Then there was the way ghosts were depicted on Charmed. I wrote the following article in 2002, following the episode Saving Private Leo.
Ghosts Of Charmed Past
The recent Charmed episode, “Saving Private Leo”, dealt with ghosts from Leo's past, literally. The ghosts in question were the Lang brothers. These two men had been friends with Leo back when he was still a living human. They had enlisted in the Army together when America entered World War II. During a battle at Guadalcanal, both Lang brothers were killed in action. However, their spirits remained on Earth, refusing to move on, because they felt that Leo was responsible for getting them killed. For the next sixty years, these two restless spirits let their misguided hatred consume them, growing stronger as the years went by. When they were finally able to locate Leo, they went after him, and had no moral scruples about harming those that got in their way. It was only through the intervention of the Halliwells that the angry spirits were forcible expelled from our world, and the day was saved. This was one of many Charmed episodes dealing with ghosts.
“Saving Private Leo” prompted me to ask how the writers of Charmed view the concept of ghosts. Charmed seems to have divided ghosts up into three categories: trapped ghosts, helpful ghosts, and discontented ghosts. Each have their own different aspects. I will examine these aspects, along with some examples of ghost lore in the real world.
1. Trapped Ghosts. These are the spirits of innocent people the Charmed Ones must help. The Halliwells have met and interacted with two innocent Ghosts, Mark Cho (“Dead Man Dating”), and Charlene Hughes (“Ex Libris”). In both episodes, the ghosts were those of murdered innocents, trapped on Earth, unable to move on until some task had been fulfilled. For Mark, he had to help track down his murderer. For Charlene, she had to help the Halliwells first destroy the demon that killed her, and then help send a criminal (who had murdered a teenage girl, but his neighbors were afraid to testify against him) to jail. In both cases, the ghosts succeeded in their tasks, with help from the Halliwells, and were then allowed to move on.
This view of ghosts has parallels with reports of ghosts throughout the world, although those ghosts do not interact so directly with the living like they do on Charmed. Many old castles in Great Britain have their own resident ghost, or ghosts. The Tower of London has the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn. Boleyn was beheaded on the orders of her husband, Henry VIII, in 1536. Also seen in the Tower are the spirits of two little boys, believed to be those of the two young princes who were murdered supposedly on the orders of their uncle, Richard III, in 1483. All over Britain, you will find castles and old houses that may have a resident spirit who for reasons of his or her own, refuses to leave.
North America is not without its share of ghosts. The spirit of former Canadian Prime Minster, William Lyon Mackenzie King (who died in 1950), is reported to haunt his country estate, Kingsmere, located near the Canadian capitol city, Ottawa. In the United States, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln is said to walk the White House corridors. The spirit of the first U.S. President, George Washington, is said to have appeared many times in the months preceding the Civil War with a look of profound sadness upon his face. Ghost sightings of this sort have been reported for centuries.
2. Helpful Ghosts. This category applies to the spirits of Penny and Patty Halliwell, who have appeared to their daughters a few times. Although they are usually not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the living, these two ghosts have turned up a few times to help the Charmed Ones when needed. Whether or not Prue will ever appear to her sisters, now that she has crossed over, remains to be seen.
Some have reported ghosts who behave like Penny and Patty, ghosts who come back to help the living. A special on The Learning Channel called Castle Ghosts of Ireland, told the story of the ghost of a soldier, killed in World War I, who came back to help his descendants keep their ancestral castle. The ghost led his great niece to the documents she needed to prove the castle belonged to them. Another show, Unsolved Mysteries, did a story about the ghost of a murdered woman, who helped lead the police to her own killer. The killer was put on trial, where he confessed to the crime, was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison! Sometimes, it seems, ghosts do led a hand to help those left behind.
3. Discontented Ghosts. These seem to be the ghosts the Charmed Ones most often encounter. Some are evil, some are misguided, others are just plain angry. There was Jackson Ward (“The Ghost of Alcatraz”), Elias Lundy (“Reckless Abandon”), and the aforementioned Lang brothers (“Saving Private Leo”). In all of these cases, the ghosts in question refused to move on. They were quite willing to hurt or kill anyone who got in their way, including the Halliwell sisters. In all three cases, the ghosts had to be forcibly dispatched from this world by the Charmed Ones. As to where they went after being vanquished, well I presume some went to where evil beings go, the Underworld, so the possibility that these ghosts could one day return cannot be ruled out.
