Wizarding
World
Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hogwarts
Ghosts
essay:
Hogwarts
Ghosts by Mike Gray
There are at least twenty ghosts
at Hogwarts (SS7).
When ghost-related decisions must
be made, they hold a "ghost's council" (GF12)
The ghosts are pearly white (except
Peeves)
and glow (PA9)
Ghosts communicate with each other
by
ghostly letters. Nearly Headless Nick received one from Sir Patrick of
the Headless Hunt. He must have used something of that sort to invite people
to his deathday party, too. (CS8)

known
ghosts of Hogwarts:
Nearly
Headless Nick (Gryffindor ghost) (SS7, CS
The Bloody Baron
(Slytherin ghost)
The Bloody Baron is a grim, silent,
terrifying fellow who is covered with bloodstains. He is never heard to
speak, although Harry does impersonate him once, using a hoarse whisper
(SS16). No one is quite sure about the source of the bloodstains [1],
and no one dares ask. Peeves, who respects the Baron for some unknown reason,
calls him "Your Bloodiness" and "Mr. Baron."
In the film, the Bloody
Baron is inexplicably depicted as rather frilly and goofy, not at all like
the character in the books. (SS/f)
The Fat Friar
(Hufflepuff ghost)
Was once a Hufflepuff, now is their
resident ghost. He is a jolly, friendly ghost who cheerfully wishes the
first years good day and hopes they'll be in Hufflepuff (SS7).
Moaning Myrtle
Myrtle haunts a girls' bathroom
on the second floor. She does leave the bathroom once in a while. For example,
she sometimes turns up in the Prefects' Bathroom. She occasionally gets
flushed out of the castle with the contents of a toilet and has floated
around in the Lake.
Peeves
the poltergeist
Many of the ghosts do no consider
Peeves to be a ghost. He causes no end of trouble and delights in mayhem
and chaos.
The Grey
Lady (Ravenclaw ghost) (SS12)
Very little is known about the Grey
Lady apart from the fact that she is very tall and she is the resident
ghost of Ravenclaw. Harry and Ron encounter her gliding past in the corridor
while out looking for the Mirror of Erised (SS12).
So how do we know that the
Grey Lady is the Ravenclaw ghost? JKR showed a page from her notebook in
a televised interview. Clearly visible on that page was the list of house
ghosts which indicated that the Ravenclaw ghost was the Grey Lady. In the
film, she appeared a number of times. She was sitting at a desk in MacGonagall's
classroom when Harry, Ron, and Hermione came bursting in, demanding to
talk to Dumbledore. She was also talking with Nearly Headless Nick when
he told her that Harry had been made a Seeker (SS/f)
A reader sent this note:
"I thought you'd be interested
to know that the ghost of Ravenclaw, the Grey Lady, could actually be or
be based on the 'Grey Lady' that haunts Brodick Castle, on the Isle of
Arran in Scotland. The castle was originally built by the Stewarts and
was captured by the English during the Wars of Independence. In 1406 an
English fleet sailed into the Clyde and destroyed much of the original
castle. For much of its life the castle has been owned by members of the
Hamilton family. The older part of the castle is said to be haunted by
the "Grey Lady", who starved to death in the dungeons of the castle because
she had the plague."
Professor Binns
Binns is the only Hogwarts teacher
who is a ghost.
non-Hogwarts
ghosts
[1]
-Naturally, we all assume that the "silvery" bloodstains are that color
because the Baron is a ghost. But it bears mention that Unicorns
possibly have silvery blood as well, judging by descriptions of bloodstains
in the forest when the unicorns were being killed. So there is a chance
that the Baron is covered in Unicorn blood.
|