Ghosts of Halo

For other uses, see Ghost (Disambiguation). The Ghosts of Halo are unidentified and/or players that tend to spawn out of nowhere during Multiplayer games, exclusively sighted in Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: Reach.

Such ghosts tend to behave bizarrely and possess odd features. Among other things, they lack gamertags, do not show up on the scoreboard, and move erratically. They can be hostile if provoked, though some have been known to attack actual players for no reason. On some occasions, they are also invulnerable.

Cause
Ghosts of Halo are caused by stress on the game engine due to lots of activity going as well as network lag. Under the right conditions, it can cause a single player or multiple players to manifest as ghosts. To the ghost player, they are not aware of what's going on, but to other people it will seem very bizarre. It seems in Halo: Reach you need to overload the map in order to artifically simulate the right conditions for a ghost to manifest. The same rule or some similar condition probably applies to the other Halo games.

The more players in the game, the more different the results will be of how the ghost manifests itself.

History
In July 2006, a video was posted on Youtube by a user named "AfRoSaUcE", who claimed that the video was over a year old and was made by Jump Tactic's Anti Noob. The video, taken during an Xbox Live multiplayer match in Halo 2's map Lockout, depicts a white Spartan player jumping around and behaving erratically, and scoring kills that were credited to The Guardians; for the sake of brevity, a full description can be found below.

The video quickly became popular, and speculations were raised that it was some form of mod. AfRoSaUcE denied the allegation, insisting that the phenomenon resulted from some kind of a network problem.

Since the video's first appearance, several new videos have surfaced, each depicting characters without gamertags or running animations, and each exhibiting several Ghost-like traits. However, a number of mods have also surfaced, each providing most, if not all, of these exact traits.

A later video shows a Ghost in Halo 3's map Blackout. The video is described below.

Recently a player called "Shadow" has claimed that it is not impossible for this to occur on an Xbox without any sort of System Link or Xbox Live. His "ghostly" encounter is as follows:

Other "ghosts" have appeared on other maps. A clan called HollywoodHalo once filmed the "Ghost of Turf", which possessed similar characteristics to the one seen in Lockout. The most interesting thing about this occurrence is that two ghosts appeared when two people lagged out of the game. It was this that revealed that these two ghosts were caused by extreme lag, or a mod.

"Supernatural" Abilities
Ghosts of Halo seem to have some "supernatural" traits that the normal players don't have. Some of these are:
 * They do not show up on the scoreboard.
 * Their kills are often credited to The Guardians.
 * They can perform tricks and super jumps with ease.
 * They can teleport to any location on the map at any time.
 * They can mimic the movements of other players.
 * They can take the shape of anyone they meet.
 * They seem to have working AI.
 * They can be docile or aggressive.
 * They never miss when shooting.
 * In some cases, they are invulnerable. Some videos, however, show them being killed.
 * In Halo 3, medals are not awarded when Ghosts are killed. For example, meleeing a Ghost to death will not earn players the Beat Down Medal. This trait is shared with bots on modded maps.
 * They have unlimited ammo and can switch weapons with extreme speed. However, they still have to reload.
 * They may spawn with any weapons, regardless of the weapon sets on map.
 * They can appear during Forge on Local Play, but have also been sighted on Xbox Live.
 * They have no walking animation, turning, or falling animations, and appear to slide along the ground.
 * They do, however, have a jumping animation.
 * They can play as a Spartan, an Elite, or a Monitor (which is a player in Edit Mode on Forge). Spartan "ghosts" are the most common.
 * They can have their own color, even during team games.
 * They are known to be transparent sometimes.
 * They can appear as allies or enemies on the Motion Tracker. They sometimes also appear as vehicles on the Tracker or they don't appear on the map at all.
 * They can spawn Forge Objects and equipment out of thin air.
 * They always stay facing in the direction they were when they spawned. When they fire or melee at players, they "snap" to aim at the victim, rather than turning smoothly like normal players; they sometimes "snap" when throwing grenades.
 * They tend to only face the cardinal directions.
 * They have omnidirectional vision, and do not need to look up or down.
 * They can throw unlimited grenades at any angle -- including backwards, allowing them to stick a player standing behind them.
 * On some locations, they can jump up very high.
 * Sometimes they can make very loud, piercing sounds.
 * The ghost can easily dodge most grenade sticks; often, sticky grenades may bounce off of them.

