This column first appeared in April 2010.
Harvey based their comic books on the Casper animated series, but after twenty or so issues, realized how limited the format was. They began to expand Casper’s personality, his environment and the characters he interacted with by adding popular new characters like Nightmare, Wendy, Spooky and the Ghostly Trio.
As Casper’s popularity began to expand, so did his exposure. By the mid-70’s, Casper was a “spooksperson” for UNICEF, General Electric, Collegeville costumes, the Apollo 16 flight to the moon, Major League Baseball’s National League, the American Dental Association, the Boy Scouts of America, Ralston-Purina’s Sugar Chex cereal and more recently, Target Stores, Pizza Hut and KFC.
In 1979, Casper returned to TV in an ill-conceived animated show called, “Casper and the Angels” in which the little fellow was paired with a hairy ghost called “Harry Scary” and two policewomen, in a cartoon rip-off of “Charlie’s Angels.” The Hanna-Barbera series lasted only one year.
Casper remained popular in reruns and merchandising, and Hanna-Barbera produced two holiday specials, Casper’s First Christmas starring Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy and a Casper Halloween Special.
Casper comic books disappeared from newsstands for fifteen years when Harvey Comics stopped the presses in 1994. In 1995 a feature film, “Casper,” starring Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman revived the franchise. The film led to a new series of television cartoons on Fox and the Fox Family Channel and the eventual re-release of the old Paramount animated short cartoons on video. Recently, Casper reappeared in a Marvel comic book and magazine and two direct-to-video movie sequels.
I was happy to discover that I was not alone in pondering the question of Casper’s earthly demise and ascension to otherworldly status. I found that there is a controversy among fans of the series about whether or not he is a dead child. In the early cartoon “There’s Good Boos Tonight,” Casper was portrayed as “living” beside a gravestone with a fox named “Ferdie”. The tone of the cartoon turns dark when a hunter and his dogs kill the little fox, but Ferdie later happily returns as a ghost. Casper’s death and the reason why he became friendly were never addressed further.
The macabre “Casper death” premise was explained by the idea that ghosts were merely a type of creature, similar to ghouls, goblins, etc. Soon, Casper was portrayed in human form with feet and arms just like a “real” boy. In time it was revealed that Casper had ghostly parents and evidently went on a diet as he became slimmer over the ensuing years. In the 1960s and 1970s, whenever Harvey Comics was asked how Casper died, they replied that he was a ghost simply because his parents were already ghosts when they were married.
In the 1995 feature film “Casper,” the main character was a deceased 12-year-old boy named “Casper McFadden” living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden. According to the film, Casper died from pneumonia after playing out in the cold past nightfall. Whipstaff Manor is based on historic Von Schroeppel Mansion in Syracuse, New York, a national monument. The real Von Schroeppel family lost a 12-year-old son named Casper to drowning in Morristown, New York. The boy is said to haunt the family’s estate in Syracuse.
After 65 years, Casper hasn’t “given up the ghost.”
Recently, the UAE Republic of Dubai’s “Festival City” announced the launch of a Casper Theme Park scheduled to open in 2010. The theme park will be the first of its kind in the region and will feature the Middle East’s biggest monorail. A wide variety of the latest games and rides from across the globe will be offered, including a larger-than-life roller coaster. The entertainment center will also have a cafeteria and gift shop featuring a huge collection of Casper themed souvenirs, food and toys. UAE officials are obviously hoping to add Dubai to the list of places kids beg their parents to take them too. It will be interesting to see how the UAE handles it when ghostly scares inside Casper’s park cause visitors to grab hold of a friend’s hand — such public displays of affection are strictly forbidden in the UAE and could get the hand-holding offender in deep trouble with the authorities, perhaps even jail time or a public lashing. What would “Casper, the friendly ghost” think about that?
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.