead, corporeal or otherwise, that any attempt to tell them apart merely by sight and behavior is probably quite doomed to failure. Is that figure flitting about in the ruins a ghost? A specter? A wraith? Something notionally else altogether? Usually you won't know until it attacks, and sometimes not even then. Just make sure you bring along a cleric.
* No surprise that [[Ravenloft (Tabletop Game)|Ravenloft]] has ghosts by the truckload: about the only variants of this trope that ''aren't'' present are the hokey bedsheet-wearer and anything played purely for comedy.
** Au contraire - there is, in fact a bedsheet ghost: The [http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm Sheet Phantom]. Admittedly it was a First Edition critter IIRC (in the Fiend Folio), but there was at least one Third Edition (unofficial) sourcebook that took every 1st ed critter that didn't make the cut and gave third ed stats for it. As well, the original Ravenloft module was in first edition, meaning a GM could insert them as well.
* In [[In Nomine (Tabletop Game)|In Nomine]], humans who have either achieved their Destiny or met their Fate in life, and who have some kind of unfinished business, or strong attachment to some particular thing, may instead of ascending to their heavenly reward, or descending to Hell, end up lingering on the corporeal plane, bound to some object, or place that was significant to them. Unfortunately the process requires giving up part of their being, so some ghosts end up as nothing more then will'o'wisps, with no sapience, or ability to interact with the world, others end up as poltergeists, non-sapient but able to interact tangibly with the physical world, or apparitions, with intelligence, but not the ability to affect the physical world directly, true ghosts with both intelligence and the ability to interact with the physical world are quite rare, partially because they are the ones most likely to complete their unfinished business or resolve whatever attachment kept them from moving on. Of course, all types of ghost can also simply be banished, with a ritual or by destroying their anchor, or destroyed outright.
* In the world of ''[[Exalted (Tabletop Game)|Exalted]]'', ghosts didn't even exist at first. Then the titular Exalted killed a few of the creators of the world, who were too vast and complex to be subject to the cycle of [[Reincarnation|death and rebirth]] they had ordained for the rest of the world. The result was the creation of the Void, and the Underworld that formed around it. Now, anyone who dies with a strong attachment to the world will end up as a ghost in the Underworld instead of reincarnating. If they're lucky, they can resolve their attachments and return to the cycle of reincarnation. Otherwise...Well, remember the Void in the middle of the Underworld? The ghosts of the slain Primordials are still there, they're bent on [[Omnicidal Maniac|destroying everything so they can die for good this time, and they have a nasty habit of overwhelming ghosts with the desire to kill everything that lives and destroy everything that's not alive, consigning all that exists to Oblivion]]. Or [[And I Must Scream|forging the uncooperative ones into soulsteel]].
** Since humans have [[Anatomy of the Soul|two souls]], only one of which can be reincarnated, they also leave behind a Hungry Ghost, a generally animalistic entity that guards the corpse of the fallen, and can be given to rampage if they don't recieve proper [[Due to Thethe Dead]] or the body (or its [[Grave Robbing|tomb]]) is desecrated.
 
 
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** Albeit [[Nightmare Fuel|pretty damn creepy]] for the most part. A key characteristic of most is that they seem to be composed mostly of gases rather than solid flesh.
*** And for that exact reason some people don't think of them as real ghosts in the common sense... They simply have ''characteristics'' of ghosts. Cubone's mother is a better example, being a spirit out for revenge until calmed.
* The Boos in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series, along with other kinds of ghosts in ''Luigi's Mansion''.
* The Poes in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: Ocarina of Time'', which could be caught in bottles after defeated.
** Returning in ''Twilight Princess'' with a different look. They can only be seen with Wolf Link's sense ability. The game also features ghost rats, which slow you down.
** Don't forget the ghost of the Zora Queen, or the very chilling ghosts of the guards of Hyrule castle, who silently and desperately point Link to the Princess.
** The very first Zelda game featured ghosts called Ghinis haunting the graveyard in the West of Hyrule. Most games since have featured ghosts of some sort, including friendly ghosts and [[Boss Fight|boss fights]] against ghosts. Also of note: in the first game, Peahats (flowery enemies fluttering around the screen) are described as being the spirits of ''dead plants''.