Theories

 * Caused by extreme lag. This may be particularly true when players are joining the game. However, this is debatable, as often the other players move normally and fluidly, while the "Ghost" seems to jerk and glitch around.


 * Possible oversight in each of the maps coding, which would explain the different features of each ghost on each map.
 * Extreme lag allowing a player to join without anyone noticing.
 * When one player lags, all players experience it.
 * Messages and kills can sometimes not appear when lagging.
 * Extreme lag allowing a player to quit without anyone (including the host) noticing. Such a phenomenon can be compared to IRC Ghosts.
 * Caused by "standbys".
 * Caused by a network problem, coupled with a mod.
 * Created by Bungie to keep the game moving, perhaps a for a cut bot v. player pre-Firefight game type, or as a tie-in to their Alternate Reality Games (i.e. Cortana Letters, I Love Bees, Iris, etc.).
 * A game bot, created by Bungie for testing purposes and accidentally left in the game's code.
 * Such bots may be balance testing bots. Chris Carney, a Bungie employee, once mentioned that during High Ground's development, the developers considered adding AI-controlled turrets to the level.
 * Some modders have found AI codes in maps.
 * Two different online games running at the same time in the same map on the same server.
 * Deleted sections of game code which have correlated and caused a loop animation or related bug. This is a well-documented computer phenomenon, coincidentally called a "network" or "computer" ghost.
 * Some false ghost sightings can be caused by overloading the map.
 * It could be possible that Bungie employees could be spying on random people to see if they are hacking and/or just fooling around with us
 * A joke/hoax created by players to spook other players, which has been taken seriously. Similiar 'Ghost' stories occur in many video games, a similar occurrence was reported in the indie game Minecraft.

Ghost Sightings
These are the major, and seemingly only, sightings of Ghosts of Halo. Some, excluding the Ghosts of Lockout and of Blackout, are probably fake.

Ghost of Lockout
A video, made by "Anti Noob", uploaded by "AfRoSaUcE", and described earlier in this article, was uploaded to YouTube on July 28, 2006. The video shows two players (Anti Noob and "The Underdogg") playing a Custom Game on Halo 2's map Lockout over Xbox Live.

In the first part of the video, The Underdogg went to go eat, leaving his controller unattended. Anti Noob decided to "jump around" while he waited. As The Underdogg left, Anti Noob crouched and walked into a wall. As soon as he turned around, he saw that The Underdogg had been stuck with a Plasma Grenade. After the resulting explosion occurred, an unidentified white Spartan glided to the corpse and threw another grenade, seemingly without noticing Anti Noob.

The second, third, and fourth parts of the video all show the "ghost" sticking Anti Noob with grenades, with one part showing The Underdogg also being stuck again.

The final part of the video shows Anti Noob fleeing from the ghost. When Anti Noob was eventually cornered, he decided to hide behind a Fusion Core. The ghost glided past him. When Anti Noob shifted to the side to check whether the ghost was still there, he saw that the ghost was right behind the Core. Panicking, Anti Noob backed up behind the Core, accidentally knocking it over. The resulting lack of an explosion allowed the ghost to -- once again -- stick Anti Noob with a grenade.

In the video's description, AfRoSaUcE speculates that the "ghost" was a third player that had been affected by a network glitch. He states that such a network glitch would have prevented Anti Noob and The Underdogg from witnessing all of the hypothetical third player's actions; the third person would have seen himself walking, but the other two players saw him slide. The glitch also gave this hypothetical third player invincibility; some attribute the perfect grenade sticks to the glitch, but (assuming that the "network glitch" explanation is correct) the third player could have just been an expert with grenades.

Ghost of Turf
The Ghost of Turf was filmed by a clan known as "HollywoodHalo". This video is notable, as it shows two Ghosts, each firing at each other (and one of them dying). This contradicts other videos, which show invulnerable Ghosts.

