QUICKSAND BY THE NUMBERS » GHOSTS
18
Percentage of people who claim they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost. According to a Pew Research Center survey, even more people, 29 percent, say they have been in touch with someone who has already died.
505M
Amount, in dollars, the movie Ghost grossed worldwide in 1990. Made for a mere $22 million, the film was considered a sleeper hit and was the second highest grossing movie of that year behind Home Alone. That’s a whole lot of “dittos.”
175
Amount, in dollars, for which the original illustrator and creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost sold the rights to his creation to Paramount Pictures in the 1930s. The first Casper cartoon came out in 1945. Since then, Casper has appeared in comic books, television shows, television commercials and computer and video games. The latest cameo is on a Geico commercial in 2019. Talk about longevity.
6 | SAND& PINE MAGAZINE October/November 2021
2.25M
Amount, in dollars, the president of Disney Studios paid for the rights to the supernatural/ghost film The Sixth Sense. Since he didn’t consult with his bosses before paying the exorbitant amount, he was canned. The movie went on to be nominated for six Academy Awards (including Best Picture— almost unheard of for horror films) and became the highest grossing movie of 1999. It was ranked No. 50 on the Writers Guild of America’s list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.
545
The room number at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, where you have the best chance of encountering The Pink Lady, the ghost who has been roaming the inn since the 1920s. While her cause of death is unknown, her presence seems to be friendly and normally presents as a pink mist or a woman in a pink gown. Seemingly a fan of mischief, the Pink Lady could be responsible for lights and air conditioners turning on and off, and for the rearrangement of objects in guest rooms.
6
The number of months to develop the Slimer character for the film Ghostbusters. After hundreds of Slimer variations, special effects artist Steve Johnson was told to model the ghost after beloved comedian John Belushi. So he did what any artist would do, pulled out some headshots, did some cocaine, had a hallucinogenic delusion of Belushi’s ghost giving him encouragement and finished the final design we would all come to know and love.