** Princess Zelda herself is a fairy-like ghost in ''[[Spirit Tracks]]''. So we got a [[Cool Train]] and a [[Everything's Better Withwith Princesses|Princess]] who also is a [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Ghost]] who also is an [[Exposition Fairy]] who can also possess living suits of armor. [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]], anyone?
* All spirits seem to linger near their bodies after death in ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', but only certain ghosts have special ''ghost tricks' which allow them to move around and affect the world through possessing inanimate objects {{spoiler|or living bodies, or swapping similarly shaped items}}, as well as go back in time four minutes before a recently-deceased person's death. {{spoiler|Only people who die near the Temsik meteorite receive ghost trick power, indicating even in that world it's a very unusual thing.}}
* The ''[[Metroid]]'' series gives us Phantoon, a flying, bulbous, tentacled thing with an eyeball in its mouth. Its powers include [[Invisibility]], levitation, [[Intangible Man|intangibility]], and attacking with flaming blue balls of plasma. Apparently it gets its nutrition by sucking on the electrical current of the wrecked ship it lives in. Also inhabiting the wrecked ship are coverns, ghost-like entities that look like half a dozen rotting human heads rolled together into a ball.
* [[PacmanPac-Man]] is a partial subversion. Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde (or Sue) are ghosts that are deadly unless Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man) eats a power pill.
** Them being ghosts may not be true. They're referred to as either "monsters" or "ghost monsters", the "ghost" part being due to an early [[Fan Nickname]]. They appear to be alive and made of flesh, instead of being dead and untouchable.
* The Unsent in [[Final Fantasy X]], who look and act like alive people do, but due to incompetent 'burial rituals' (Dead person's soul must be sent to afterlife by summoner) they continue living.
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* ''[[Ultima Underworld]] II'' has various kinds of ghosts. Normal ghosts are white, with red haunts and black shades as more powerful variants. A few of the ghosts in the game are still rational and are important characters, though most seem to be mindless.
* The titular Phantoms of ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' unable to interact physically unless confined to an object.
* ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] III'' has Banshees, which can possess enemy units.
** ''[[War CraftWarcraft]]'' and ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' also have other kinds of ghosts, like wraiths, shades, and wisps.
* How to explain [[Touhou|Yuyuko Saigyouji]]... Her body is the [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|seal for a demonic cherry tree]], but she doesn't know about that, and in fact her trying to unseal it is the focal point for an entire game in the series (she fails). However, she is quite carefree and playful even in death. As for her power, she has none of the above, instead using the abilities she had in her lifetime: Control of dead spirits and ability to invoke death (the latter of which actually {{spoiler|scared her to the point that she [[Driven to Suicide|killed herself]].}} And then there's Youmu Konpaku, but that's a [[Half-Human Hybrid|different trope]].
** She also has [[Ghost Amnesia]] and can't even remember being alive because she's been dead for over 1000 years. Incidentally, that's the beginning of some bizarre [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|age inflation]] for the villains of the series.
** There's also the case of the Prismriver sisters, a trio of poltergeists. Technically, they were never alive to begin with, being [[Replacement Goldfish|magically-created phantom copies of existing people]] made by the fourth sister. All four original Prismrivers are long dead now, but the poltergeists "live" on rather normally.
* The ghosts that appear in ''[[System Shock 2]]'' and ''[[Bio ShockBioshock]]'' are referred to as a psychic echo and are only replaying the event that they act out. Often these events involve the violent death of the individual, such are one ghost reenacting his own suicide.
* Fomors in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' are the restless souls of dead soldiers and adventurers given shape. One region in the game has them aggro depending on if you've defeated more of them or the beastmen that murdered them. Appease them enough, and they won't attack you unless you engage them.
* ''[[Project Zero]]''/''[[Fatal Frame]]''. The games are all about people being drawn to/trapped in haunted areas, the spirits of the dead are either the original inhabitants who died during a horrible supernatural event, or the spirits of other people who later became trapped and killed by the ghosts there. There is also the [[Magitek|Camera Obscura]], your only weapon in the games, which seems to steal energy from the ghosts until they can no longer materialise (as opposed to capturing them, since they have a habit of turning up again later).
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* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'' has several character return from the dead as glowing blue ghosts to continue their struggle against the Darkness.
* Ghosts are in [[Monster Rancher]].
* ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' {{spoiler|They're called Players, can eat, exist on a separate planes, are invisible, and are fighting to get [[Back From the Dead]]}}.
