It's no secret that there are a ton of great ghost-type designs out there. Ghost Pokémon, for the most part, are incredibly well-done, and almost every design is a creative take on spooky lore or themes. Even most of the evolutionary lines are hard to choose from, as each form is a design.
After tons of consideration and looking through designs over and over again, these ghost-types are some of the most creative in the series. They all also have extremely interesting lore behind their looks that only helps to make them some of the best designs in the franchise.
10 Haunter
Haunter is the gen one take on a classic ghost. Haunter plays a major role in both the anime and manga series. He was also one of the few Pokémon that needed to use the Gameboys unique link trade feature to evolve into his final form Gengar. While merchandise can be a bit harder to make due to his floating hands, he is still a beloved design.
For fans of the manga, he is also one of the most horrifying creatures in the series.
9 Cofagrigus
Cofagrigus is the final form of the cursed ghost-type Yamask. This design is very obviously inspired by Ancient Egyptian architect, and the ghostly hands breaking out of its body just help to perfect the look. Even the Pokémon's Pokedex description helps set the mood as Cofagrigus is revealed to happily imprison humans inside of its body until they mummify.
Strangely enough, this creature also loves to eat gold, which must cost trainers a ton of money.
8 Chandelure
Chandelure has been featured in Pokken Tournament and is the final evolution of Litwick. The ghost-type is designed after out school mansion lighting and is meant to pay homage to the horror movie trope of candles lighting themselves. Chandelurs also possess the ability to set souls on fire, leaving them to eternally wander the human realm.
It's also stated that it can pull the soul out of a human body without leaving any physical evidence.
7 Pumpkaboo
Pumpkaboo is one of the cuter ghost-type designs and the perfect ghost-type to have follow you around near Halloween. Pumpkaboo is one of the sweeter looking designs out of this typing, but like most ghost Pokémon, it has a strange Pokedex entry. Pumpkaboos appear in areas where there is a high number of wander souls and will grow bigger in these areas.
They are a kinder ghost who prefers to help lost children make it to the afterlife instead of devouring them like some other ghosts.
6 Mimikyu
Mimikyu instantly became popular the second it's design was revealed for Sun and Moon. The ghost-type was modeled after Pikachu, the series mascot, and just wants to be loved as much as the electric-type. Mimikyu's design resembles that of a ragged doll, and it's real body always remains hidden other than the small bits of darkness that emerge when it attacks.
Mimikyu is so ashamed of its appearance that it will even kill friends who see it's real body.
5 Galarian Corsola
Sword and Sheild followed the path of the previous game and unveiled region-specific Pokémon forms. One of these included reworking Corsola's design to resemble that of dead coral. This design change is pretty smart and even makes a statement about the current state of many coral reefs around the world.
The Pokedex log for Galarian Corsola even states that it's an ancient type of Pokémon that was wiped out by climate change and now curses those who step on it.
4 Spiritomb
Spirittomb is a popular Pokémon for competitive play that debuted in gen 4. It resembles a crystal ball and is usually caught at a high level as this Pokémon doesn't evolve. The Pokedex reveals that each Spiritomb is at least 500 years old and was bound to the stone under its body for its deeds. This points to Spiritombs being an evil Pokémon.
It is made up of 108 spirits, but no one knows who or what caused them to come together.
3 Trevenant
A haunted forest is a common theme in many stories that feature ghostly themes. Trevenant is a haunted tree that wants nothing more than to protect the forest it lives in. It will even gladly kill humans who try and harm it's home. It is the second and final evolution of Phantump, who is said to be made up of a lost child's soul.
Interestingly enough, it is stated that this ghost-type can control the trees around it.
2 Polteageist
Polteageist is a design from Sword and Shield. Unlike other ghost-types, Polteageist seems to have a mission of possessing more teapots. In fact, it is revealed that it looks for pot with black tea inside to create more of it's kind. Possessing inanimate objects is pretty common in the series, but Polteageist is reminiscent of something out of other Nintendo games about ghosts.
The fact that the spirit even pops out of the teapots stem is also a wonderful design choice.
1 Palosand
Palosand is a very interesting design choice and does a great job of combining something scary with something innocent. It was also a perfect choice for an Alolan creature. Palosand tends to wander around random beaches and uses its powers to possess beachgoers in order to build it's body up, which is pretty disturbing.
It is also known to leave bones of humans pointing to the possibility that it eats beachgoers who aren't good at building sandcastles.