Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsThe ghosts of Azeroth
by Allison Robert 
Mar 28th 2010 at 12:00PM
Caer Darrow
The inhabitants of Caer Darrow are my favorite ghosts, not least because you can't see them at all until you've done a bit of work on their behalf. The island seems utterly deserted barring the Sarkhoff couple...until you realize that it's not, and that there's an entire town full of people trapped on its "happiest day," going about its business, oblivious to how the world's moved on. That there's a ghostly vendor you can't otherwise talk to without a Spectral Essence is even better.
Karazhan and the surrounding zone
I'll admit; my first trip through Deadwind Pass as a level 40ish druid scared me. The first thing that greets you on your entrance to the zone from Duskwood is a corpse swinging from a tree and an Inferno-esque sign warning you to turn back. When you hit the level cap in Burning Crusade, more horrors greeted you in the southern end of the zone, between a 10-man raid full of local nobles trapped in some demon-fueled time surrounding the First War, to a cellar and village full of equally hostile ghosts. And then, of course, there was Karazhan's crypt and the superbly-creepy room of upside-down sinners. Is that still accessible?
Darrowshire
Pamela Redpath and the Battle of Darrowshire questline. 'Nuff said.
I know Cataclysm's going to change a lot of these zones, but I sincerely hope that their ghosts manage to stick around -- or that a few more spectral goodies are unearthed in the upheaval.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
graham.hepplestone Mar 28th 2010 12:44PM
I loved the video!
The quest to this day one of my favourites.
Ametrine Mar 28th 2010 2:27PM
brings tears to my eyes every time.
L Mar 28th 2010 5:17PM
great video
Giving Pamela her doll back is a quest I do on all my toons. I've leveled 7 and all of them went to EPL and got Pamela's doll for her.
icbleu Mar 28th 2010 5:35PM
My favorite too! The story of the Redpaths and Darrowshire are one of the best ghost stories in the game. I wonder how Cataclysm is going to affect that town.
RogueJedi86 Mar 28th 2010 12:52PM
That room of the Upside-Down Sinners creeps the hell out of me and I've only seen it in pics. Here's a pic of it from wowhead:
http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=41#screenshots:id=93066
It's a room filled with water and corpses hanging upside down(floating upwards) from ropes. Nothing freakier than that. *shudder*
veil Mar 29th 2010 11:08AM
i came across the room of upside down sinners during one of my 'exploration' forays in vanilla before it was implemented. there were a number of areas that looked like they were meant as sanctums for bosses...so it was a let down that they didn't incorporate that area better in burning crusade.
Tokhand Mar 28th 2010 12:56PM
I'm not sure what it is, but ghostliness/spookiness-wise, but Ariden's Camp in Deadwind Pass has always creeped me out because it's, well, just there. A small campsite in a terrible haunted place, where the Black Riders maybe live in maybe (of whom we know almost nothing about, save they are evil, hunting the Scythe of Elune, and maybe Attumen is one of them), just north of a crazy powerful magic tower, and that there is no NPC in all of the game or in any WoW lore with the name 'Ariden'. No body, no chest to loot, it just has a still-burning campfire, a wagon, and a tent, it all totally freaked me out.
Undra Mar 28th 2010 1:28PM
Franclorn Forgewright
To meet him, you had to come to an unpleasant end inside Blackrock Mountain and take a civilized way down past his tomb. He send you on a quest to acquire the key to the city. In the old days, odds were good you were gonna die at some point. But now you have to consciously and voluntarily take a volcanic cliff dive because the odds are against you falling in battle.
artifex Mar 29th 2010 1:58AM
there's always getting ganked by the opposite faction while on your way in.
Vaeku Mar 28th 2010 2:03PM
There's the ghosts in Raven Hill. You can't see them but if you use an AoE attack (like Consecrate) you'll aggro them. I think they're like level 50.
Evlyxx Mar 28th 2010 8:24PM
I remember being shown these by a warlock with the detect invisibilty buff back in WoW vanilla.
Jawn Mar 28th 2010 2:06PM
Minshina in Sen'jin Village. He doesn't hang around long, just enough to thank you for getting him out of Zalazane's grip. Whenever i do that quest, i always bow to Minshina before his disappears.
Eithlinn Mar 28th 2010 2:24PM
There's all the ghosts you meet while upgrading Dungeon Set 1 to Dungeon Set 2 (or T0->T.5, depending on your server). You can only see them when you use the Extra-Dimensional Ghost Revealer (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22115).
artifex Mar 28th 2010 2:55PM
If you want to see the Kara Crypt, you'd better do it soon, as I suspect it and some of the other wallhacking destinations will be wiped out when Cata comes and everything gets reconfigured. There's a related destination right there, too: the smiley face under Kara. (My gnome is too fat to fit down the hole, but now my human's leveled enough to try)
Possum Mar 28th 2010 3:24PM
There is the ghost in Western Plaguelands, I forget her name but she is the sister of the Undercity cockroach vendor Jeremiah Payson and she doesn't realise she's dead and can't move on. You do a little quest where the Cockroach vendor gives you half of a good luck charm (the other half you loot off her dead husband's zombie) and you show it to her, making her realise she's dead and allowing her to move on.
I enjoyed it for the background it gives Jeremiah, an npc I had always taken for granted.
Also hilarious for his line "Every time someone steps on a cockroach, I cry. Please don't make me cry."
RetPallyJil Mar 28th 2010 3:28PM
If there's a way back to anti-Karazhan, I can't find it >_> And I know all the technically-legal tricks!
RetPallyJil Mar 28th 2010 3:34PM
P. S. Did you know that the smiley face beneath the main tower is almost certainly a reference to the single most fatality-filled Dungeons & Dragons adventure - Tomb of Horrors?
http://theomnipotenteye.blogspot.com/2009/11/tomb-of-horrors-smiley-dungeon.html
RetPallyJil Mar 28th 2010 3:36PM
Delete that previous link: Here's the original art:
http://i.somethingawful.com/u/elpintogrande/april09/tomb.gif
Balynevil Mar 28th 2010 3:54PM
Surprized no one has mentione the Fallen Hero of the Horde on here. Lots of lore goodness behind him. Also, there is that guy you talk to while doing the linken quest line in Tanaris. You have to take a poison (quest Item) that temporarilly "kills" you to see him (early phasing attemps??).
Anyways, anyone know of other Ghosts that can only be seen in ghost form besides this one and the on in Blackrock Mountain?
Katalliaan Mar 28th 2010 4:07PM
Nah, that poison actually does kill you, but it's like any player-caused death - no durability loss.