* [[Silent Hill 3]] says that ghosts who killed themselves or were killed unexpectedly must re-live the moment of their death over and over because they don't know they're dead, and will try to kill other humans because they've grown mad from it. {{spoiler|Needless to say, one tries to kill you.}}
** Also in [[Silent Hill 4]], the ghosts you encounter are all {{spoiler|Walter's Victims.}} They come out of walls leaving blood and goo behind, and just being near them causes Henry to get massive headaches and lose health. They look like mangled versions of their former selves, and in the case of some of them like [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090119220034/silent/images/5/58/Victim17.jpg Jasper], exactly how they looked while dying.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'': Metronome, the [[Mirror Universe|Praetorian counterpart]] to the [[Brain In Aa Jar|Clockwork King]] is described as a disembodied psychic entity. He has a tendency to inhabit robotic bodies, has the power to control multiple robots simultaneously, and can {{spoiler|transfer other beings' souls.}}
** There's also Ghost Widow, one of [[Big Bad]] Lord Recluse's lieutenants, the Ghost Ship, the ghosts haunting [[Thriving Ghost Town]] Croatoa, the Pirate Ghosts in Fort Hades...it has a lot of ghosts, really.
** Also worth a mention: the Ghost of Scrapyard. His character description contains a lampshade:
{{quote| You really hope every cape who has felt your wrath doesn't pull this poltergeist routine. It'll be a busy decade if they do.}}
* [[Ghost Master]] has many types of spirits, some are formally living people and animals, while others are natural entities and even the collective will of hundreds of dead chickens. Interestingly some seem to have been 'born' ghosts.
* [[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]] has a few ghosts that appear (along with [[Our Demons Are Different|demons]]) in places that The Veil (the border between the mortal realm and the [[Spirit World|The Fade]]) is thin. They don't seem to have any special powers, and do nothing but harass the party (either by attacking them or just [[As Long Asas It Sounds Foreign|speaking nonsense]] and then running away faster than you can catch up). Some also speak intelligibly, either replaying scenes from their lives (usually having to do with their deaths) or singing creepy songs.
* In ''[[Dead Space (Franchiseseries)|Dead Space]]'', numerous people, a significant portion of them Unitologists, have claimed to see 'ghosts' near areas where necromorphs are on the loose. {{spoiler|This phenomena is actually caused by the presence of a [[Artifact of Doom|Marker]], which can project the images of dead people- but only dead people- into other peoples' minds in order to manipulate them. The Black Marker did this in ''[[Dead Space Martyr (Literature)|Dead Space Martyr]],'' and in the original ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'', the Red Marker did this by creating an image of "Nicole" to keep Isaac on track.}}
* In ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', ghosts of dwarves who were [[Due to Thethe Dead|never buried and never received a memorial slab]] will haunt your fortress. Most will hang out scaring your living dwarves (which gives them unhappy thoughts); some will attack living dwarves as well (in addition to the obvious danger, this also gives the unhappy thought "has been attacked by the dead"). [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Sometimes they even throw parties!]]
* ''[[Runescape]]'', while still having it's fair share of "ghosts are just dead people", has one particular slayer monster called "Aberrant Spectres"; ghosts that smell so bad you need a high slayer skill and a nose-peg to not take fatal damage while fighting them.
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' has a couple very odd ghosts. The main antagonist of the series, Alma, has been dead for nearly 30 years, walks through walls, teleports, and does other things you'd expect of a ghost... yet still seems to have a physical body; her full powers weren't unleashed until her corpse is released from its stasis pod, and at the end of the second game, she {{spoiler|gets pregnant}}. She also is able to conjure hundreds of ghostly beings out of her fractured psyche unconsciously. It seems a trait of extremely powerful psychics in this series to simply ''not die'' when they die, and Alma is the single most powerful psychic to ever live...
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* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' had a problem with ghosts for a while when they lived in Kesandru House.
** And Oasis might be a weaponized ghost.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'':
** Mort is a [[Bedsheet Ghost]] who's a [[Shape Shifter]] and a [[Master of Illusion]], haunting the Court and trying to scare people simply because it's his job. (When he isn't trying to scare you, he's a pretty nice guy.) He's visible to anyone, and he has implied that ghosts are attracted to Spirit Mediums -- or maybe he's just attracted to one Medium in particular. According to [[Word of God|Word of Tom]], Mort's haunting is not normal for spirits in the afterlife, but something that had to be arranged with the [[Psychopomp|psychopomps]].