Frankie and Lulu (“A Paige From The Past”), seemed more misguided than evil, and the only reason they couldn't move on is because they wanted to get married! Their discontent was borne out of an unfulfilled desire, an engagement that was cut short -- in true Bonny and Clyde style -- by the police. These two caused problem for the Charmed Ones because they needed Phoebe's and Cole's bodies to actually consummate their plan. Thanks to Piper and Daryl Morris, these ghosts were unable to tie the knot.
Many of the discontented ghosts on Charmed have been shown attacking, ever murdering, innocent people. This is where the show does take some liberties. I can find no reports of ghosts actually attacking people, let alone murdering them. There are reports of people supposedly being frightened to death by ghosts, but that is as close as it comes. There have been famous stories, most notably The Amityville Horror, which claimed evil spirits attacked humans; however, later studies revealed that a lot of these stories turned out to be nothing but elaborate hoaxes. However, there is a story from Tennessee about the Bell Witch, an evil spirit that haunted the Bell family at their farm, back around 1820. Supposedly, this spirit cast a spell over the family patriarch, John Bell, and caused him to die of a mysterious disease. However, how much of this is true and how much of this is just legend remains a mystery.
4. Observations. The way Charmed has depicted ghosts has some basis in ghost lore and paranormal scholarship. It is said that many a ghost remains earthbound because of unfinished business, and many of the Charmed ghosts fit this category. Also the ability of the ghosts on Charmed to move physical objects also can be found in reports of ghostly activities, particularly in the case of poltergeists, or “noisy ghosts”. These ghosts have been known to make houses they occupy almost unbearable to the unfortunate people living there.
As for the helpful ghosts, like Penny and Patty, it seems they are there just to see that their family is okay. This fits in with some stories I cited above of people being visited by spirits of deceased loved ones. It seems the spirits just want to check up on those they left behind.
5. Continuity problems with ghosts on Charmed. Although Charmed has done many a good episode involving ghosts, it seems that the show is constantly contradicting itself when it comes to showing just how things work. It has been clearly established that witches can see ghosts, it's part of being a good witch. So how come the sisters can only see ghosts sometimes and other times they can't? In the episode, “Death Takes A Halliwell”, Prue is able to watch the departing spirits of those the vampire-like demons killed, and in “Saving Private Leo”, Leo is able to see Maria's spirit leave her body, after one of the Lang brothers stabs her. Yet in many other episodes, someone has died while the sisters and Leo were present and they didn't see anything. What gives?
Now, let's talk about the times the Halliwell sisters themselves have died. In “Apocalypse Not”, Phoebe (or was it Piper, I can't remember), stated that Prue couldn't be dead, because if she was, they would be able to see her spirit. In “Saving Private Leo”, when Piper was stabbed, Paige, Phoebe, and Leo clearly saw Piper's spirit leave her body, and then re-enter it when Leo healed her. In “The Ghost Of Alcatraz”, Prue's spirit is seen by Phoebe, as she vanquishes Jackson Ward. These incidents seem to support the statement made in “Apocalypse Not”, that when one of the sisters dies, the others should be able to see her spirit. However, in the first season finale, “Deja Vu All Over Again”, both Piper and Phoebe die, no spirits. Prue dies in the second season finale, “Careful What You Witch For”, no spirit. Piper dies in “Coyote Piper” and “All Hell Breaks Loose” and, you guessed it, no spirit! So which are we supposed to believe!? I can't believe the shows writers didn't think this issue through clearly before they wrote the episodes. Fans notice these things, it's part of being a fan.
Also there seems to be several different ways that ghosts appear on Charmed. Why? Mark Cho and Charlene Hughes looked like they did when they were alive, as did Jackson Ward. Patty and Penny were transparent. Elias Lundy was transparent, and had a ghoulish look. The Lang brothers were transparent most of the time, although they could appear solid, and Frankie and Lulu were just little balls of energy. Why do some of these ghosts appear different than the others? The writers have offered no explanation at all and that just frustrates me more. I guess we'll never know the answer to this riddle.
6. Conclusions. So the answer to my question about how the writers of Charmed view the concept of ghosts seems to be that they don't know themselves. I have pointed out that many of the ghost episodes seem in conflict to other ghost episodes. Why? Is there some reason as to why the writers can't seem to establish the concept down on paper and follow up on that. In my opinion, that is what they need to do, they have to write some kind of bible that will establish just what does and does not belong in the Charmed universe. Once the writers decide to stick with what has been previously established, continuity will be preserved, and, in my opinion, the audience will greatly appreciate it.
