Ghosts We’d Want To Be Haunted By

10 Movie Ghosts We’d Want To Be Haunted By

by Owen Javellana on Oct 29th, 2010

Continuing in our Halloween-week spirit, we’ve composed a list of ghostly movie characters. But instead of looking for the scariest, we’ve decided to look for ghosts who you might actually want around. So read on. I promise not to say “Spook-tacular.”



10. Elliot Hopper – Ghost Dad
I never saw The Exorcist, but from what I gather from hearing about it, evil spirits have horrible potty mouths. Which is why it’s nice to think that some ghosts can be both family-friendly and family-oriented, like comedian Bill Cosby’s character in Ghost Dad. It’s quite hard for someone to be “the face of fear,” when for years they were the face of Jell-O Pudding Pops.



9. Slimer – Ghostbusters
Being inarticulate and constantly moist will get you kicked out of most social circles if you’re a human. But if you’re a glowing green abomination, it becomes perfectly acceptable and endearing. Not only an icon of nostalgia, Slimer is also the only ghost on the icon to have his own flavor of Hi-C.



8. Casper the Friendly Ghost – Casper
This one’s a given. And while he probably won’t do much for you besides tuck you in or, say, win the heart of Christina Ricci, you can’t have a countdown of friendly ghosts without mentioning THE friendly ghost.



7. Antoine Tyler – The 6th Man
In The 6th Man, Kadeem Hardison plays a departed basketball player, who uses his ghostly abilities to his brother’s team win. So it’s like having the angels from Angels in the Outfield, only instead of baseball, it’s basketball. And instead of God sending His messengers to answer your prayers, it’s just your dead super-powered brother helping you cheat. Works for me!



6. The Singing Busts – The Haunted Mansion
I knew The Haunted Mansion deserved a spot on this list, but since I never really cared for that disembodied head in the crystal ball, I chose the much less annoying singing busts. Besides, they sing barbershop! It’s psychologically impossible to feel fear when there’s a barbershop quartet singing.



5. Babe Ruth – The Sandlot
Yes, I know that’s a picture of the actual Babe Ruth, but it’s surprisingly hard to find a screenshot of Art Lafleur as the ghost of the “Colossus of Clout” in 1993’s The Sandlot. If the “Sultan of Swat” can inspire “Benny the Jet” to “pickle the Beast,” I’m convinced he can inspire anyone.



4. Beetlejuice – Beetlejuice
While Beetlejuice does scare people (that’s the third time I’ve said his name!), you get the sense that he only does it when it’s funny, and that’s something I can respect. Plus, one of his ideas of scaring people involves making every one compulsively sing and dance to “Day-o” at the dinner table.



3. The Ghost of Christmas Past – A Christmas Carol
Putting aside the fact that this ghost looks creepy as all hell, he has the power to let you revisit Christmases of your past. And let’s face it, Christmas was one billion times more exciting when you were a kid. So much so that he even beat out the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is basically a brown-haired Santa who lets you spy on people.



2. Obi-Wan Kenobi – Star Wars
The only thing cooler than having a Jedi Master as your mentor is having a Jedi Master as your mystical spirit guide, giving you life advice, some great training tips, and helpful hints on what to use to target the exhaust port of a Death Star, should the need arise.



1. Mufasa - The Lion King
While killing your uncle to avenge your father and ascend to the throne is not a “universal” message per se, it’s all about the delivery in this case. It would be the crowning achievement in my life to receive a such vision in the night sky, formed of stars and storm clouds, spoken in the booming, majestic voice of James Earl Jones. Even if his message was just: “Eat more fiber. MUCH MORE FIBER!!!”