** Martin (the boy in the hospital in ch 16) presumably is a more "normal" ghost. He was lingering in this world because he didn't realize he was dead, and because he was scared of [[Psychopomp|The Guides]]. He seemed to possess powers similar to Mort's, but which operated on a completely subconscious level, and were [[Glamour Failure|negated in the presence of a Medium]]. His coming to grips with his own death allowed him to pass on.
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** There is also a Ghost Lady With A Sword ( {{spoiler|Jeanne}}), who attacked Antimony. {{spoiler|An etheric arrow split her soul into pieces, and the Ghost is all of Jeanne's rage and despair, forged into a spirit of undirected vengeance. As a result, the Guides don't have any idea who she is, and (according to [[Word of God]]) it's possible she would kill any Guide that tries to take her into the afterlife.}}
* In ''[[Misfile]]'' Kamikaze Kate's sister Angelica was a combination of types 1, 2, 4 and 7. {{spoiler|She was eventually persuaded to move on when [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Rumisiel showed her just how much her presence had hurt her sister's life]].}}
* {{spoiler|Lee}} in [[Hanna Is Not a BoysBoy's Name]] is one with a wide variety of [[Ghostly Goals]]: he wants to protect someone, he can't rest because he's {{spoiler|hanging from his neck in an abandoned theater}}, he's a bit in denial about being dead, and he's angry at Zombie for getting a second chance at life.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' has ghosts of the Greenhilt family, only visible to other members of that family, and only then when holding the sword. This particular setup is caused by the [[Celestial Bureaucracy]].
** There's also the positive energy spirits of the Sapphire Guard. Redcloak muses on the presence of this trope in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' a little [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0459.html here].
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== Web Original ==
* [[LimyaaelsLimyaael's Fantasy Rants|Limyaael]] has a little rant about [http://limyaael.livejournal.com/298366.html ghosts in fantasy].
* Hollows in ''[[Chaos Fighters]]'' are materialized souls of dead people and comes in various colors, but they are only having human silhouettes. In rare cases, they can even made out of ''material''. In ''Chemical Siege'' it becomes a plot point when the hollows are made from chemicals, causing environmental damage.
* In ''[[The Pentagon War (Literature)|The Pentagon War]]'', entering a rogue hyper hole removes you from Real Space and sends you into Parallel Space, where time, matter, and possibly even distance have no meaning. Yet, it's possible for your consciousness to persist, and even perceive light that originates in Real Space. Should this happen, you'll be able to instantly move your vantage point to any location in the universe. It's also possible, under the right circumstances, to {{spoiler|take control of the arm movements of a Centaurian and use them to type out messages}}.
* [[Gaia Online]] had a Halloween event that started when a by-product from the [[Omni Drink]] Corporation's operations was revealed to form a spectral barrier that prevented the spirits inhabiting the graveyard where it was dumped from moving on. Unfortunately, by the time [[The Atoner|OmniDrink's disinherited heir]] managed to fix this, the ghosts had all gone a bit [[Ax Crazy]] from [[And I Must Scream|being trapped in their graves for decades...]]
* In ''[[The Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]'', ghosts are spirits fuse with [[Horny Devils|Succubi]]'s demonic energy, so they are all pervert. At first, they can't interact with the world physically and will [[Demonic Possession|possess humans]]. The victim will get his or her mind filled with obscene imaginary from possessing ghost. The ghost will get spirit energy by absorb it from a male host (or during female host's sex act), until it's enough to manifest herself in physical world, then she will engage in sex act directly.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost]]'' is a complicated case. In [[The Movie]], he was a boy who died of an illness, but in the comic books... it would seem that ghosts in the comicverse are one more Enchanted Forest species, not humans who die. The animated shorts do little to clarify, though one does involve a fox that Casper tried and failed to save becoming a ghost.
** As for abilities, "Ghostly Powers" in the comics are kept [[Magic Aa Is Magic A|very consistent]] and what they are is told often: they can fly, become invisible, or become intangible - all under the ghost's control. Occasionally, Casper encounters a "ghostproofed" wall or prison. What is inconsistent is which objects can be turned invisible or intangible along with the ghost: Spooky's hat ''never'' becomes invisible with him and has given him away many times, but Pearl's bow has changed with her sometimes and not others.
