While the Pokemon series has ghost-type Pokemon, it is also not a stranger to literal ghosts. In fact, human ghosts have been in both games the TV series for a long time. Any veteran fan knows by now that human ghosts are a reality of the Pokemon universe. With humans ghosts as a reality though, that brings out many questions. For example, what is the difference between human ghosts and ghost Pokemon (since some ghost Pokemon evidently were once human)?
From a ghost hand in Kanto's Lavender Town, to a little girl ghost in Pokemon Sword and Shield's Hammerlocke, ghosts in Pokemon have been sometimes subtle and sometimes have even sent players on quests. Their presence has ranged from terrifying to touching. With how often they appear, there is little doubt players will meet more human ghosts in the future.
Examples Of Human Ghosts
One of the more recent ghost sightings in the games is in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Above the train station in Hammerlocke is a little girl that asks players to deliver a letter to a boy named Frank. However, when delivered, it turns out Frank is an old man and mentions to the player about a little girl he was friends with that died of a fatal illness that she kept secret. When the player returns to where the girl was, she is gone.
In the Diamond and Pearl games, the Old Chateau housed a couple of human ghosts: a little girl and a butler. In Pokemon Generations, the same Old Chateau ghosts actually attack a woman and her Chansey. In those same games, at Snowpoint City, players can visit a dark cabin where an old woman sits alone. She gives the players a Spell Tag and talks about the lack of visitors. If the player visits the dark house again, she is not there, and there is a trainer near the cabin that mentions the area has been known to experience hauntings.
In X and Y, at Lumiose City, players can go to a place where the music stops, and a ghost girl floats by and says "No, you're not the one," before disappearing. There is a bridge girl ghost in between Route 15 and 16 in the Black and White games that disappears when spoken to (it is later confirmed that she died in her sleep from Darkrai's dark dreams). Far back in the Red, Blue, and Yellow games, an NPC in Lavender Town tells the player that there is a white hand on their shoulder. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a ghost girl also watches the player before they battle Phoebe.
To complicate matters, while there are human ghosts, there are also Pokemon that are ghost-type that were once human. Yamask is one such Pokemon, as the Pokedex describes Yamask to have risen from the graves of humans and retain memories from their lives. Phantump are another example, as they are the souls of children who died while lost in the woods.
What Do Human Ghosts Mean For The Pokemon Universe
At this point, there are many Pokemon theories as there are actual Pokemon, and many of those theories are ghost-related. Lavender Town is a creepypasta favorite and ghost-type Pokemon are among the most popular types. However, human ghosts have thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into what a ghost versus ghost-type Pokemon actually is in the Pokemon universe.
Back in 2017, one Youtuber by the username HoopsandHipHop proposed that ghost-type Pokemon are not actually ghosts, and the existence of actual ghosts in the Pokemon universe proves that fact. After all, to be an actual ghost means one has to be alive and die in the first place, and ghost-type Pokemon are born from eggs as their type.
The 2017 video mentions that the very first ghost-type Pokemon story-wise is Giratina, who is exiled to the distortion world in the lore of Pokemon. It is possible Giratina was not always ghost-type, and gained that typing from spending time in the distortion world (which is a world of anti-matter). With that in mind, it is possible that the Pokedex entries for ghost-type Pokemon describe the "spirit world" when they really are the "distortion world." The distortion world is not widely known to humans in the Pokemon universe, hence they described these Pokemon as "ghost-type" rather than an "anti-matter" type.
HoopsandHipHop further ironed out the theory by explaining that pure ghost-type Pokemon may come from the distortion world while part-ghost type Pokemon have only been exposed to anti-matter. This can support the theory that Gengar is Clefable's shadow, but Gengar is just anti-matter Clefable. In terms of ghost-types that were once human, human emotions can create beings in the distortion world just like one would believe they would for the spirit world.
While these are all purely Pokemon fan theories, it lines up well with the fact that human ghosts are real in the Pokemon universe versus there being ghost-types. There are also just ghost Pokemon rather than ghost-type Pokemon, like Marowak's mother in the tower in Lavender Town. What's interesting, if the theory of the distortion world is true, is that both a distortion world and spirit world exist in Pokemon and one creates ghost-types while one creates literal ghosts.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus releases on January 28, 2022, for Nintendo Switch.