Line #49 Main/YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost


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6	->'''Random Guy:''' What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost!\
7	'''Random Guy #2:''' ''(points to Martha)'' I just did! Look!
8	-->-- ''Literature/HalfMagic''
9
10	A SubTrope of LiteralMetaphor. When characters enter screaming and running from a ghost (or any supernatural creature that would frighten your average {{Muggle\|s}}), it is customary for a {{Genre Blind\|ness}} character to say in complete jest, "What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." Alternatively, the line may be said mockingly by the 'ghost'--whether they're literally a ghost, some other kind of undead, or merely [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated wrongly believed to be dead]]--themselves.
11
12	[[TheParody Parodied]] and {{subverted\|Trope}} like crazy these days, but the mystery abounds as to why this isn't a DeadHorseTrope yet. A SubTrope of IWasJustJoking.
13
14	----
15	!!Examples:
16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	* Ryo uses this exact wording in the ''{{Manga/FAKE}}'' manga when Dee and Bikky race into his room after seeing a young girl's ghost in the mansion they're staying in. When Dee and Bikky insist that they ''did'', Ryo's hidden DeadpanSnarker tendencies come out and he says coolly, "There are no such thing as ghosts."
20	* With the main characters appearing as spirits and investigating paranormal events in ''Anime/GhostHound'', the characters and spirits around them often get this reaction.
21	* Line used by [[spoiler:the immortal]] Luck Gandor in ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' when speaking to a man involved in his "ventilation".
22	* One of Tetsuo's lackeys asks a different corrupt follower what's wrong and makes this remark when he first sees Tetsuo's horrifically mutated arm in the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' manga.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
26	* ''Animation/MotuPatlu'': In "Angry Clouds", when Motu crashes into a building while riding a bike and trying to escape from the Rain God, Chaiwala asks why he's so scared and wonders if he saw a ghost.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Fan Works]]
30	* This line accompanies TheReveal of the villain's identity in Chapter 12 of ''Roleplay/TheMadScientistWars''.
31	* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/22459297 Together]]'', Laurel takes NotAMorningPerson to new levels and ''forgets she was dead yesterday''. She is greatly confused when she answers her door and Felicity can only stare at her in shock and alarm:
32	-->"She gaped at her like she was seeing a ghost — ''oh''. Oops. “I’m not dead.”
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* In ''ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentAvengers'', Vision begins seeing flashbacks to past events due to issues with his memory processing. At one point he is speaking to Scarlet Witch and begins seeing five of her, from different points in the timeline. The real Scarlet Witch says this to Vision, and two of the "ghosts" echo it.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
40	* Loveless says this in ''Film/WildWildWest'' after he gets out of the Abe Lincoln Cake.
41	* Used by Lady Van Tassel in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/SleepyHollow1999''. [[spoiler:Shortly after said character had faked her own death.]]
42	* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Doc says this to Marty after Marty finds Doc's grave. "You're not far off, Doc."
43	* ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' has Kirk say this to Spock when he sees his long-lost half-brother.
44	--> '''Spock:''' [[OneLinerNameOneLiner Perhaps I have, Captain. Perhaps I have.]]
45	* ''Film/{{Tombstone}}:'' "Why, Johnny Ringo, you looked like somebody just walked over your grave."
46	* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze'' has Raph saying "I thought I just saw a ghost!" as he's infiltrating the Foot Clan's new headquarters with Keno, and with good reason--he's just caught a glimpse of the Shredder, who he thought was dead following the last movie.
47	* Averted in ''Film/{{Outpost}}''. "You look like [[IBangedYourMom I've just fucked your sister]]."
48	* In ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'', [[spoiler:Billy]] says this to Sidney when he reveals himself as the killer. [[spoiler:Or rather, one of them]].
49	* ''Film/Goosebumps2015'' has a more [[spoiler:literal]] version of the trope. Hannah says the line after finding Stine and Zach. [[spoiler:Thing is, they just finished discussing how [[DeadAllAlong Hannah being a ghost]] affected Stine's life.]]
50	* ''Film/DarbyAndTheDead'': Capri says to Darby, "You look like you've just seen a ghost." This is juxtaposed with a glass shattering, Darby reacting in fright, and Capri— established to be a ghost— raising an eyebrow.
