I Tried To Figure Out How Casper The Friendly Ghost Died, And Now I Have A Headache

What is the truth?

Woohoo! It's Halloween time! But, tbh, that just means I have an excuse to eat an unhealthy amount of candy and re-watch classic childhood movies, like 1995's Casper.

Universal Pictures

But, while watching a young Christina Ricci try on a dead woman's dress, I couldn't help but wonder...how did Casper become a ghost in the first place?

Disney

So, I decided to do a little digging.

Let's start with the movie. There's a scene were Christina Ricci — aka Kat — tries to remind Casper of his life as a boy. She takes him to his childhood bedroom and up to the attic, where he finds a sled that triggers his memory.

Universal Pictures

He then tells her, "It got late, it got dark, it got cold, and I got sick... I remember I didn't go where I was supposed to go. I just stayed behind so my dad wouldn't be lonely."

youtube.com

So, this poor little boy got pneumonia, died, and stayed a ghost to keep his dad company? BRB, sobbing.

But, wait! During the '60s and '70s, Harvey Comics — who was responsible for the Casper comic books — would apparently say that Casper's parents "were ghosts when they married," meaning that "their son would be a ghost too."

Harvey Comics

If he went to a ghost finishing school as seen above, maybe there's a whole community of ghost adults and their children? Like, people are just born as ghosts?

BUT, WAIT AGAIN! In Paramount's animated cartoon from the '40s, Casper sits on his own grave in the graveyard, meaning that he did die somehow??

Paramount Pictures

And in the same episode, Casper befriends a fox that is killed by hunters and later becomes a ghost, just like him. So, clearly this universe doesn't support the idea that ghosts are just born.