Page 43 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Jan-Feb 2018, Vol 27, No 1

Ghosts From A - Z 43

Ghosts From A to Z

Continued from Page 42

The Crypt Keeper (Tales from the Crypt): In
the 50s, the Crypt Keeper started out as the
narrator of EC’s horror comic anthology series
Tales from the Crypt, until the Comics Code
quickly brought about its untimely death. In
1989, however, the character was revived as a
cackling animated corpse in order to host the
HBO series of the same name. With lines like,
“Hello, boils and ghouls!”, the Crypt Keeper’s
moldering puns were usually the most deadly
part of the show.

Edwina Cutwater (All of Me): Spoiled heiress
played by Lily Tomlin who dies and ends up
sharing a body with Steve Martin in 1984’s All
of Me.

Draugr (Norse mythology): Undead Vikings lamented Dead Like Me, George is killed by drowned, who attack the living and drag them
who possess superhuman strength, the ability to falling space debris in the first episode and under water, hoping to drown their victims and
swell and increase their size or shapeshift at will, begins work as a grim reaper with a penchant for take possession of their body. The spirits of the
and reek of decay. They delight in violently dead pan. dead are celebrated in Chinese culture are
slaughtering and sometimes consuming their celebrated in an annual ghost festival, when the
victims, usually people who have trespassed on Ghost Dad (Ghost Dad): A movie which haunts realms of the living and the realms of Heaven
the graves or burial mounds the draugr guards, us all. With badness. and Hell are open, allowing the dead to interact
although sometimes they roam and rampage, with the living, and particularly their family and
killing animals and humans alike.
Ghost Rider (Comics/movie): A descendants.
personification of vengeance often embodied by
Dybbuk (Jewish Folklore): Malevolent spirit a fictional man named Johnny Blaze, or Danny Hamlet’s Father (Hamlet): Technically, King
believed to be the soul of a dead person, able to Ketch, or Nicolas Cage. Although the spirit that Hamlet, but referred to only as “Ghost” in the
possess the living. Contrast with Ibbur. grants its human host the powers of Ghost Rider stage directions, Hamlet Sr. was a mighty
is Hell-bound, it’s left up to the human as to how warrior, and his ghost demands that his son
Emeric Belasco (Hell House): Insane those powers are used, unless the story calls for avenge his death at the hands of Claudius.
millionaire whose legendary depravity and some serious drama, oh my god. Rumor has it that the role of The Ghost was first
sadism lies at the heart of Richard Matheson’s performed by Shakespeare himself, but it’s
haunted Hell House. And yes, we are cheating Gjenganger (Scandinavian folklore): The never been confirmed or denied.
by filing him under E; Emeric Belasco doesn’t ghost of a dead person (often murderers, murder
play by the rules. victims, or suicides) who, though undead, took Hogwarts Ghosts (Harry Potter): A few
on corporeal form and threatened the living with specific ghosts show up elsewhere on the list,
Faddeev-Popov ghosts (Physics): One for the violence or torment. They could also administer but since Hogwarts is home to more than twenty
physics fans; good ghosts, known for haunting the dødningeknip (or “dead man’s pinch), which ghosts (plus Peeves the Poltergeist). Each house
quantum field theories. We can only imagine the would cause disease and death to befall the is home to its own resident ghost: Nearly
kind of stories Richard Feynman used to tell victim. Headless Nick (Gryffindor), The Grey Lady
about these guys around a campfire, playing his (Ravenclaw), The Fat Friar (Hufflepuff), and
bongos and terrifying the other Nobel Gozer the Gozerian (Ghostbusters): Gozer the The Bloody Baron (Slytherin).
candidates. Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen

forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, The Headless Horseman (“The Legend of
Nathaniel Fisher, Sr. (Six Feet Under): Killed the traveler came as a large and moving Torg. Sleepy Hollow”): In Irving’s classic short story,
in a car accident (while sitting in a hearse) on Then, during the third reconciliation of the last the Horseman is the ghost of a Hessian soldier
Christmas Eve, Nathaniel Sr.’s death sets off the of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new decapitated by a cannonball during the
events of the HBO series, as the rest of Fisher form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs American Revolution. While it is suggested in
comes together in its wake (Not a pun. Sorry, and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the the story that the “spirit” who chases
Crypt Keeper!). Played by the great Richard depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you… schoolteacher Ichabod Crane might really be
Jenkins, Nathaniel remained a presence around Crane’s romantic rival impersonating the ghost
the family funeral home, conversing with living Captain Daniel Gregg (The Ghost and Mrs. to scare him off, the legend of the Headless
characters and occasionally dispensing advice to Muir): This roguish sea captain is the titular Horseman remains potent (and if you haven’t
Nate Jr. and his other children. ghost from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (both film seen the Disney adaptation or Christopher
and TV versions), whose attempted haunting of Walken’s take on the character in Sleepy
Flying Dutchman (Marine folklore): a young widow quickly turns into a warm Hollow, then you are missing out).
Legendary ghost ship doomed to sail the seas friendship (with a hint of romance on the TV
forever, never making port. Sightings of the show, and definite romance in the film version, (Continued on Page 45)
Dutchman date back to the 18th century, and are starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison).
said to be a bad omen or portent of doom. The
legend has inspired paintings, an opera, films, Gu? (Chinese folklore): The general Chinese
and works by others from Edgar Allan Poe to term for ghosts, there are many different types
Brian Jacques. and categorizations of Gu?; Yu?n Gu?, for
example, is the term for a ghost who has died a
Georgia “George” Lass (Dead Like Me): The wrongful death, Wú Tóu Gu? is a wandering
sarcastic protagonist of Bryan Fuller’s late, headless specter, and Shu? Gu? are ghosts of the