51	* In ''Film/WhatLiesBeneath'', Mrs. Templeton says this to Claire when discussing an incident at the [=DuPont=] party the year before. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that Claire had this reaction because despite the car accident she was in some time before rendering her unable to remember, she saw Madison, the student her husband Norman had an affair with, staring at her at the party and subconsciously recognized her.]]
52	-->'''Mrs. Templeton:''' You went completely pale. You couldn't catch your breath. It was as if you had seen a ghost.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* ''Literature/GhostTwins'': Spoofed in book 4, ''The Missing Moose Mystery'', when one of the titular twins returns from an encounter with another, yet more mysterious, ghost and her brother asks if she saw a ghost, to which she gives him an odd look and says, "I'm looking at one." Moments later, she confirms his suspicions.
57	* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', after a miraculous cure, the cured Ghost tells the doctor checking him that she should sit down, she looks like she's seen a ghost. She sits and laughs very hard.
58	** Rather more obvious as the Tanith First-and-Only are ''called'' the Ghosts due to their preturnatural ability to simply disappear, especially the scouts. [[spoiler:Eszrah]] even calls Mkoll sidthe, which means... ghost.
59	* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': The ghost of [[Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy Herald-Mage Vanyel]] says this very cheerfully in ''Winds of Fury'' after interfering with a CoolGate (which was supposedly impossible) to bring the main characters to the Forest of Sorrows instead of where they wanted to go. Vanyel has been dead for about 600 years at this point.
60	* Played with in Creator/ArthurCClarke's story "Breaking Strain", in describing one astronaut's reaction to discovering that a meteor has punctured their reserve tank, leaving [[ColdEquation insufficient oxygen to reach their destination]]:
61	-->[=McNeil=] was just standing in the doorway, looking as if he had seen a ghost. The trite metaphor flashed into Grant's mind instantly. He did not know for a moment how near the truth it was. In a sense [=McNeil=] ''had'' seen a ghost--the most terrifying of all ghosts--his own.
62	* In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', the face of a dead postmaster is described as looking like he'd seen a ghost. What really happened was that the post office's accumulation of letters gave it [[GeniusLoci something like a soul]] so Postmaster Ignavia saw its past. Unfortunately, as he passed through a spectral image of a former postman he saw ''the inside of the man's head'', and was so shocked he died of fright.
63	* Played with a bit in ''Literature/OldMansWar'': John Perry is rescued from near-death on the battlefield by a soldier who is identical to his long-deceased wife. His friends later try to convince him he was just hallucinating but stop suddenly... then they inform him that said woman was not only not a hallucination, but she is in line to buy a hamburger [[RightBehindMe right behind him.]]
64	* In Creator/DevonMonk's ''Literature/MagicInTheBlood'', after Allie's father starts to haunt her.
65	* Averted in ''[[Literature/TheElenium The Tamuli]]''. What the character has ''actually'' seen is an ''angry god'', which is naturally much worse.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
69	* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' has actually used this multiple times:
70	** In "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran", the new boys in the neighborhood realize that the kids who have been telling them ghost stories about the old gravedigger [[spoiler:are actually the real ghosts]].
71	--->'''[[spoiler:Old Man Corcoran]]:''' What's the matter with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost.
72	** In "The Tale of the Room For Rent", the two girls see their archetypal-creepy-old-woman-psychic-inclined next door neighbor summon a ghost that descends from the ceiling and walks by them right through the wall. They run screaming into the one girl's grandfather's house.
73	--->'''Grandpa:''' What's the matter with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost...
74	--->'''Friend:''' Bingo!
75	--->'''Granddaughter:''' We did!
76	* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In "The Foretelling" in the first series, the Queen says this to Edmund, just after he has indeed seen the ghost of Richard III.
77	* Played straight in the next to last episode of ''The Omega Factor'' after Tom seems to see apparitions of [[spoiler:his dead wife]].
78	* A usual {{pun}} of Doubting Dave's on ''Series/MysteryHunters''.
79	* On ''Series/CovertAffairs'', Jai says this to Annie when she realizes that [[spoiler:Jai was Ben's contact in Sri Lanka.]]
80	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''
81	** The Winchester brothers say this to Bela Talbot, after she sees a [[PortentOfDoom ghost ship]] captained by an angry ghost who's going to come back a few hours later and kill her.
