21 October 2013

Halloween Special: Grim Grinning Ghosts

Halloween is my favourite time of the year. I love everything about it --- the costumes, the candy, the movies, the horror.

 
Ever since I can remember, I've been intrigued by the magic, superstition and trickery associated with this holiday. When I was in 5th grade, I was a member of this top secret club that investigated local paranormal activity. We called ourselves the Super Trixters Club. Awesome, I know. We'd hold séances during lunch and run around with our pretend EMF readers, knocking on our neighbor's doors begging for them to hire us. It was pretty serious stuff. I guess what I mean to say is that I've always had a thing for hauntings and ghosts. Even now, I'm dragging my hubby on ghost tours and visiting every local haunted hot spot that I can find. It's such a thrill and on more than one occasion, I've encountered something unexplainable.

Though I can't say for sure if ghosts are the real deal, I do believe that something exists outside the natural realm of things. Either way, to me it's both creepy and fascinating. It was about this time last year that I took you through a spooky movie round-up (Part 1 & Part 2) so this year, as a tribute to my fellow STC members, I thought I'd divulge some of my favourite on-screen ghosts. From the grim to the grinning and the freakishly frightening, these are some picture perfect poltergeists.

Dr. Malcolm Crowe (The Sixth Sense) - Spoiler Alert: He's dead the whole time. But that doesn't stop him from trying to do his job and help the kid out. His quiet, brooding manner is less than scary and a little sexy.

Adam & Barbara Maitland (Beetlejuice) - The B-Man gets all the attention here but really it's Barbara and Adam navigating their way through life after death that captures my attention. This is yet another case of ghosts who aren't so bad.

Amityville House (Amityville Horror) - Okay, the demonic presence here is not of the friendly sort. This movie and the fact that it's loosely based on a true story totally gives me the creeps. Let me sum up for you: NEVER EVER move into a house where mass murders have taken place. You've been warned. 

Arthur Kriticos (Thir13en Ghosts) - Arthur is a classic case of "The Sacrificial Lamb." Otherwise known as "The Broken Heart" ghost, he's got to die in order to save his family and reverse the curse that presides over the other 12 ghosts.

Stretch, Stinkie & Fatso (Casper) - What can I say? I adore me a plucky comic relief --- or in this case, three of them. Though they may be mischevious, deceitful and full of malcontent, I can see right through their tricky act. These ghouls aren't nearly as cold as they may feel.

 
Poltergeist (Poltergeist) - They're heeeeeeeere. And they're scary as crap. These ghosts are classic in that if they don't frighten you, I worry you may not be one of the living anymore.
 
House on Haunted Hill (House on Haunted Hill) - This is yet another classic where the house takes on a life of its own and scares the life out of everyone living in it. 
 
Cast of Lost (Lost) - Spoiler Alert: They're all dead... or something. I'm still a little bitter about this ending but not because it was bad, rather because Lindelof insisted throughout the duration of the show that they weren't dead. Dammit.
 
Slimer (Ghostbusters) - Slimer was the lovable little ghost pet I never had. Albeit he may have been a not-so-lean, green, stinking, eating machine, but he's still loveable nonetheless. You know you've made it when you have the greatest Hi-C drink EVER named after you, ahem, Ecto Cooler, ahem.
 
Nearly Headless Nick & Moaning Myrtle (Harry Potter) - Nick and Myrtle are like the odd couple of the ghost world in Harry Potter. He's cheeky and she's, well, slightly annoying. Either way they both have an insurmountable amount of personality for being dead and I do kind of wish I had those kinds of phantasmic friends in school.
 
 
 
So there you have it my Earthly friends. Now let me ask you --- do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever experienced something otherworldly? And who are your favourite friendly and not-so-friendly ghosts? Let's chat about our favourite haunted places!

12 comments:

  1. awwwww...about the Super Trixters Club. Great post, I like all the ones you mention here. I do believe in ghosts and as a child growing up, I know I saw something in our house and I'd get the feeling I was not alone. It's a looong story, but I saw something more than once. My uncle died in his sleep in that house, and I think there was just a vibe there after that. The tv would shut off by itself, often....a cup of hot milk I set on the table literally shattered....I remember that vividly. Long story short, I never told anyone, but when we got older my sister and I started talking about the house we grew up in. It turns out, she saw it too and she had that feeling of being watched as well. We never told each other until we were adults.

