Sure, lots of things are allegedly haunted, but according to the internet, Olympian Quinn Hughes takes it to another level. The Team USA hockey player made headlines this week for his winning overtime goal against Team Sweden. But even before he launched his team closer to gold, Hughes had already captured the collective social media psyche — as a meme. After the cameras caught him locking in for every game by seemingly staring into the abyss, the internet did its thing and decided that Hughes’s expression means that he can, yes, both see and hear ghosts — specifically, Victorian children. (No, seriously.)
Whether there are actually apparitions running amok on the ice (that’s for Hughes to know and you to find out), the spirits in these series and movies on Netflix have materialized and are ready to be watched. You’ll just have to forgive them for living in an attic, a haunted hotel, or a stately manor instead of a skating rink.
If you haven’t met Abaddon (voiced by Jimmi Simpson), you’re either missing out or extraordinarily lucky. It depends on the day. He’s one of the spooky residents wandering around the eponymous hotel in creator Matt Roller’s adult animated sitcom. The series follows a single mother, Katherine Freeling (Eliza Coupe), who runs the Undervale hotel while trying to keep her two children, Ben (Skyler Gisondo) and Esther (Natalie Palamides), safe — or at least sane. The spirits aren’t all bad, though! Katherine’s upbeat brother, Nathan (Will Forte), is one of them. And then there’s Abaddon, who’s technically not a ghost but an immortal demon possessing the body of a child from the 1800s. He’s just as likely to help the Freelings with their supernatural problems as he is to create them. But he’s family, and this family is willing to battle monsters, doomsday cults, and the occasional witch to keep their hotel running.
A ghost can also be an unexpected friend. Just ask the Presley family, who are looking for a fresh start. They get more than they bargained for when they move into a creaky old house and meet Ernest (David Harbour), the phantom living in the attic. While teenager Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) sees an opportunity to make a new pal, his dad, Frank (Anthony Mackie), sees dollar signs: Frank publishes a video of Ernest online, and it goes viral, catching the attention of the media, an overzealous psychic medium (Jennifer Coolidge), and a former CIA scientist (Tig Notaro) who’s hungry for concrete supernatural proof. This horror comedy, written and directed by Christopher Landon (Freaky), is based on Geoff Manaugh’s short story “Ernest.”
If you need someone to solve a spectral mystery, look no further than Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) and Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew). When they died in the early 1900s, these teen sleuths decided to forgo the afterlife and instead stay behind on Earth to investigate supernatural crimes. With the help of their (living) friends — clairvoyant Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and bubbly Niko (Yuyu Kitamura) — the titular detectives solve the world’s strangest, spookiest cases. Based on the comics of the same name, this eight-episode series also stars Briana Cuoco (Harley Quinn), Jenn Lyon (Stumble), Ruth Connell (Supernatural), Michael Beach (DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story), and Lukas Gage (You).
So, your best friend is a ghost. Now what? When unpopular high school seniors and BFFs Erika (Lana Condor) and Gia (Zoe Colletti) attend their first (and last) wild party of the year, they wake up the next morning to discover Erika is now a ghost. Together, they work to check off everything on Erika’s to-do list — aka her “unfinished business” — before her time on Earth runs out. Mason Versaw (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Aparna Brielle (FUBAR), Tenzing Norgay Trainor (On My Block: Freeridge), and Jason Genao (On My Block) also star in this supernatural comedy series.
Creator Mike Flanagan’s Gothic supernatural tale is part horror, part romance, and chock-full of ghosts. Inspired by Henry James’s 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw, this miniseries follows Dani (Victoria Pedretti), a young woman hired by the wealthy Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) as an au pair for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). After arriving at their hauntingly beautiful country estate, Bly Manor, Dani begins to experience strange events and see unexplainable apparitions as she learns about the house’s history. Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Lost Daughter), Amelia Eve (Leopard Skin), T’Nia Miller (The Fall of the House of Usher), Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass), and Tahirah Sharif (A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding) also star.
If you’re looking for a not-so-spooky haunting, check out director Emily Ting’s (Tall Girl 2) romantic fantasy about a 17-year-old boy, Cole Sanchez (Michael Cimino), who moves into a haunted house with his mom (Andrea Navedo) after his father’s untimely death. While exploring his new room, he discovers a pearl ring that, when worn, allows him to see Beatrix Jenkins (Peyton List), a teenage girl who died in the 1920s. As the two grow closer — especially through their shared love of music — they unearth an unexpected mystery surrounding Beatrix’s death.