82	** Used again in "A Little Slice of Kevin" at the start.
83	--->'''Sam:''' You look like you've... well, I was going to say you look like you've seen a ghost, but you'd probably be stoked.
84	* Used more than once [[ZigZaggedTrope in several ways]] on ''Series/{{JAG}}'', first when Harm meets a Vietnamese woman who reminds him of someone he saw die years before in "Déjà Vu", again when he meets Major Sarah [=MacKenzie=], who is a [[{{pun}} dead ringer]] for Lt. Diane Schonke, a murdered Naval officer Harm used to know ("We The People"), and finally when Mac confronts the officer who murdered Schonke, who is so startled by what appears to be the ghost of their murder victim that they stumble backwards off a pier and are crushed to death by the ship moored there, in "Death Watch".
85	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "Who Mourns for Morn", Jadzia walks into Quark's bar and reacts with shock when sees a hologram of Morn in his usual seat. Quark quotes the trope phrase, and Sisko explains that they'd just received word that Morn had been killed in a spacecraft accident.
86	* On ''Series/{{Medium}}'', Alison learns something particularly shocking and Joe says this to her. Then he remembers who he's talking to adds "For someone who doesn't see them on a normal basis."
87	* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': In "The Tragedy", the Mandalorian is confronted by a mysterious stranger and discovers that Fennec Shand, who he thought had been killed back in "The Gunslinger", is working with him. She drops the line.
88	-->'''Fennec:''' You look like you've just seen a ghost.\
89	'''Mando:''' You were dead.\
90	'''Stranger:''' She ''was'' left for dead on the sands of Tatooine, as was I. But fate sometimes steps in to rescue the wretched.\
91	'''Fennec:''' In ''my'' case... ''(opens her chest to reveal cybernetic parts)'' [[spoiler: [[CanonCharacterAllAlong Boba Fett]]]] was that fate, and I am now in his service.
92	* ''Series/TheGhostAndMrsMuir'': Mrs. Muir says this to Martha verbatim while Martha's recovering from the shock of seeing [[FriendlyGhost the ghost of Captain Gregg]]. Unusually for the trope, Mrs. Muir has known about the ghost all along, and is only surprised that Gregg has finally chosen to reveal himself to Martha.
93	-->'''Mrs. Muir:''' Martha, I don't know how to tell you this, but if you think you've seen a ghost... you've seen a ghost.
94	* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': Said jokingly by an old lady to a man who's just dropped a tray of glasses. As well he should, [[spoiler:because he expected her to be dead at that moment, and she knows he ordered the hit.]]
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Music]]
98	* One of the lyrics from "Sometime Around Midnight" by the Airborne Toxic Event, said by the singer's friends to him after he encounters his ex in a bar.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Theatre]]
102	* In ''Theatre/TheGrandDuke'', when Lisa sees Ernest upon his re-appearance in the act two, she flees in horror, prompting Ernest to say, "One would think she saw a ghost!" Because Ernest is LegallyDead due to the events of act one, technically she did see a ghost.
103	* Played with in ''Theatre/LesMiserables''. The young woman Marius saw, Cosette, is very much flesh and blood.
104	--> '''Enjolras:''' Marius, you're late.
105	--> '''Joly''': What's wrong today? You look as if you've seen a ghost.
106	--> '''Grantaire''': Some wine and say what's going on!
107	--> '''Marius''': A ghost, you say? A ghost, maybe. She was just like a ghost to me. One minute there, and she was gone!
108	** Grantaire then teases Marius by mentioning ''Theatre/DonJuan'', which ''does'' have a ghost appear to menace the title character.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Video Games]]
112	* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. Upon turning in a quest dealing with the ghost/spirit/essence of the BigBad's innocence, Thassarian says to the player "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost... Not that that would be all that unusual in these parts now that I think about it..." Also worth pointing out Thassarian himself is among the undead, albeit a Death Knight, not a ghost.
113	* This is among the final lines of ''VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles: 13th Skull'', when two {{Muggle}} [=NPCs=] find the Master Detective lying on her back in the Louisiana swamp. [[spoiler:She's just watched a GhostPirate drown the people who were going to murder her.]]
