Pokémon video games provide exciting adventures with lots of fresh faces which typically follow a familiar routine. Within the lore of the game world, there are a ton of items, locations, moves, and individuals which all have unique identities that make up a purpose. While you have to seek and find most of this information, you come equipped with a device that tells you the identity of the Pokémon you encounter.
Within the pages of your Pokédex, there are a variety of entries that distinguish different Pokémon types from one another. Of all the types, ghost Pokémon tend to have the most uniquely disturbing entries to be found. Here are the ten ghost Pokémon with the most messed up stories.
10 Haunter
For this entry, we’ll visit Pokémon Ultra Moon. In this Pokédex entry, we find the following: “It’s dangerous to go outside alone on nights when you’re feeling sad. Haunter will catch you, and you won’t be able to go back home.” Makes you reconsider those lone adventures on the off chance you might encounter one of these menaces.
That’s horrifying. Haunter is literally going to catch you and keep you prisoner. Not bad enough? Pokémon Sword tells us “Its tongue is made of gas. If licked, its victim starts shaking constantly until death eventually comes.” Next time you use Lick on an enemy Pokémon in battle, just remember what you’re doing.
9 Duskull
Duskull isn’t the most terrifying of Pokémon at first glance. While it definitely fits the bill of a ghost, nothing about it screams horror as its Pokédex entry implies. That being said, Alpha Sapphire gives us a pretty great insight as to why Duskull might be someone’s worst nightmare.
“Duskull wanders lost among the deep darkness of midnight. There is an oft-told admonishment given to misbehaving children that this Pokémon will spirit away bad children who earn scoldings from their mothers.” We can imagine a few parents who might use this as a fear tactic, but we think we’ll stick to teaching morals and consequences.
8 Cofagrigus
From Pokémon Black, “It has been said that they swallow those who get too close and turn them into mummies. They like to eat gold nuggets.” Pokémon White and both of the sequels elaborate that this is the lesson they teach grave robbers, but that first entry makes us wonder.
Essentially, this Pokémon will turn you into a corpse. Whether that’s immediate or over a long period of time, we aren’t quite sure. In any case, we’ve found another Pokémon that we would prefer to keep our distance from. Given the value of a nugget, we’d also prefer if they kept their distance from our item bags as well.
7 Banette
Banette is a surprising entry on this list, as it seems to resemble a more toy-like figure than others which we have examined. As it turns out, Pokémon Emerald gives us a good explanation why by saying that “An abandoned plush doll became this Pokémon. They are said to live in garbage dumps and wander about in search of the children that threw them away.”
How many times have children discarded old toys? At some point, plush dolls are no longer able to be passed down. These are the ones which couldn’t be used any longer, and they seem to have a vendetta against children. We’re just hoping those children are now unrecognizable adults.
6 Drifloon
For Drifloon we’ll go ahead and take the Pokédex entry from Pokémon Sun for examination. According to this entry, “Stories go that it grabs the hands of small children and drags them away to the afterlife. It dislikes heavy children.”
We chose this entry because it brings back the past theme of Drifloon stealing children, while also incorporating the new idea that this Pokémon is prejudiced against heavy children. Think about that for a moment. Inside of a children’s game, we have a kidnapping Pokémon which doesn’t take away larger kids. That’s all the motivation we need to have a second helping in the buffet line.
5 Honedge
Every Pokédex entry for Honedge is a little worse than the last. In Pokémon X, we find that “Apparently this Pokémon is born when a departed spirit inhabits a sword. It attaches itself to people and drinks their life force.” Pokémon Y continues that “If anyone dares to grab its hilt, it wraps a blue cloth around that person’s arm and drains that person’s life energy completely.”
What we have here is the disembodied soul of someone who has decided to inhabit a sword with the possibility of killing someone who might grab it. To make matters worse, building a relationship with your Honedge will mean that you find your life force slowly being drained by what you think is a friend.
4 Gengar
Acquiring a Gengar in Pokémon Moon will reveal the following entry: “It apparently wishes for a traveling companion. Since it was once human itself, it tries to create one by taking the lives of other humans.”
Let’s first look at the fact that Gengar was once a human. Since you have captured it, you own the tormented soul of a dead human which you now use to battle other creatures. If that isn’t bad enough, your deceased human pet is actively seeking to murder other humans in order to have someone else share the same existence. The layers of darkness involved here are incredible.
3 Yamask
Yamask is a pretty odd-looking Pokémon with a little golden mask. The details of that mask are revealed to us in several entries, but we’ll go with Pokémon Black. “Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.”
Black 2 and White 2 each state that “These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves. Each retains memories of its former life.” Much like Gengar, we find a ghost Pokémon which was once human. What is most unnerving here is that they remember their past lives and weep at the thought of their current existence. Is this what we have to look forward to?
2 Phantump
Phantump seems happy and whimsical. These cute little guys don’t look like they could hurt a fly. Pokémon Sword and Shield paint a different picture though. First, from Pokemon Sword, “After a lost child perished in the forest, their spirit possessed a tree stump, causing the spirit’s rebirth as this Pokémon.”
So every Phantump is a dead orphan who died in the woods. That’s sad, but not terribly menacing. Pokémon Shield tells us how they like to spend their time now. “With a voice like a human child’s, it cries out to lure adults deep into the forest, getting them lost among the trees.” Wow. Children who perished now seek to trap adults. We’re at a loss.
1 Litwick
Litwick has to be one of the cutest ghost Pokémon. That little candle and innocent smile warm our hearts every time. But what makes that little light burn? According to Black 2 and White 2, “Its flame is usually out, but it starts shining when it absorbs life force from people or Pokémon.”
The fact that we haven’t seen a Litwick without its candle lit is a cause for concern. Further, Pokémon Sword tells us that “The flame on its head keeps its body slightly warm. This Pokémon takes lost children by the hand to guide them to the spirit world.” Why do so many ghosts want to steal our children?