Ghosts are spirit beings that were once physical living beings. They remain somehow attached to the physical world after their original forms have passed away.
Mainstream Smurfs Media[]
In the comic books, ghosts resemble vaguely humanoid figures made of sheets, while in the cartoon show they have a much more human appearance except when the ghost is of a character that wasn't originally human or became skeletal in their ghostly form.
The Smurfs have encountered various types of ghosts. One of them was a nightclub entertainer and musician named Ghostwriter, who provided Harmony Smurf an "original" symphony that the Smurf musician can claim as his own in exchange for being that ghost's eternal performer at his nightclub. Papa Smurf contested that claim by having his Village Smurphony Orchestra play the entire "original" symphony, which was revealed to be pieces of other musicians' works that Ghostwriter was infringing upon.
In Quarrel Castle, Peewit ran into the ghost named Uncle Fenwick, who at one time had relatives paying him a visit to celebrate his Ghost Day.
During the time-travel episodes of Season 9, the Smurfs encountered Laird Milton McKilty, a Scottish ghost who was watching over two ponies being sought after by the greedy horse jockey Frugal McDougal. McKilty had the ability to make parts of himself appear and disappear at will, although sometimes this will happen uncontrollably when he is deeply concerned about something such as one of his ponies being stolen.
In the comic books, a few Smurfs met a little ghost who hid himself inside a box in The Old Tower because he was too ashamed of his inability to frighten people. When Gargamel paid a visit to the tower to look for Smurfs, the little ghost tried to scare Gargamel away, but unknown to the little ghost it was really Puppy who chased off Gargamel.
In the Johan And Peewit stories, the two main characters encounter the ghost of Aldebert Baufort, who was sentenced to haunting the grounds of his castle after Sarah the witch had cursed its seven springs of water to dry up, forcing its residents to move elsewhere. Johan and Peewit with the help of the Smurfs broke the curse by restoring the seven springs with a magic dowsing rod, then found the rightful heir to the Baufort estate to claim the castle before a certain time while fighting off other claimants. With Aldebert's descendant John Baufort producing the family seal that proved his right of ownership before the time expired, Aldebert was able to join his ancestors in the afterlife.
In the animated feature The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow, three of the Smurfs encountered the legendary Headless Horseman in the region of Smurfy Hollow, who chased them as well as Gargamel and Azrael back to the covered bridge that it could not pass over. However, when Gargamel taunted the horseman while he was safe inside the bridge, the horseman threw a flaming pumpkin into the bridge, which caused the evil wizard and his cat to fall into the river and be carried off toward a waterfall. Near the end of the story, it was revealed that the Headless Horseman really wasn't a ghost, but was simply a goat that was transformed by Papa Smurf's magic into the horseman and his mount.
LD Stories[]
Within The Smurfs: Light and Dark series, ghosts are the detached spirits of a deceased being who has not completed something during their lifetime or was abruptly killed (either by natural elements or another being). They are doomed to haunt a specific location until their unfinished task is settled -- sometimes needing assistance from living beings -- or their killer(s) are brought to justice.
Expanded AU[]
In the Season 10 episode, "The Haunted Hospital," the Smurfs come face-to-face with a ghost girl named Lucy who haunts an abandoned infirmary in an unexplored region of the forest.
Hero: The Guardian Smurf[]
The Headless Horseman makes an appearance in the HERO: The Guardian Smurf adaptation of The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow.
Smurf Me Up![]
Aristotle and Socrates are two of the ghosts that are encountered in the Smurf Me Up! story series.
Empath: The Luckiest Smurf stories[]
Although ghosts do exist in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series, Tapper, who is a Christian, generally doesn't believe in ghosts, and thus normally won't be able to see them as his fellow Smurfs do. As for how they exist, it is postulated that they are spectral entities that are somehow not allowed to enter either heaven or hell until they have accomplished whatever matters they have left undone in the mortal realm, even if it takes years.
In "Empath's Honeymoon," Empath and Smurfette both encounter Willow the Weeping Ghost as they take a hike on Utopia Island during their honeymoon to recover the pieces of the Mystic Star.