114	* Spoken verbatim by resident LadyInRed FemmeFatale Ada Wong in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' when protagonist Leon Kennedy first meets her in an underground catacomb. Considering the circumstances under which they last saw each other and what happened in the previous game, his reaction is actually rather understandable.
115	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' - Axel tells Roxas that he looks like he saw a ghost when Roxas is startled upon seeing him returning from Castle Oblivion. Roxas had been led to believe that everyone from Organization XIII sent to Castle Oblivion was eliminated and this is in fact true for all of them ''except'' Axel, who did some of said eliminating himself.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Web Animation]]
119	* In ''WebAnimation/GenLock'', these are the first words out of the NotQuiteDead Julian Chase's mouth when he reveals himself and his current situation to the Vanguard. He remarks that he was just trying to lighten the mood, seeing as he had been presumed dead for four years after his HeroicSacrifice in the Battle of New York and had to keep silent about his partnership with the ESU for the gen:LOCK program the whole time.
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Web Original]]
123	* In Episode 1 of The Dr. Steel Show, Music/DoctorSteel sees a ghostly vision of a magical transforming toy ("Winky") hovering about his lab, but it disappears into an air duct before he can get a Polaroid snapshot of it. Slightly inverted as he was more awed by it than scared.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Western Animation]]
127	* Spoofed in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'':
128	-->'''Danny:''' ''[to Tucker and Sam]'' Guys, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost, or... something really scary that we don't see every single day.
129	* Happens all the time in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo''. Usually followed by the second person opening the door or what not, not seeing anything, then Scooby or Shaggy opening the door again, and seeing the ghost... and then everyone else seeing it the third time... cue ChaseScene.
130	* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated,'' Starscream says this to Megatron after coming BackFromTheDead. "Well, maybe you HAVE!" May also be a ShoutOut to the ghost Starscream episodes of [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers some]] [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars past]] [[Anime/TransformersEnergon series]]. ''This'' time, Starscream's not a ghost, just [[spoiler: immortal thanks to [[Manga/InuYasha jewel shards]], uh, I mean Allspark fragments]].
131	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' "Ghostfreaked Out", Ghostfreak has just gotten loose from the Omnitrix. Ben's grandfather, not knowing this, goes up to Ben and says the phrase.
132	* In ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bah, Humduck!: A Looney Tunes Christmas]]'', Bugs says this to Daffy (who has just received a JacobMarleyWarning).
133	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' debut episode "A Hard Day's Night" has the boys in a Transylvanian castle rehearsing and getting chased around by the castle's monstrous denizens. They seek refuge in a bedroom as John tells Ringo to lie down as "You look white as a sheet." The bed sheet rises presenting itself as a ghost ("Did someone call me?") and the chase resumes.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'': In "Bygones", Baloo takes Rick Sky, a pilot lost for 20 years, to where he and his men were together last, and they see them and their planes trapped inside an iceberg.
135	-->'''Baloo:''' Did you get a load of that?
136	-->'''Rick:''' What? I say, you look like you've just seen a ghost.
137	-->'''Baloo:''' I may ''have''.
138	* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': Parodied in "Ancient History", when [[spoiler: Hollyhock enters [=BoJack=]'s house for the first time since she overdosed on the weight loss pills that Beatrice was slipping her]].
139	-->'''[=BoJack=]:''' You okay? You look like you've just seen a ''[[Film/GhostInTheShell2017 Ghost in the Shell]]'' screening and you're Creator/ScarlettJohansson's publicist.
140	* ''WesternAnimation/RicochetRabbitAndDroopALongCoyote'': In "Mostly Ghostly", Ricochet Rabbit investigates a stagecoach that's being robbed by Ghost Town Gus, and he tells the passengers they look like they've seen a ghost... right before the ghostly outlaw blasts him with his pistol.
141	-->'''Ricochet:''' There's nothin' worse than a gun-slinging ghost.
142	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Understanding Willow", when Amity panics upon seeing mental photographs of herself and Willow playing together when were little, something she doesn't want her GirlPosse to see.
143	-->'''Boscha:''' Why do you look like you've seen a ghost? Is there a ghost in photo class? Are they cute?
144	-->'''Amity:''' ''(nervously)'' Yep, just a super cute ghost. But they're all mine! ''(runs in and shuts the door)''
145	-->'''Boscha:''' Ask of they have any friends!
146	[[/folder]]

Context Main / YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost