Ghost (Species)

“Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind/Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,/Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,/Above, beneath, betwixt, between.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Ghosts, also called spirits, are souls of deceased humans that did not move on to Heaven or Hell and are stuck on Earth. The word ghost is a common, umbrella term for a soul that did not move on to an afterlife after they perished. They typically reside in the Ethereal Plane, but occasionally appear in the Material Plane.

Descriptions of ghosts vary widely: the mode of manifestation can range from an invisible presence to translucent or wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions.

Characteristics[]

A ghost is the spirit of a deceased person that, for some reason or another, was unable to pass on to the next life, or whose rest had been disturbed. Ghosts are neither good nor evil, as their behavior is ultimately dictated by who they were in life and how they died.

Normally, a ghost will start out confused and disoriented and, over time, they will become more dangerous and violent as they are driven mad. They are so angry and upset that all they can do is lash out at anyone who crosses their paths. Ghosts have a skewed views of existence; "they see only what they want to see". In rare cases, a ghost suffers such a violent and sudden death that they don't realize that they've died and continue in a routine from their lives, oblivious to the fact that they are dead.

Ghosts are considered to be the most common variety of supernatural entity.

Ghosts are bound to their remains, an object or place, normally the building they died/lived in or the area where they died, as such their movements are restricted, but this isn't universal, and some very powerful ghosts can move over larger distances, but unless they can move what they're bound to, they can never be totally free.

A ghost's power to interact with the physical world comes from two places: one is complete calm where the ghost "tells" an object what to do and the other, from a blind rage. The longer a ghost remains on Earth, the more they lose of themselves until they become like little more than a wild animal.

Some ghosts are capable of manifesting certain items or other things from their lives with them. This is why things like ghost cars and ships exist. Another, albeit very minor, example of this would be the weapon a ghost used to commit a heinous murder in life.

Emotion[]

Ghosts require energy to manifest and can often use the psychic energy generated by mortals to fuel themselves. Powerful emotions, such as anger, fear or love, are particularly potent.

Appearance[]

Normally ghosts appear in the form of the physical body which they had when they were still alive. These forms will often be pale compared to the bodies of the living. Sometimes the ghost's form will look as it did when they died, and will show physical effects of the way that they died. Ghosts are also able to appear in a smoke form, similar to demons. Their smoke form, however, is more of a transparent grey than black.

Summoning[]

On rare occasions, it is possible to summon a spirit back to Earth for any reason. However, this is a risky practice considering the unpredictable nature of ghosts. Ghosts summoned through black arts can turn violent if the summoner loses control of them, usually as a result of having their rest disturbed and being forced to do things against their will.

It can be possible to obtain information from a ghost if one has something or is able to do something that will please them. It is also possible to bind ghosts and control them, though to do so is very powerful black magic. Certain powerful beings can also naturally summon and control ghosts.

Types[]

There are many different types of ghosts in the series, as they are created through different kinds of deaths and situations they were in when alive This is by no means a complete list, but the more common varieties include:

Buruburu: A Japanese spirit of fear that infects victims with Terror Sickness. The remains must be salted and burned, though in some cases, the spirit can be "scared to rest".
Death Omen: A spirit that serves as an indicator that the person who is visited by it is going to die. Sometimes the apparition can manifest in several places at once. While they appear violent and intimidating, they're not dangerous. Instead, they are trying to warn people who may be murdered by the person who killed them. They are tied to Earth because they wish to see their killer brought to justice.
Death Echo: A type of trapped ghost, stuck reenacting its death over and over in a loop. Sometimes, they can be shocked into moving on, particularly by someone with whom the deceased has an emotional connection. An occasional byproduct of murder, a Death Echo is considered to be a pitiful spirit, trapped in an endless cycle of their murder and the pain of their death.
Festering Spirit: The spirit of a particularly vile person who was put into a mass grave. Sometimes, if the person was especially evil, multiple Festering Spirits can manifest, each representing a different aspect of the spirit's personality. They leave behind a nauseating ectoplasm and can be lured by alcohol and spicy food.
Myling: A black-eyed child ghost from Scandinavian lore who lure adults to their deaths with cries of help.
Poltergeists: A type of spirit that seeks recognition and attention and will do anything to receive it. It should be noted that, unlike most ghosts, a Poltergeist is not a human spirit; it is a separate being of its own. Therefore, burning their remains is ineffective. Poltergeists are always invisible and are not capable of becoming visible.
Revenant: A type of visible ghost that is not aware that they are dead.
Specter: A ghost that possesses someone holding a grudge over a betrayal whether it be small or not or regardless of how long ago it was. They are created when a person dies feeling greatly betrayed by the person who causes their death. They can also awaken when there is a case of grave desecration.
Vengeful Spirits: They are among the most dangerous, the ghosts of someone who had some great wrong done to them in their lives (normally whatever killed them), this causes them to remain after death, to try and avenge this wrong. Overtime they slowly become obsessed with this until this is the only thing they can think of, like an itch you just can't scratch. Sometimes their obsession with revenge often leads to them harming innocent people and their vengeance can sometimes spread on to others who had nothing to do with them, but have or are doing something that is similar to their death. To destroy a Vengeful Spirit, you must salt and burn the remains or, in some cases, the object the spirit is attached to.
Violent Spirits/Wraith: A type of ghost, largely considered the most dangerous type, that are motivated by cruelty rather than vengeance or attention. They are the spirits of those who have some wrong done to them in life, usually the ghosts of evil or cruel people who in their lives brought pain and suffering to others. Their deaths enable them to do so.
Woman in White: A type of violent ghost that kidnaps men or even children, after suffering from love issues and committing suicide. They are seen wearing white dresses and kill unfaithful men.

Powers and Abilities[]

Ghosts possess several powers, though the exact abilities can differ from ghost to ghost. The following is a brief list of powers most commonly displayed by ghosts:

Electromagnetic Interference: All ghosts disrupt nearby electronics with their presence.
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP): The ability to communicate through electronic devices, cassette records, cell phones etc.
Environment Manipulation: Most ghosts have the ability to manipulate the elements like wind, fire, electricity, water, and dropping temperature. Affinity to fire or water is usually because of the manner of a person's death and the ghost's origin. Manipulating electricity and dropping temperature are the two common signs that indicate a ghost's presence. Ghost usually have a natural affinity to what killed them, such as if they drowned, some, if not all of their victims are drowned by either the ghost pulling them into water with ease and making it impossible or nearly impossible to get the victim out of the water.
Intangibility: Without a body, these spirits are able to move without hindrance even if objects are in their way, as they can phase through them with ease. They are naturally intangible, as such they can phase through solid matter unfazed, however it requires them to get angry or alternatively very calm, to become tangible. They can phase their hands through people with intangibility and cause internal injuries or stop the heart.
Invisibility: Ghosts can remain invisible to the living, but they may appear as a blur or faint light. However, when they want, they can appear as they were in life though it takes awhile to gain that level of strength. They appear in wispy, distorted, flickering forms.
Material Attachment: Ghosts can latch their essence to objects that have been very close to them in their life. Until these objects are destroyed, the ghost can continue to manifest itself and haunt. Other ghosts could relocate the objects, allowing them to move around and away from their original haunting location.
Supernatural Sight: After Death, ghosts can see beings that are naturally invisible like Reapers and other Ghosts.
Superspeed: After Death, many ghosts are able to move at incredible speeds, especially through teleportation. They appear in distorted, flickering forms that allows them to move at great speed, as when they flicker, can end up either inches away each time they flicker or several feet or miles away.
Superstrength: They are also much stronger than when they were as humans, being incorporeal and able to generate great amounts of force without discomfort. Many have demonstrated being strong enough to easily beat down, lift, toss, maul or mutilate the strongest humans, as well as overpowering some monsters.
Telekinesis: They are able to move virtually anything with their minds if they have enough concentration on the objects. With practice they can become stronger telekinetics, able to manipulate many simple objects at once. Very powerful ghosts are highly capable telekinetics, able to throw people like demons can.
Teleportation: Ghosts can teleport (be able to move in the blink of an eye to other locations). They often have a flickering appearance when using this ability. They appear in wispy, distorted, flickering forms that allows them to move at great speed, as when they flicker, can end up either inches away each time they flicker or several feet or miles away.
Thermokinesis: Nearly all ghosts can lower or drop the surrounding temperature with their presence.

Rare Powers[]

Biokinesis: Some ghosts can inflict wounds like the ones they received on others. Stronger ghosts can create the wounds in the victims, without needing to have received the wounds themselves.
Disease Manipulation: Some ghost can infect people with sickness and disease.
Ectoplasm Generation: Very angry ghosts can create Ectoplasm, but it is generally beyond the anger range of most spirits, even most violent spirits.
Electrokinesis: A step up from Electronic Manipulation, rather than simply interfering with electronics, some stronger ghosts can generate electricity themselves, control and manipulate machinery, and even use electricity offensively.
Hydrokinesis: Some Ghosts (like ones that drowned, or whose deaths were linked to water) can, to an extent, manipulate or even create water. Such ghosts can cause any victim that goes into or near a body of water, sometimes even bathtubs, can be drowned.
Mental Influence: Angry, vengeful ghosts or spirits can sometimes manipulate peoples minds and drive them crazy and can then manipulate the people they drove crazy to do their will. This will change the person's personality and turn them violent and suicidal.
Possession: A rare ability, some ghosts can possess humans and use their body like a vessel, much like Lesser Demons.
Pyrokinesis: Some ghosts can manipulate and can control fire.
Reality Manipulation: Some angry, powerful ghosts can bend the rules of reality and affect people, such as giving them enhanced strength, endurance and speed. Many ghosts are able to use this to always or almost always be able to find and kill their victim despite any preventative measure done by the person, essentially a curse done upon them. This can be countered if a ghost's weaknesses are used.
Shapeshifting: Some ghosts have displayed the ability to alter their form, shifting between what they looked like when they were alive, and a more disturbing and decayed version of themselves.
Spirit Draining: A powerful ghost can destroy other ghosts, absorbing their essence and thus increasing their own power.
Voice Mimicry: Some powerful ghosts can perfectly imitate others' voices.

Weaknesses[]

Repellents[]

Hunters have only two real options when they are trying to repel a ghost, though resourceful hunters find that there a few other methods:

Iron: Iron keeps spirits at bay. Some hunters use an iron crowbar or fire poker. Contact with it will dissipate a ghost for a couple of minutes. Touching iron to the skin of a person possessed by a ghost will break their possession.
Salt: Ghosts can be repelled by salt and can't cross a line made of salt. Some hunters use rock shot rounds to dissipate ghosts by blasting them with it. Salt is also useful whenever a ghost is possessing a human. Feeding salt in the mouth of the person a ghost is possessing, will cause the ghost great pain and force the ghost out and free the human from the ghost's control. Shooting the person with rock salt will also break a ghost's possession.
Hoodoo: Hoodoo can be used to stop ghosts, and keep them under control, however this is not a solution, and is merely a preventive measure. As such it will stop working eventually. Due to this, hunters rarely use this method.

Putting a Ghost to Rest[]

There are generally four ways to permanently defeat a ghost, by putting them to rest:

Additional Ghosts: If two ghosts fight each other, theycan both destroy each other and will no longer exist.
Destroying the Haunted Object: Salting and burning the object the ghost is using to stay active in the human world, will put a ghost to rest if there are no bones to burn, or if the objects they considered to be extensions or remains of the spirit.
Last Rites: The Last Rites performed by a priest over at least a willing ghost will send that ghost to rest.
Salting and Burning the Bones: The best and most common method to put a ghost to rest. Digging up a ghost's remains and salting and burning the bones, will help the spirit to cross over to the next life. When a ghost's bones are successfully salted and burned, it will go up in flames. This method is used for violent and vengeful spirits.

Other[]

Overstraining: If a ghost is too weak, and/or overstretches its abilities, it can stop them for a while until they recover. Bobby described this like being out cold.