One of the unique aspects of Ghosts is that many spirits have their own specific power. Some ghost powers are tied to their deaths, like Thorfinn’s ability to harness electricity is tied to his death from a lightning strike, or Isaac’s foul smell comes from his death from dysentery. Other ghost’s powers seem to derive from their occupations while alive, like Pete’s ability to travel or Alberta’s gift of song. Since Hetty finally got her power, Pete recently explained that he has a three-tiered system for ranking ghost powers.
In Pete’s system, Tier One is “godlike powers,” which includes himself and Trevor, with Sasappis being “Tier One-adjacent.” Tier Two powers are “neat but not really that useful,” which is how he categorizes Thor and Flower’s abilities. Finally, Tier Three powers are hardly ever useful, like Alberta’s and Isaac’s. However, Pete’s system overinflates his own power while failing to account for active versus passive gifts. Here is a more definitive ranking of all powers of the ghosts in CBS’ Ghosts.
Trevor Lefkowitz
Trevor Is Cable of Interacting With The Physical World
If anyone has a “godlike power,” to use Pete’s phrase, it has to be Trevor. He is the only ghost capable of interacting with the physical world. The ghosts are ecstatic that he can do simple tasks like changing the TV channel. While it takes great exertion on Trevor’s part to make a single keystroke or button push, he is capable of much more than just fun tricks.
Trevor is actually holding down a remote job in Ghosts season 4 even from beyond the grave, although Jay had to cover for him at a mandatory work retreat. Trevor’s death from a drug-and-alcohol-fueled heart attack does not seem to be connected to the nature of his manifested power. His ability is by far the most practical, placing Trevor’s ghost power in a tier of its own.
Chris
Chris Can Travel And Fly
Chris is one of the ghosts death is linked to his post whose mortal power. Chris died due to a parachute malfunction, and he quickly realized that the parachute works in the afterlife, allowing him not just to fly, but to travel beyond the Woodstone Manor property line. This means that as much as Pete brags about his power, Chris’ is far superior.
It’s unclear whether Chris will have to regularly return to Woodstone Manor or risk disappearing like Pete does when he is gone for too long, but last time we saw him he was off to his native Australia. Regardless, either of his separate powers would put him near the top, but having both flight and the ability to leave the property gives Chris the coolest power in Ghosts, even if Trevor’s is more practical.
Pete Martino
Pete Is Able To Leave Woodstone Manor
One of the major drawbacks of being a ghost is the tedium of being geographically confined to one place for eternity, but Pete’s power allows him to leave the Woodstone Manor property. As a travel agent in life, Pete never had the opportunity to travel himself, so he believes his ghost power is an afterlife fulfillment of his living dream.
Pete discovered his power by accident in Ghosts season 3, although he must return to Woodstone Manor after a certain amount of time or risk disappearing. Pete has been bragged about his power all season, and it certainly has been useful. Pete has been able to travel to Thor’s hometown in Norway and discover the truth of why Thor was left behind. However, his ability seems less impressive now that Chris has the same power, plus the ability to fly.
Sasappis
Sass Can Communicate With Living People Through Their Dreams
Sasappis has the power to enter living people’s dreams. We don’t yet know the circumstances of his death, but since he considers himself a storyteller, his ability to influence dreams feels like a natural extension of that. This ability makes Sass the only ghost who can communicate directly with Jay. Sam tried to use to her own advantage in Ghosts season 3, episode 2, by having Sass incept Jay’s mind. Sass’s relationship with Jay through these dreams is an underrated friendship in Ghosts.
The drawback of Sass’s ability is that if there are no living people around, he is essentially powerless. Through Sam, he has been able to influence what Jay dreams about, but to some extent, he is still at the mercy of the other person’s subconscious. The ability to enter someone’s mind is undeniably cool, though it doesn’t quite compare to the freedom of physical travel.
