Thursday 14 April 2016

L - The Librarian & Ray Lynskey - Fictional Phantoms #AtoZChallenge 2016


We're on the L already, where is the month going? :) Welcome to my blog for day 12 of the AtoZChallenge. I have two relatively un-scary ghosts for you today, although I do admit to the first one frightening the stuffing out of me when I was a lot younger.

The Librarian (Ghostbusters)

In the 1984 film Ghostbusters, New York is plagued by many, many fictional phantoms, from ghostly taxi drivers to a giant marshmallow man. My favourite of these is the Librarian.

She is a free-roaming, vaporous, full torso apparition who keeps things tidy in the New York City Public Library. Beware those who break the library's rules.

Normally she looks like a sweet old lady, but when annoyed she can turn into a nasty phantom to get her message across.


In the video game released in 1991, we find out her name is Dr Eleanor Twitty, and she is the head ghost in the library. She keeps all the other phantoms in order to maintain her library.

Eleanor was murdered by a rare book collector who wanted some of the books in her care. This is why she became a ghost.

I rather like the idea that Eleanor continues to look after her library in the hereafter.

Ray Lynskey (The Frighteners)

My second ghost today is anything by scary - the word that mostly comes to mind is pathetic.

Ray Lynskey (Peter Dobson) is the health nut husband of Dr Lucy Linskey (Trini Alvarado), a woman targeted by Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) in his scheme to convince people their houses are haunted and he can get rid of the nuisance ... for a price.

Bannister uses real ghosts which he can see since the car accident the ended his career as an architect and left his wife dead.

Ray is the victim of a murder, but it looks like a heart attack. In fact he is the victim of another ghost, a grim reaper figure that seems to be mixed up in murders all over town. Ray is as annoying dead as he was alive, but in the end shows his metal by standing up to the other ghost while trying to save Lucy, even though he is thoroughly out matched on the supernatural front.

Do you have any fictional phantoms that scared you as kids, but just seem funny now?

~*~
My Other Blogs
I am sharing blogging duties with my sister, Sophie, on two other blogs for the AtoZ as well :

And Sophie also has her own blog in the AtoZ too:

~*~
Other People's Blogs
Don't forget to check out the other participant in this years AtoZChallenge. Click on the image to visit the main site and see the full list.

19 comments:

  1. I'm not sure the Librarian kept the library that tidy with all the ectoplasm the Ghostbusters encountered.

    ~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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  2. The library ghost is really cool. All libraries should have one.

    Susan Says

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  3. Can't think of any from childhood that scared me then but not now, but I do think the librarian was really cool :)

    betty

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  4. I really enjoyed mosth of these films. You've chosen two quite unusual ghosts :-)

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter - Jazz Age Jazz

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  5. I think Eleanor is my favorite phantom so far! I'm kind of partial to librarians and I think anyone that looks after books once they've passed over has to be a pretty special person.

    Cheers - Ellen | http://thecynicalsailor.blogspot.com/2016/04/l-is-for-lazy-jacks-nancy-drew.html

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  6. I got a copy of Ghostbusters recently. I think my kids are about old enough for it now. I hope they like it as much as I did.

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  7. I love librarians! They are the most amazing people...and so generous with their time. So, you are a Ghostbusters fan. Perhaps you will guess my letter Z.

    I haven't heard of The Frighteners though I like the premise. What I couldn't tell from your description is whether the movie is annoying rather than fun. What do you think?
    @deb_atwood from
    Pen In Her Hand

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  8. That librarian cracked me up. (I LOVE the movie!) Did you ever see it?

    Piper Presley
    L is for Love: Blogging from A to Z Challenge

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  9. I LOVE both these ghosts. The librarian scared the poop out of me when I saw the movie in 1984 (I was 13, a scaredy-cat, and completely unprepared for it). The Frighteners is, IMO, a very under-rated film. Just watched it again recently and it holds up well!


    @mirymom1 from
    Balancing Act

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  10. Oh that librarian scared me silly. Nice, sweet, tidy and then not! That's the kind of haunt that instills fear in me.

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  11. I think when I'm dead and gone I would like to come back as the Librarian. I think we would be a good fit.

    #AtoZchallenge
    Meet My Imaginary Friends

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  12. I am the weirdo that laughed at the spew scene in The Exorcist movie. I read the book, in fact it was my first horror fiction, and THAT was terrifying.
    www.thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com

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  13. I have not seen The Frighteners, but I did enjoy the librarian from Ghostbusters. :)

    The Immarcescible Word

    Frox'n'Fox

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  14. Oh gosh, these are both classic! I was a kid when Ghostbusters came out and that librarian lady scared the crap out of me!

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  15. I was at school for a time in a house which was once a stately home and it was supposed to be haunted by a monk. It scared some but I never really believed it

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  16. i liked both movies. the librarian is cool. if ever i die, i want to haunt the library too. it would be fun to scare certain people.

    i thought that ray was (to put it politely) a jerkface. i was happy he corked off. of course, you may see a certain director in his movie as he did with his epic tolkien trilogy.

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  17. I never heard that backstory to the library lady before :). Cool.

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  18. Now that was the way to keep a library in order. But perhaps that decreased the borrowings...

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  19. Although I've seen both movies, I didn't remember much about these ghosts. Thanks for the refresher course.

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