*** [[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|Lisa Simpson]] once theorized that Casper was the unquiet soul of Richie Rich, having despaired of the empty pursuit of wealth and taken his own life.
** The new cartoon ''Casper's Scare School'' has Casper and his uncles back to being ghosts that were never "fleshies".
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has Yue, Roku, and his three predecessor Avatars turning up as [[Spirit Advisor|Spirit Advisors]].
* ''[[Thundercats (Animation)|ThunderCats]]'' and ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' have [[Court Mage]] Jaga as [[Spirit Advisor]].
* Hanna-Barbera has several:
** ''The Funky Phantom''
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**** It isn't - Vortex did it too.
*** Danny has the "Ghostly wail" which is a powerful [[Make Me Wanna Shout|sonic attack]], effective on ghosts. This seems also to be a power particular to half-ghost/half-humans.
*** Danny has the ghost sense (an [[Homage|homage]] to [[Spider-Man]]'s spider sense), which turns out later to have been the precursor to his freezing power.
** Ember McLain got power from the adulation of fans she never got in life.
** Desiree was obligated to grant wishes, though not always as the wisher [[Literal Genie|would have preferred]].
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*** Ember's ghost guitar would let her use [[Mind Control]] based on what song she was playing.
*** Skulker has a number of ghost traps, weapons and devices (with the weakness of being hackable by normal earth tech).
*** Technus could literally be the ghost in the machine (which is not the same as the [[Ghost in Thethe Machine]] trope). Danny could as well.
*** Jack and Maddie Fenton were able to invent and use (with varying degrees of success) devices that protected from ghosts or trapped them. The garage sale episode featured a lot of mundane stuff the family owned getting contaminated with ectoplasm.
*** Enemy Freakshow has a staff with a gem on it that exerts [[Mind Control]] on ghosts. Danny is only partially susceptible.
** Overall, it seems that in [[Danny Phantom]] there are three main types of ghosts. 1) Ghosts of people/creatures who died, like Poindexter and Cudo. 2) A entity that was never living, but seems to be a unique life-form formed of ecto-plasm, who can create races and even reproduce. (Such as the race of the 'Far Frozen'). 3) A concept or idea that has taken on conscious form. Clockwork is the ghostly form of Time, Vortex the manifestation of bad weather, etc.
* The animated ''[[Beetlejuice (Animationanimation)|Beetlejuice]]'' has most of the same tropes as the movie, but:
** The method of death showing up on the ghost has been removed. It's a kids' show.
** The Neitherworld, where Beetlejuice dwelled, was full of nonhuman ghostly entities.
** Beetlejuice himself was arguably an [[In -Universe]] version, since he displayed all kinds of strange powers most other ghosts didn't seem to have.
* ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'' has Ghostfreak who is a ghost-like alien.
** Who then becomes [[Nightmare Fuel|a lot scarier]] [[Enemy Without|when he escapes]], and wants [[Revenge]] on Ben.
* ''[[Transformers]]'' has Starscream the ghostly ''robot''. He has a unique reason for his existence: his [[Our Souls Are Different|spark]] is indestructible and can continue to exist without a body.
* In an episode of ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'', an old house is revealed to be haunted by ghosts because some electric wires crossed under a nearby graveyard.
** To expand: They're ''robot'' ghosts. Except they're actually just holographic projections of the dead robots, [[Shaped Like Itself|which is completely different,]] [[Not Using the Z Word|of course]].
** Hermes does comment that the last ghost [[Deader Than Dead|died]] over 200 years ago, to which Bender responds with "the last ''human'' ghost."
** In the episode "Ghost in the Machines", Bender dies and emerges as a ghost. The Robot Devil explains to him that he's stuck in Limbo -- "Your software was exported to the computational cloud. Your disembodied programme is now running on the wireless network shared by all machinery." Bender later discovers that his software can control electronics, and uses this to haunt Fry.
* The ghosts of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' usually resembled living monsters more than ghosts; discussions of death were ''verboten'' in Saturday morning fare at the time.
* ''[[FilmationsFilmation's Ghostbusters (Animation)|Filmations Ghostbusters]]'' had ghosts that could take tangible form in our dimension; a Dematerializer stripped them of these forms and forced them to escape to the Spirit World.
* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had [[Big Eater|Beezy]] being haunted by the ghost of his uneaten pizza crusts.
 
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