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    1. Haha, I think that's something I will remember for the rest of my life. It was so silly but we took it so seriously, like we were doing the world a service or something. But I totally know what you mean about having that "feeling." I've had some personal experiences myself and the hubster (who is a TOTAL non-believer) actually had an otherwordly experience when we were on a tour in Savannah, GA. So yeah, I definitely believe that there's something out there, I just don't know what specifically.

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  2. Anonymous10/22/2013

    Oh, this is so great! I haven't seen all of these movies, but of the ones I have seen, I love them! Ghostbusters was such a classic, and I loved The Sixth Sense too! You already know that I love me some Harry Potter, and Casper had all the elements I loved in a movie - a big creepy house, and a fun story! It doesn't get much better!

    I haven't seen the others you mentioned, but I DO want to watch The House on Haunted Hill and Poltergeist. The others I would watch too, but they're not priority for me. :-)

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    1. I just watched Ghostbusters the other day, actually. I even loved the cartoon version! And yeah, not a super huge M. Night fan but I did love The Sixth Sense. Honestly, the ending totally threw me the first time I watched it. Casper was just a ton of fun and I may or may not have had a crush on Devin Sawa, so there's that too.

      Okay, I HIGHLY recommend Polgergeist because it's a cult fav and definitely the original version of The House on Haunted Hill because it's a classic. Let me know what you think of them!

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  3. I love this post, Nikki! I'll admit that I fell in love with all things paranormal when I was about ten or eleven, and it just never went away. A few of my girlfriends in middle school even decided to start a coven and practice witchcraft! That was so much fun, but we were "good" witches, of course:) I even wanted to be a parapsychologist when I was a kid, as if I could actually make a living at it! I did have one ghostly experience, but I'm not sure whether or not it was my imagination or not. I used to work in a theatre, which supposedly had a ghost (don't all theatres?) and one night I swear I felt something like a dress brush up against my legs. But when I looked, there was nothing there.

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    1. Ooooh, creepy! Sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's not and it's not uncommon for our imaginations to get the best of us. Either way, it's still a lot of fun to imagine that ghosts/hauntings are real.

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  4. Anonymous10/22/2013

    Eeeeek. I'm not sure what I think of ghosts! One time in college, my friends and I were at a state park, which was also a battle ground. We were all sitting on a hill around dusk and no joke... saw the shape of a little boy running about 20 feet in front of the woods. It was CRAZY. There is no way it was an animal and no way could a human run that fast. Plus it was seriously a dark, clear shadow! It was so creepy. So that is my story. I haven't gone back there since then! And NO we weren't drinking!

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    1. Umm, how much longer after that account did you stay at the park? Because I'd be out there in a minute! So creepy! I like to think that I'm a lot braver than I actually am, but behind all this ghostly love, there's definitely a scaredy cat lurking inside me. I think it's the adrenaline rush and thrill ride I get from these types of stories/encounters.

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  5. OMG you have made me want to watch Thr13en Ghosts again! It was one of my favorite horror movies when I was younger. I don't watch a lot of horror movies now because they freak me out too much and my friends aren't really into those kind of movies and I sure as heck aren't going to watch them alone. :/

    I'm not sure I really believe in Ghosts but there are so many unexplained things that is probably something out there!

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    1. Thr13en Ghosts is such an underrated movie, isn't it?! When I was thinking about this post it made me want to go back and rewatch it too. In fact, that's the big plan for Halloween --- to watch some horror movies. I think I'll be adding this one to the list.

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  6. I'm not sure what to think about ghosts. I just rather don't think about it, since it scares me, haha. I do believe that there is something else and, although fascinating, it makes me too scared. It's one of the reasons I highly dislike ghost horror movies. Caspar & the ones in HP are welcome :p

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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    1. Oh, there's no doubt about it, Mel. Ghosts really creep me out! But I do think there is something about the adrenaline rush of being scared that I find somewhat enjoyable. I guess things that are potentially true are often more freaky than the things that are not.

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