Spirits and Specters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Topper

"Topper" was a 1937 comedy movie in which the devil-may-care Kerbys (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) die in a sports car crash and find they have not gone to Heaven or Hell because they haven't done anything good or bad in their lives. They decide to loosen up their stuffy old friend Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) as their ticket into heaven.

Answer: Violenta

Ghost in this case means a character who appears onstage but does nothing. Violenta appears in Act III; she enters with the Widow, and may be her daughter but we don't find out. Ghost characters are considered to have been those included in the cast but the playwright, for whatever reason, purposely or inadvertently, didn't give them any dialogue.

Answer: Harry Potter

Featured in three of the "Harry Potter" books, Moaning Myrtle was a former Ravenclaw student who haunted one of the girls bathrooms. She was killed in 1943 by a basilisk under Tom Riddle's orders.

Answer: Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead had an album named "Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of the Grateful Dead" in 1974. Skeletons and skulls were always part of the band's image. The band grew out of a California jug band and supposedly picked the name from a dictionary.

Answer: Pac-Man

Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde, whose 'real' names were Shadow, Bashful, Speedy and Pokey, respectively, were part of the landmark video game "Pac-Man". Developed in Japan by Namco in 1980, the player's avatar toured a game board, eating dots and fruit and being chased by the ghosts. The arcade game has become a cultural touchstone for the '80s.

Answer: ouija board

Ouija boards, also known as spirit boards, have been in use since circa 1100 AD in China. They are touted as a means to communicate with spirits or the dead. Placing hands on the often heart-shaped planchette will sometimes cause it to move and spell out words.

It was used during the time of the Song Dynasty in China but was considered so spooky the Qing Dynasty outlawed it. Among the movies it has appeared in are "The Exorcist" (1973), "What Lies Beneath" (2000) and "A Haunted House" (2013).

Answer: X-Files

"The X-Files" starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigated unsolved FBI cases, many involving the paranormal. Among the ghost episodes in the series were "Ghost in the Machine", "Triangle" and "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas".

Answer: The Flying Dutchman

Wagner's opera was an adaptation of a scene in Heinrich Heine's novel "The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski". The Flying Dutchman was a ghost ship, doomed to never make port and sail the seas forever. The musical style Wagner used in the opera would influence many of his later works.

Answer: Norman Greenbaum

Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" was a major hit record in much of the world in 1970. It was a reference to Jesus Christ and the afterlife. Greenbaum was inspired to write it after seeing country singer Porter Wagoner perform a gospel song.

Answer: The Amityville Horror

"The Amityville Horror" was a 1979 movie about two newlyweds, George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder), who bought a home in Amityville, New York. A mass murder had been committed in the house the year before and paranormal events began to happen soon after they moved in. The house in the picture is the model for the house used in the film and advertising materials.