Coraline: The History of the Ghost Children | Horror History

In the Neil Gaiman novella Coraline, the evil entity known as The Beldam, or Other Mother, was known for kidnapping children and feeding off of their souls -- something that she's done to innocent kids for centuries. At first glance, not much is known about the three victims featured in the story, but I've dissected the book to learn everything I can about these ghost children.

In this video I'll be analyzing these spectral inhabitants of the Other Mother's world: The Ghost Boy, The Tall Ghost Girl and The Goth Ghost Girl (also known as The Sweet Ghost Girl in the movie).

I'll be using the clues left behind in the book to tell you about what they might have been like in life, what era each of them is from and how their experiences ultimately helped them help Coraline in her final battle with the evil, button-sewing creature.

This will cover the entire known history of The Ghost Children from each of their births to the moment their ghosts moved on to the great beyond. Please note that this will only analyze the characters as written in the book. I will show clips from the 2009 movie as a visual aid, but for the purposes of Horror History, the book is canon!

#Coraline #TheGhostChildren

Chapters
0:00 | Intro
1:00 | Life of The Ghost Boy
3:51 | Life of The Goth Ghost Girl (Sweet Ghost Girl)
4:40 | Life of The Tall Ghost Girl
5:05 | The Afterlife
6:04 | Audible
7:29 | Coraline Meets The Ghost Children

About Horror History
Horror History is a series that analyses specific characters, monsters, places or events in the fictional worlds of your favorite horror franchises.

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This video is sponsored by Audible.

[freebird]

"My grandma, she owns the Pink Palace, won't rent to people with kids."
I love that Wylie's grandma took revenge against the Beldam by buying the house and refusing any kids to stay so that she could starve the Beldam to death of her food source. She probably thought that the Beldam was dead by now, hence why she left Coraline stay.

[mrx]

_"She spied on our lives, through the little dolls eyes"_
_"and saw that we weren't happy"_
_"so she lured us away, with treasures, and treats, and games to play"_
_"gave us all that we asked, but we still wanted more"_
_"so we let her sow, the buttons"_
_"she said that she loved us, but she locked us here, and ate up our lives"_

[monroerobbins]

I remember watching Coraline when I was a kid, and I was scared of being taken. My dad comforted me by saying we’d fight her together, and said, and I quote, “She can’t take two stubborn sons of bitches.” It made me laugh, and feel a lot better.

[shonkgobonk]

I love Coraline so much. I was terrified of it when I was younger, then came to love it

[ahsuimei]

I’m at a cross between wanting a live action Coraline to leaving it alone because the animated movie was already so fearful and perfect.

[Hessed]

Why is the Tall Girl’s face stricken with horror? The other children look very sad but she looks terrified.
That really freaks me out.

[bella-mccord]

the addition of wybie's great aunt made the whole vibe of Coraline much more upsetting to me (in a good way, if that makes sense...?). While it never scared me, it always made me sad to think about the children who lost their lives. And i think the idea of losing not only a sister but a twin really broke my heart when i was younger. It has always stuck with me more than it should lol but really love it.

[V.KirishimaCrimsonChaos]

The goth ghost girl wasn't eating the flowers. Honeysuckles have a sweet nectar inside, like honey but watery. Most kids pull the flute/straw like shaped flowers off the vine, break off the ends and suck the nectar out, hence the name Honeysuckles.

[BryceEdwardBrown]

Honestly, I still don't feel like we have enough Coraline videos on this channel

[stunstarstudio]

I find the history of these characters very interesting. I’ve never read the book and the only way of me knowing the story of Coraline is through the Stop motion animated movie. I have a character history suggestion of another character from Coraline. Could you possibly go over the history of the cat from Coraline? 🐱

[Adog]

I absolutely love coraline. It wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t stop motion

[robertdochter]

In the (authorized) graphic novel adaptation of Coraline the "goth ghost girl" is actually a Fae. This is presented by a pair of thin wings in her back. It also explains why she eats flowers, which some of the Fair Folk consume. I also believe there is a passage in the book where she describes her people living long before humans had ever existed.

[blackmetal_lover]

I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved how the ghost children don’t move smoothly. How you can see duplicates of them in each frame when they float around. I don’t know if that was intentional or because the movie is stop motion but I think it’s cool

[yuigirl]

Well that rat song was the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard 😂

[ghostlygremlin]

Tbh I was so scared of the tall ghost girl, she just scared me so much
(I'm not scared of her anymore but the way her face looks scares me a little)

[jhvpeful]

the ghost children will forever creep the hell out of me no matter how many times i’ve seen the movie but again it’s sad cause they couldn’t make it out like coraline..alive i mean

[ClockWithoutNumbers]

Could you imagine what would have happened if she never opened that door.

[littlewillowlinda]

I love that Neil gaiman gave it that extra thought and attention by doing research to place these characters at different times. It's like finding an Easter egg 🥲

[andrewturner]

not going to lie "song of the rats" is a bop

[simplysam]

*Me finally getting out of my Coraline phase*

Czs: *"I'm about to ruin this man's whole career"*