Prior to the Ghosts' appearances, two players (white-armored Spartans) lost connection. The Ghosts seen in this video may have been the result of a network glitch -- two ordinary players, glitched off of the scoreboard and probably unaware of their "ghostly" appearances.

Unconfirmed Halo 2 Sightings
There have been numerous other sightings of ghosts in Halo 2, but none are confirmed or have enough evidence to back them up. Some may have happened, but may not have resulted from Ghosts of Halo.

One of these accounts -- which was probably a random glitch rather than a "ghost" -- occurred on Midship during a two-player Slayer match; one player died of unknown causes after firing a Shotgun at the other. Another "ghost story", probably the result of extreme lag, took place on Ivory Tower, in the back hall: after one player was killed at the end of the hall, an exact copy of this player appeared out of the wall and continued sliding into the opposite wall.

Ghost of Zanzibar
Not much is known of this one. It has never been seen, but occasionally drops fusion coils on your heads. It's kills for some reason don't show up as anything, you just die. It also has been known to "attempt" at killing you.

Halo 3 Ghosts
The now-disbanded clan "SRDP" claimed to have done extensive research on the Ghosts in Halo 3, and, despite multiple disproven sightings, have encountered actual Ghosts on Sandtrap, Guardian, and Valhalla. A modder on the SRDP's website claimed to have found coding for ghosts on all the mentioned maps as well as on Avalanche, where two ghosts were found, and on Blackout. Of the two Ghosts of Avalanche, one was an Elite wearing Ascetic armor, and the other was a Spartan wearing a Security Helmet.

Another clan, "TGK", does much research on these ghosts. Although they have never found a true ghost, they have found a "half ghost" on Sandtrap.

A rather older branch on Bungie.net called "FRLN" has supposedly been able to get close enough actually have recorded numerous sightings of rapidly changing Ghosts on Snowbound. Some of their primary researching teams are according to myth trying to actually manipulate the AI, for no known reasons as of late. The lack of information on the reason they are doing extensive research has reportedly led to many theories.

Ghost of Blackout
On April 25, 2008, another YouTube video was posted. This video depicted a ghost on Halo 3's multiplayer map Blackout. Though the ghost was not invulnerable, it did lack a walking animation, gamertag, and scoreboard entry. It acted almost human-like, toying with the players; this helps support the theory that the ghosts are in some way actual players. Also in mid-2010 in Custom Games a player called GiantCJultimate saw overcharged plasma pistol shots from the center of the map. When he went to investigate he was stuck by a grenade.

Ghost of Sandtrap
Another Ghost supposedly exists in Sandtrap. It is known to carry a Spartan Laser and an Energy Sword, and believed to be extremely deadly but destructible. Rumors state that this Ghost can kill players just by making eye contact with them. The SDRP did extensive research on this ghost.

Another ghost was recently discovered on Sandtrap. It takes the form of a pink Spartan carrying a Battle Rifle. Its appearance was short and it merely just stood still for a few seconds. This could be an in-game joke added by Bungie as a reference to the Red vs Blue character Donut, a Pink armored Spartan who has been brought to near death many times throughout the series.

Other Ghost Appearances
Numerous unproven stories of Ghosts in Halo 3 have been told. Valhalla and Sandtrap are supposedly major hot-spots for "ghost activity". On Valhalla, there is rumored to be a Spartan with an Energy Sword that haunts the downed Pelican; this Ghost is the most popular ghost next to the Ghost of Lockout, and it has been the target of many ghost hunts. On Sandtrap, it is said that an orange or yellow ghost haunts the map with a Spartan Laser. The Ghost of Sandtrap is the third most popular ghost.

Minor ghost appearances or "poltergeists" (objects appearing out of nowhere and acting on their own) have also been witnessed. These include things such as:


 * Many people have reported seeing Elites appear out of nowhere and then disappear. Shooting at them does little or no damage at all.
 * There has also been a sighting on Cold Storage, which was claimed to have been a ghost wearing Active Camo. No evidence exists to verify this sighting.
 * Some people also reported sightings on the Halo 3 map Guardian.This ghost has ODST armor and also has katana armor and its color is orange and red.
 * These minor accounts are most likely the results of random and irreproducible glitches, otherwise known as False Ghosts (see below); they could very well be hoaxes. The Ghosts of Lockout and Blackout and the Pink Ghost of Sandtrap may be the only true sightings of official ghosts.