Henrietta “Hetty” Woodstone
Hetty Is Powerful But Temporally Limited
Hetty’s ghost power was just revealed in Ghosts season 4, episode 16, and it’s a major one: the ability to be seen by all living people on St. Patrick’s Day. Hetty learned, to her horror, that she had Irish ancestry earlier in season 4, so perhaps this newfound knowledge unlocked her power after more than a century. While Hetty can be seen and heard, she still cannot physically interact with the material world.
This would qualify as a “godlike” power if Hetty could use it all the time, but it appears to be limited to the 24 hours of St. Patrick’s Day. This ability is both practical and fun, but because it only works one day a year, it’s objectively wrong to rank it higher.
Alberta Hayes
Alberta’s Humming Is Weak But Harnessed
Alberta was a fabulous jazz singer in her lifetime, and fittingly her power in death is that the living can hear her ghostly humming when she chooses. Pete classifies this power as Tier Three, but I think he underestimates how practical this gift can be. In Ghosts season 4, episode 15, Alberta hums a romantic ballad to comfort her great-grandniece and assures her of her fiancé’s faithfulness after Sam’s meddling tendencies cause a problem.
Because Alberta can use her power at will, she is more powerful than ghosts whose abilities are only triggered when a living person interacts with them. While it is not as direct a line of communication as Sass’s gift, it is more readily available than Hetty’s, making it a solid mid-tier ability.
Thorfinn
Thor’s Electrical Trick Is Fun But Not Useful
Thorfinn was struck by lightning, which killed him but gave his ghost the power to make electrical lights flicker. Pete ranked Thor’s ability as Tier Two, and I agree that it falls right in the middle of the ghost powers. Thor can do his electrical party trick at will, but it does not seem especially useful or helpful. In fact, it’s unclear if he has full control over it, as his emotional outbursts sometimes trigger unexpected surges.
I still rank Thor’s power above the passive abilities of other ghosts, but it doesn’t feel as exciting or practical as some. It’s hard to think of an example where Thor’s electrical ability has been crucial to a storyline, which suggests it’s one of the lesser powers in Ghosts.
Isaac Higgintoot
Isaac Has The Most Powerful Passive Power
Isaac has a powerful but unfortunate ghost power. Isaac died of dysentery during the American Revolutionary War, so any time a living person walks through him, everyone in the room – dead or alive – gets a strong smell of sewage. This is a rare example of a ghost power even affecting other ghosts, making Isaac’s ability one of the most potent passive powers.
Pete classifies Isaac’s power as Tier Three, and I have to agree, this is a power that is rarely useful. In fact, so far it has only caused problems and embarrassment. When Isaac’s dinosaur-loving stripper Chris mentioned he also had no sense of smell, that is when I truly thought they were meant to be together, although that ship has sailed.
Basement Ghosts
The Basement Ghosts’ Effect Lasts For A Full Day
The Basement Ghosts have a shared group ability: having all died of cholera, they are able to give living people cholera, although only temporarily and, thankfully, not contagiously. They released this ability to Sam and Jay’s chagrin by infecting Jay’s staff with cholera the night his restaurant was supposed to open. The effects last a full day before dissipating, but it is a lesser power than Isaac’s because it only affects people who come into direct contact with them.
However, they are still more powerful than Flower, because the effects of her passive ability do not last a full 24 hours. Ghosts has not explained why the Basement Ghosts have a shared ability instead of individual powers, but part of the joke is that they are treated as a unit.
Flower
Flower’s Power Is The Weakest (But The Most Fun)
Flower’s power is not connected to her death from a bear attack, but to her lifestyle as a hippie in the 1960s. When a living person passes through Flower, they get high for about an hour. Flower herself also seems perpetually a little stoned, often forgetful and easily distracted.
This is perhaps the only ghost power that seems like a fun time for the unsuspecting living person, at least more fun than sewage smells or cholera, but this is also the weakest. It is passive because someone has to walk through Flower, and Flower has no control over it. The effects only last for an hour, which makes it less potent than the effects of the Basement Ghosts.
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