Indeed, Kirk's and Picard's Enterprise met those who weren't really alive - or dead - at least the way we understand those terms in our own limited, human way. Perhaps the most important part to ghost hunting is to first ask, What is a ghost? From such a starting point, and with preconceptions put aside, these are a few of the more surprising, disturbing and plain ghostly Star Trek tales.
Day Of The Dove
When Captain Kirk tangles with war ready Klingons, he can't know a thing more villainous and destructive lies at the core of the conflict with the battle loving boys. After taking Klingons prisoners aboard Enterprise, they escape and engage in brutal hand to hand combat with the Starfleet crew. It seems a non-corporeal alien - one of pure energy - or a 'ghost' is quietly manipulating circumstances so it can feed off the negative energy and the wounded and dying. In the end, it's discovered good feelings - especially frivolity and laughter - are like poison to the phantom intruder. As Klingons and humans laugh off the ghostly thing, it flees in frustration. Numerous reports through history document ghosts as siphoning off energy or being troublesome, like the Poltergeist theory of misbehaving ghosts who suck energy from humans and act mischievously.
Wolf In The Fold
Was murderous Jack The Ripper a ghost? Could other serial killers, apparently unconnected to each other, be the bloody work of the same savage phantom? It's the mind boggling premise here, and it's one of Trek's spookiest tales. After Chief Engineer Scott, or Scotty to pretty much everyone, is accused of killing several women on an alien world, an investigation is launched into the murders. Even a kind of seance is used, but when Scotty apparently kills the medium performing it, things turn more bone chilling. Finally, it's determined that an entity - much like the one from 'Day Of The Dove' - is feeding off people's hate and fear. It's able to climb inside a person to posses their body, much like how Patrick Swayze's ghostly character invaded Whoopi Goldberg in the Oscar winning spook fest, Ghost, and then it compels them to kill others.
And The Children Shall Lead
Can an obese attorney at law be considered a ghost? Marvin Belli, the rather rotund, famous lawyer, tried his hand at acting, and this was one of his roles. When a group of colonists are found dead, apparently from mass suicide, and their children are found alive, Kirk's Enterprise takes in the tykes to ferry them home. Belli plays the Gorgan, a ghostlike spirit of evil intent and potent power. He enables the kids to sort of wish at people - by using a hypnotic like mind hijack - thereby gaining control of them or influencing them with their own thoughts. Like other 'ghost' creatures mentioned previously, the Gorgan acted like an energy sapping spirit or poltergeist.
The Survivors
If you had awesome powers approximating a god's omnipotent ability, would you seek revenge if a loved one was murdered? It's the mind bending idea behind this haunting Next Generation episode, and though the alien creature called a Douwd may not be an actual ghost, the spooky vibe, plus the alien's ghostly feel qualify it as being on the fringe of supernatural study. Captain Picard and crew meet Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge, who are apparently a human senior citizen couple still in a loving marriage. Before the story's close, it's revealed Rishon is actully a fantastically realistic illusion being projected by the incredible alien entity Kevin, a Douwd. A side plot where Counselor Troi's mind is distracted, by the torture of a song playing over and over again is another ghost like moment which haunts us far after the show's end.
Sub Rosa
Writer Jeri Taylor, a producer on TNG, and writer for this episode calls it a 'romance novel in space.' It certainly qualifies as such, but it's also the most direct parallel to a ghost story ever to appear in Star Trek. Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) gives the eulogy at her grandmother's funeral, only to later be obsessed with quitting Starfleet and taking up residence in her Nana's house. Captain Picard must approve his Chief Medical Officer's resignation, but he still worries for her, and for good reason. A mystery man known as Ronin, who romanced Crusher's Nana, has now set his sights on Dr. Crusher. Turns out Ronin is a creature composed of 'anaphasic energy' - yet another parasitic lifeform who feeds on humans; here, by possessing a person's body and using them as host. In the end, Crusher is forced to destroy the charismatic creature, but she realizes that its romantic embrace brought great happiness to much of her family - including herself.
The Next Phase
If you died, yet never left your home or the sound and sight of your loved ones, would you be a ghost? Another clever science fiction premise coincides with the notion of ghosts and supernatural, in this suspense filled romp. When a transporter accident renders Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes) and Chief Engineer LaForge (LeVar Burton) invisible and mute, courtesy of their physical matter being out of phase, the two conclude they must have died from a transporter malfunction. LaForge, however isn't entirely convinced, and sets about to prove that it must be yet another wild sci-fi happening. Despite the logical nature of their state, Ro keeps on acting as if she's in the hereafter - complete with baring her soul to her crew mates in a deathbed confessional manner.
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