Spectra Vondergeist

" I come from royalty of course, my father was next in line for the throne of a large and powerful kingdom but my jealous uncle plotted against him and we had to go into exile."

-Spectra, in her diary

Spectra Vondergeist, previously known as 'Ghost Girl', and 'Spectra von Hauntington' is the daughter of the Ghosts. She can float through the walls and possesses an “uncanny” ability to overhear school gossip. She is voiced by Erin Fitzgerald.

Personality
Spectra has a very forceful personality; she often makes snap judgments and leap to conclusions without supporting evidence, and when she's confronted with the facts she tends to dig in her heels. This makes for an excellent gossip columnist, but not a friend you would want to share secrets with. In her diary it's hinted that she's constructed a mysterious, fanciful history for herself, and even began to believe it herself, but that the truth about her family is actually quite tragic (though it's never revealed). This may be why she's still a ghost; she hasn't "moved on" from whatever happened to them in life. However, she is very shy and is kind to other monsters.

Portrayals
Her voice in the webisodes is provided by Erin Fitzgerald.

In the music video for the Monster High Fright Song, there are several different character analogues who received creative interpretation by the video crew. The "Ghost Girl" is portrayed by Catina Duscio.



Classic Monster
Spectra is the daughter of "the Ghosts", and her chain accessories suggest she may be related to Jacob Marley's ghost from the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol.

Jacob Marley was a business partner of Ebeneezer Scrooge, and together they delighted in cruelty, stinginess and greed. Marley died and Scrooge continued the business, but was too stingy to pay someone to paint out Marley's name on the sign outside of the office.

Eventually, Marley's ghost appears to Scrooge to warn him about his own fate in the afterlife: he is covered in chains "long, and wound about him like a tail; it was made... of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel."

While Jacob Marley is the most prominent fictional ghost where the chains are a distinct motif, chains have often been associated with ghosts in legends even before Dickens.

Relationships
Spectra writes in her diary that her long-lost love haunts "the family's ancestral castle" but it's strongly implied that all of this was something she'd made up.

Family
Her parents are ghosts, but nothing otherwise is known about them. In her diary it's hinted that the truth about her family is actually quite tragic, though it's never revealed -- the story Spectra writes about (castles, a midnight journey across borders) is something she made up, and even began to believe until Ghoulia reminded her about the truth.



Pet
Spectra's pet is a purple ghost ferret is named Rhuen. Rhuen's friends are Sir-Hoots-Alot (Ghoulia Yelps's owl) and Shiver (Abbey Bominable's pet wooly mammoth).

Spectra in the Monster High Books
Spectra first appears in "Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way" at Clawdeen's Sassy Sixteen, flirting with Billy. In this version, she is invisble like him, and can only be seen by a special scented spray she carries with her.

Spectra's Official Facebook Description
Seen Spectra floating through any walls lately? Keep your eye on this ghoul because she’s always appearing out of thin air! Spectra is the wicked cool 16-year-old daughter of The Ghosts who always has her see-through finger on the pulse of Monster High. She’ll deny it, but she’s been known to fill in the gaps of missing information with her own ghostly imaginings! Some student bodies even think she’s the ghoul behind the anonymous MH advice column “Oh My Oracle,” but that rumor is still unconfirmed. If you run across a sneaky little ghost ferret, don’t fret! It’s just Rhuen, Spectra’s scary-cute mischievous pet.

Meta Timeline

 * November 2, 2010: Mattel requested a trademark for the name "Spectra Vondergeist".
 * November 17, 2010: An Amazon listing appears for a Spectra von Hauntington plush doll
 * March 8, 2011: A picture of a prototype Spectra doll (named on the box as "Spectra von Hauntington") leaked onto Flickr
 * April 13, 2011: The box of a leaked Clawd and Draculaura 2-pack doll set showed small pics of Spectra and Abbey
 * May 13, 2011: Mattel released offcial pictures of both Spectra and Abbey with their pets on Facebook.
 * May 17, 2011: A Spectra doll had been bought at a Toyworld store in Australia.
 * June 8, 2011: Spectra's plush was found at a Wal-Mart.
 * June 9, 2011: Spectra's and Abbey's bio were added to monsterhigh.com.
 * June,16 2011: Spectra was found hiding in a sculpture,in the monster high episode, Miss Infearmation.
 * June 17, 2011: People have found Spectra in Toys R Us stores accross the United States.
 * June 23, 2011: Spectra is first heard speaking in the webisode Hyde and Shriek
 * September 22, 2011: Spectra first appears in person in the webisode Ghostly Gossip

Basic
Spectra has very pale white skin and long purple hair with matching violet purple lipstick and pale blue eyes. She wears a black dress with a chain belt. Her shoes are purple and have chains wrapped around them, with a metal ball for the heel. She prefers wearing silk and a hint of metal. She has a chain with a metal ball for earrings and part of a Victorian shackle for a bracelet.

Trivia

 * In early product listings, Spectra was known as "Ghost Girl" and "Spectra Von Hauntington".
 * Spectra's hand was first seen in Miss Infearmation.
 * She was first heard speaking in the webisode Hyde and Shriek
 * Spectra's surname "Vondergeist" comes from the German "von der geist", meaning "of the ghost/spirit"
 * Spectra's first name comes from the word spectre (or specter), which means ghost.
 * Spectra Vondergeist is the only Monster High character to have been given an analogue in the Fright Song music video prior to her release as a doll or debut as a character.
 * She runs the school's Ghostly Gossip.
 * Spectra is one of six Monster High ghouls that are undead. The other five are Nefera, Ghoulia, Cleo, Frankie, and Draculaura. She and Ghoulia are also the only two to have ages that are calculated in 'monster years.'
 * Spectra speaks as though she is catatonic.
 * In the webisodes, her personality is dramatically different. While in her diary she is outgoing and gossips for the fun of it, in the webisodes she is shy and withdrawn, posting stories because she idolizes the ghouls, though it is possible that she was lying in order to get out of trouble.
 * Spectra's style is similar to a Perky Goth as she has bright purple hair, a wispy petticoat, a corset, and pale white skin.
 * In the Webisodes, whenever Spectra is shown talking, a haunting tune is playing in the background.