Spoilers ahead for the Halloween episode of Ghosts Season 5, called “Halloween 5: The Mummy” and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
Season 5 of Ghosts delivered another winner in the 2025 TV schedule with its annual Halloween special. As somebody who recently binge-watched the series to catch up before the fall premiere, “Halloween 5: The Mummy” was actually the first Halloween episode in years that I’ve actually watched close to the holiday in question. On top of reminding why Nigel and Isaac were such an endearing couple once upon a time and possibly reigniting some sparks for Hetty and Trevor, the episode reminded me of my theory about why so many people who died on the Woodstone property don’t get sucked off.
The Problem With People Dying On Ghosts
With Ghosts now five seasons in, it’s hard to ignore that none of the core eight (or even the majority of the cholera pit ghosts in the basement) ever get sucked off, no matter what kinds of emotional breakthroughs they have on the mortal plane. Now, I know that the real-life reason is presumably because the ghosts are all played by series regulars who aren’t going to just be written out of the comedy on a whim, and I don’t want to lose any of them.
I’m happy to hand-wave that the ghosts just haven’t accumulated enough points of goodness to outweigh whatever is holding them back from moving on, because it just felt off when Flower was briefly gone in Season 3, and Flower isn’t quite in my Top 3 favorite characters. It’s a little harder to overlook that so many people who die on the property ultimately come back as ghosts. We’re told early in the series that it’s rare for those who pass away to stick around rather than get sucked off, but it really happens a lot on Woodstone.
My Theory For Why People Come Back As Ghosts
My theory is pretty straightforward: there’s something mystical about the Woodstone property that keeps many souls bound to the material plane, sometime around the death of Thor, Sass, Isaac or Hetty. The dead seemed to start coming back more regularly in the 20th century, with Alberta, Flower, Pete, and Trevor all dying in or almost immediately after the 1900s. (Trevor got to briefly experience the 21st century.)
The Problem With People Dying On Ghosts
With Ghosts now five seasons in, it’s hard to ignore that none of the core eight (or even the majority of the cholera pit ghosts in the basement) ever get sucked off, no matter what kinds of emotional breakthroughs they have on the mortal plane. Now, I know that the real-life reason is presumably because the ghosts are all played by series regulars who aren’t going to just be written out of the comedy on a whim, and I don’t want to lose any of them.
I’m happy to hand-wave that the ghosts just haven’t accumulated enough points of goodness to outweigh whatever is holding them back from moving on, because it just felt off when Flower was briefly gone in Season 3, and Flower isn’t quite in my Top 3 favorite characters. It’s a little harder to overlook that so many people who die on the property ultimately come back as ghosts. We’re told early in the series that it’s rare for those who pass away to stick around rather than get sucked off, but it really happens a lot on Woodstone.
My Theory For Why People Come Back As Ghosts
My theory is pretty straightforward: there’s something mystical about the Woodstone property that keeps many souls bound to the material plane, sometime around the death of Thor, Sass, Isaac or Hetty. The dead seemed to start coming back more regularly in the 20th century, with Alberta, Flower, Pete, and Trevor all dying in or almost immediately after the 1900s. (Trevor got to briefly experience the 21st century.)
New episodes of Ghosts air on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
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