Wraith

An artists illustration of a Wraith

A **Wraith** is dangerous Type Two Ghost. Wraiths are similar to Spectres in strength and patterns of behavior, but are far more horrible to look at. These apparitions show the deceased in their body’s decaying state: gaunt and shrunken, horribly thin, sometimes rotten and wormy. Wraiths often appear as skeletons. They radiate a powerful ghost- lock.

## Subtypes

### Gallows Wraith

*Main article: Gallows Wraith*
A Gallows Wraith is a subtype of Wraith that is only found at former places of execution. Their apparitions are often heavily injured and feature a broken neck, cut off head or other reference to the method of execution used. They are also almost always aggressive, and therefore very dangerous. It is unclear, whether or not their ghost-lock is as powerful as the ghost-lock of the Wraith.

### Raw-bones

*Main article: Raw-bones*
A rare subtype of the Wraith. The apparition of a Raw-bones usually shows a bloody, skinless corpse with goggling eyes and grinning teeth and is therefore easily distinguished, if an agent is a sufficiently talented seer. It is not certain that this is actually a subtype of the wraith, but most agency's regard them as such.

## Notable Hauntings

### Clattering Bones

A manifestation known as the Clattering Bones was a visitor that haunted a part of London. It was most likely a Raw-bones subtype of wraith. It claimed several victims, before it was successfully neutralized by Lockwood & Co.. Still, Lockwood & Co. agent Lucy Carlyle stated that these deaths were avoidable, if the agency had done their work better. Due to the volume of deaths, it is likely that the apparition was aggressive in nature.

### Old Crack-neck

The manifestation known as 'Old Crack-neck' was probably the most famous gallows wraith. It showed especially aggressive behavior and proved to be deadly, as it managed to kill three agents. It haunted Tyburn Fields, a ward in Birmingham, UK.

### Wimbledon Wraiths

The Wimbledon Wraiths were a possible cluster, more likely just a group, of Gallows Wraiths located in Mallows End, Wimbledon. Their source was a gallow's mark, a stone that marked the location where the deceased were hanged. The group proved to be very aggressive, almost overwhelming agents of Lockwood & Co., who did not anticipate a the amount of ghosts, only a single apparition. The cluster was neutralized by Quill Kipps team of the Fittes Agency.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *The Whispering Skull*, **I: The Wimbledon Wraiths**, Ch. 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *The Screaming Staircase*, Glossary
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 *The Whispering Skull*, Glossary
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *The Whispering Skull*, **I: The Wimbledon Wraiths**, Ch. 1-2
5. ↑ *The Screaming Staircase*, **I: The Ghost**, Ch. 1: *"Yes, [...] the entity known*
as the Clattering Bones [was] destroyed, but not before several further (and I now think unnecessary) deaths"
6. ↑ *The Whispering Skull*, **I: The Wimbledon Wraiths**, Ch. 2: *"'[...] or prominent stone that marks where the gallows once stood. In all likelihood, this is the Source that controls all the ghosts we've just seen' [...] 'That's the gallows mark, where the wooden post was driven. It was above that stone that the executed bodies would have swung until they fell apart.'"*