Ghosts in Halo: Reach
Some ghosts have been spotted in Halo: Reach, but a video posted by Optic Niko shows a ghost interfering with 3 player's forging, however, this ghost is seen being killed. There has also been an unconfirmed report of a nameless white Spartan in security armor appearing after a player with an EVA helmet was killed in a team sniper game on Pinnacle. This ghost could not have been a hologram as it was wearing different armor as the player who was killed, and could not have been a different player because its armor was white in a game with only blue and red teams. This ghost, who was viewed by the person who had killed the other player, did not appear to move and disappeared soon after the second player was killed. A player named PossibleSnowman's unconfirmed report can be seen below. This sighting could be a result of the "random hologram" glitch, a phenomena which generates a hologram with a random armor model and color when a player is killed.

"I was playing Big Team Slayer on Paradise and the screen blacked out for about a minute." "I didn't have an armor ability, there was players teleporting around the map without teleporters and a Ghost driving around the map,unmanned." "When it was idle,I held RB to ride it,but it would not let me ride it." Then I died suddenly." "Later I went to confront the other teams Scorpion and it pointed its turret at me and I died." "It did not fire" "I grabbed a normal Ghost and drove to the enemy base and cruised around." "My shields were draining suddenly and my Ghost was being destroyed." "I didn't hear or see any shots being fired." "Then I saw one of my dead teammates with his gamertag and a blue arrow above him." "And the game clock was frozen" "It was a very wierd game indeed."

However, some players can experience these conditions if they are experiencing lag, if a player's connection is slow then there can be cases of the game clock freezing, these glitches can be caused by only part of the game's data getting to a player. For example, a player gets on the gunner's turret of a warthog with extreme lag, they would not see their driver enter and they would "warp" around the map as they are driven with no apparent driver. A player with lag who is seen and shot at may lose shields but not be recieving the data on the player firing. The game clock can freeze for lagging players and it will not move again until their connection improves, when the clock may have jumped ahead 5-10 minutes.

Ghost of "The Package"
Once a player was in the coordinate area (right before the glacier) and a white Spartan in an EVA helmet appeared out of nowhere on a staircase and stuck the player with a plasma grenade, then disappeared half a second later. "I only got a short glimpse of it, I saw a white EVA Spartan. He stuck me with a plasma grenade and disappeared 1/2 a second later," he said.

False Sightings
Many bizarre phenomena are attributed to Ghosts of Halo. Most such events, however, are simply the results of random glitches. In some cases, they may be deliberate hoaxes and/or mods -- in fact, nearly everything on this list can be imitated in Forge or with Active Camo.
 * Vehicles moving by themselves.
 * Random grenades, explosions, weapons fire, vehicle fire, equipment activation, and Wraith mortars.
 * Blue flashes, similar to Plasma Grenade explosions.
 * Spartan Lasers firing from out of the ground or from midair.
 * Random fires from Incendiary Grenades that seem to have been thrown from thin air.
 * Random props moving.
 * Ghosts with turning animations or walking animations.
 * Ghosts that show up on the scoreboard.
 * Players that occasionally slide for split seconds.
 * Items that seem to fall down(if you look at an object in Edit mode, items tend to jump and move).

Trivia

 * The random spawning or activating of equipment can be imitated in Forge.
 * The random firing of weapons, such as Spartan Lasers or Wraith mortars, can also be imitated in Forge.
 * The Ghost of Blackout has been featured as a key story piece in few machinima.
 * It is possible to have vehicle ghosts where a player appears somewhere but is really inside a nearby vehicle.
 * It is also possible to cause grenade explosions with Active Camouflage activated.
 * In Halo PC, when playing online, occasionally a player will spawn and not move; they will also be invincible, though they still flinch when fired at. However, they do not always keep their own color, and show up on the scoreboard.