DC Comics has always been in touch with its mystical and spiritual side. Ghosts, demons, angels, vampires, immortal wizards, and mystical personifications of ephemeral concepts are rampant throughout the universe. There is quite literally a very active world right next to the world we all know there.
Of the many mystical entities that wander the DC landscape, Ghosts, ghouls, and spirits are the most plentiful. Most of these ghosts are here through some tragedy visited upon them from an outside source. Some are benevolent and even heroic spirits. Most are not. But all have accomplished a great deal since their death.
10 Amity Arkham
Amity Arkham was burned to death in Colonial Gotham by several of the prominent villagers including Edmunde Cobblepot and Isabell Dent. She cast a curse that allowed her to possess her descendants and kill the first families of Gotham, including the Cobblepots, Dents, Waynes, Kyles, Kanes and others. Close friend Alienor Frych took Amity’s daughter Beatrix to raise and wrote the Old Book of Gotham about Amity’s life.
Amity returned centuries later and possessed her descendant, Gotham Academy student Olive Silverlock with the assistance of a ritual performed by three other students who formed the new Terrible Trio. Olive was saved by her four friends in the Detectives Club.
9 Mr. Keeper
Classically, Mr. Keeper was a clerk whose job it was to keep track of which souls would go to “Heaven” at their predestined time. Because of an error, Christopher “Kit” Freeman was killed 75 years early by a U-Boat that sank his grandfather’s fishing boat. Kid Eternity was given the power to bring back heroes from history by speaking the word “Eternity” with Mr. Keeper as Kit’s guardian.
Recently, it was revealed that Mr. Keeper was a Lord of Chaos and they convinced Kit to become their servant with the early death story. The historical characters that the Kid brings back are actually shape-shifting demons. The Lords of Chaos hoped to use the Kid to trigger a series of Chaos Engines to force the evolution of mankind to win God’s forgiveness for their past actions.
8 Michael Gallant/Captain Triumph
Michael Gallant and his twin brother Lance were so similar in appearance that their own mother couldn’t tell them apart. When America entered World War II, Michael joined the US Army Air Corps, while Lance became a journalist. On their 23rd birthday, Michael was landing his plane when the hangar he pulled into blew up. Lance ran to Michael and he died in his arms. Lance vowed to avenge his brother’s murder.
The Fates heard Lance’s vow and sent Michael’s ghost to visit his brother with the instructions to touch his “T” shaped wrist birthmark and the two merged into the super-powerful Captain Triumph. Captain Triumph fought valiantly throughout the war years.
7 JEB Stuart and the Haunted Tank
James Ewell Brown “JEB” Stuart fought at the Battle of Bull Run before he was put in command of the Confederate Calvary by General Robert E. Lee. He was fatally wounded during the Battle of Richmond in 1864. During World War II, General Stuart’s ghost appeared to his descendent, Sgt. Jeb Stuart to act as a guardian and adviser.
The rest of the unit, nicknamed the Haunted Tank, couldn’t see the General and thought their Sergeant was a little crazy but trusted his combat skills. Jeb and an extensively patched up Haunted Tank survived the war and General Stuart’s ghost helped Jeb’s African American grandson Jamal, an Iraq War soldier, who didn’t take kindly to the advice of a Confederate ghost with out-modded racial ideas.
6 Secret
Secret was Greta Hayes, a young girl who was killed by her brother Billy on his road to becoming the super-villain, Harm. Because of the manner of her death, she was trapped between realms. Secret was freed from the DEO by Robin, Impulse, and Superboy. Secret joined Young Justice along with Wonder Girl and Arrowette.
A temporarily adult Secret tracked down Klarion the Witch Boy’s familiar Teekl and threatened to kill the creature if Klarion didn’t undo his magics. Pushed by Darkseid, Secret gave into her darker impulses while on Apokolips but Robin talked her down. Darkseid secretly stripped Greta of her powers and made her an ordinary young woman.
5 Dead Boy Detectives
Edwin Payne was murdered in his boarding school in 1916 and sent to Hell. A revolt in Hell let the damned escape. Charles Rowland was the sole living student at the boarding school during the holidays. The school became overrun with former teachers and students from Hell and the few remaining teachers there with Charles were killed.
Edwin helped Charles stay alive for a while but he too was killed. At Charles and Edwin’s insistence and because she was dealing with the Hellbreak, Death allowed the pair to remain as ghosts. The boys became detectives and tracked down magician Tim Hunter who was hiding out at the Inn Between Worlds. They also investigated why the Thames was giving up numerous corpses of homeless children.
4 Gentleman Ghost
James “Gentleman Jim” Craddock was a highwayman in Victorian England. He immigrated to America but ran afoul of the gunslingers Nighthawk and Cinnamon, who were reincarnations of Egyptian Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ra. Nighthawk lynched Craddock because he wrongly believed that he sexually assaulted Cinnamon. Craddock’s spirit didn’t move on and he became the criminal Gentlemen Ghost.
Decades later, Gentlemen Ghost emerged to begin a crime spree in Europe which brought him to the attention of the latest incarnation of the Prince and Princess, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He also battled Batman, Superman and the Justice Society of America.
3 Jon Valor, The Black Pirate
Jon Valor, masked as the Black Pirate, was a Privateer for the King in the 16th Century. He adventured on the high seas with his son Justin. The pair were separated for years and Justin was murdered. Valor was accused of the crime and before he was hung, he cursed that no soul that died in that place would find rest until his son’s true killer was found. The seaside port eventually became Opal City.
In 20th Century Opal City, Jon Valor began helping Starman Jack Knight indirectly before asking for his help. Unfortunately, evil dwarf Simon Culp also used Valor’s curse for his own purposes. Detectives Hamilton Drew and Ralph and Sue Dibny proved Jon innocent and his spirit and all those tied to Opal City finally moved on.
2 Deadman
Boston Brand was a circus aerialist who was killed by an assassin called the Hook. On the way to the afterlife, Boston was stopped by the Hindu Goddess Rama Kushna and offered him the opportunity to find his killer with the power to possess living beings.
Boston has invariably found himself entangled in the adventures of the superheroes of the world. He has assisted Batman on so many occasions that Batman noticed when Boston is in possession of someone. Boston has also aided many of the mystical heroes and creatures of this world as they are the few that can see his ghost.
1 Jim Corrigan/Spectre
The Spectre is the Vengeance of God who has been bound to a human host to curb its power and offer guidance. In modern times, the longest host had been James Corrigan. Corrigan was a tough but honest cop in a corrupt town who was destroying the criminal empire of crime boss Gat Benson. Corrigan was captured by Benson’s men, encased in cement, and thrown in the river. In death, Corrigan refused to go to the afterlife and the Archangel Michael made him the host to the Spectre. Corrigan, as the Spectre, took his revenge on his killers.
Corrigan was the Spectre for decades, dispensing vengeance in creative ways. He was a founding member of the Justice Society of America and was only stopped from destroying Hitler’s regime by Hitler’s possession of the Spear of Destiny, the one weapon capable of killing the Spectre. Corrigan finally moved onto the afterlife in the late 20th Century.