[Winston1986]

I always assumed it was Vigo. How do you explain the fact that whoever or whatever it was knew Winston's name?

[Smeghead]

Oooh, interesting question.
It doestn't sound like Vigo to me. I always assumed it was a "generic manifestation of evil" brought about by the slime. Just like the "severed heads on pikes" that always get edited out of the film on UK TV [/pet hate]

[M.Thunder]

In the words of the comic, "it's never good when they know your name..."

I have no problem believing that was Vigo, Vigo's thing is telepathic invasion and possession, and even a tiny fraction of his consciousness would be enough to ID Winston and what he was up to.

...What is less clear is exactly what Vigo was doing messing with the three Ghostbusters in the sewer. Maybe he was trying to drive them away from the River of Slime but... why? They can't stop it. It's unlikely they can undo the negative charge before the baby is possessed. So... why attack them with skulls?

..Actually it's possible the skulls were the ghosts of Vigo's victims, either crying out for help or to warn the GBs away.

The Ghost Train, by the way, is probably unconnected to Vigo. That just happened to be there. Maybe Vigo/the residual evil of the negatively charged river is enough to summon the train, but Vigo didn't put it there.

[Chace]

Ok so it's proven in the courtroom scene that the negatively charged slime can use its energy to manifest ghosts that are appropriate to the area it's in (hence the scoliari brothers) so it's not beyond rational thought to assume that the slime itself is active with paranormal activity and simply doesn't want to be discovered...so it manifests the train and the heads.

As far as calling Winston by name it is a common thing in many ghost stories for the spirit to somehow k ow the name of whoever it's trying to scare or attack.

While the slime is connected to Vigo I would doubt it was him causing the events, if nothing else because he seems a vain enough villain to do everything himself.....plus the most he could do before reaching full power was to light photos on fire and make yanosh appear as a ghost. Oh and arguably make muppet slime.

[Astorath]

Yeah, it's just basic ghost stuff. It is a place full of negativity and that was some kind of acoustic manifestation.

[M.Thunder]

Ok so it's proven in the courtroom scene that the negatively charged slime can use its energy to manifest ghosts that are appropriate to the area it's in (hence the scoliari brothers)

I think the Scolari Brothers were linked to the Judge himself, not the area. The judge's powerful negative emotions of fear and hatred manifested two spirits closely tied to those emotions.

It's odd though. The judge's sentiment when he was bringing the hammer down on the Ghostbusters was that they were fakes and charlatans who shouldn't be permitted in decent society... but his exact words were a wish that he could reach back in time and have them burned at the stake.

They didn't burn charlatans at the stake. That's a fate reserved for witches. (Nasty nasty fate too: some people would actually bribe their executioners to kill them before setting them on fire, because that death was so agonizing.)

This makes me think there might have been an earlier draft of the script (the darker one) where the Judge condemns the Busters not because they are fakes but because they are satanic. They are basically doing necromancy in complete disregard of God's laws. They MUST be evil.

...But I bet bringing up necromancy and Satan and God wasn't going to fly. And once it was decided that the Ghostbusters had been shut down, being angry at them for NOT busting ghosts wouldn't have made sense. So the monologue got changed.

...I don't know. I might just be making the whole thing up. Still, it's interesting to consider.

[Demon Vice Commander]

Actually it's possible the skulls were the ghosts of Vigo's victims, either crying out for help or to warn the GBs away.

Interesting theory; Vigo was definitely a heads-on-pikes kind of guy...

[BatDan]

I always just assumed it was just evil spirits/demons messing them. Its not uncommon for demons to figure out a living persons name. At least that's what I've always heard/read in terms of demonology. Could be wrong.

That being said, that scene was always one of my favorites equal parts hilarious and scary as hell.

[M.Thunder]

Interesting theory; Vigo was definitely a heads-on-pikes kind of guy...

Well that's the difference between a "vengeful spirit" and a "Death Omen." A Death Omen is actually trying to help you. It's the spirit that will appear hoping to scare you away before the real evil shows up. Death Omens won't actually hurt you, but running into one is bad anyway because their mere presence means something really dangerous is nearby and everybody mortal should GTFO.

(spoilers for American Horror Story)

Basically every character in the first season of American Horror Story basically ends up becoming this kind of spirit. Spoilers. How sad. Except not really because if you are somebody who's brutal murder by evil spirits lead to your soul being enslaved forever... and that actually IMPROVES your outlook on life and makes you a better and more likable person... maybe you weren't a very good character to begin with.

This Post Contains Spoilers

[Grimmy GB]

Speaking off (and SLIGHTLY off topic):
Has anyone loaded this sound onto a sound board in your pack and played it in front of Ernie? I know it sounds cheesy, but it might merit a good laugh or two.

[Smeghead]

Speaking off (and SLIGHTLY off topic):
Has anyone loaded this sound onto a sound board in your pack and played it in front of Ernie? I know it sounds cheesy, but it might merit a good laugh or two.

If anyone does, PLEASE record his reaction.

[arden03]

Sure ghosts call out names to scare their victims... but there is still usually a connection with that individual... living in the haunted house, related (even from a huge generational gap), they are interested in you child, something is ALWAYS connecting that event between ghost and victim. So why was it so interested in winston? the first two yelled out echos before with no trouble, this would indicate intent towards winston as a reaction to his voice. There is a case to be made about the deleted scene where winston was possessed and driving like a madman, maybe the connection lies there... a lost subordinate and was recognized by either vigo, or as it has been stated, the victims who might have sensed vigos mark. HOWEVER I still think that there could be more to this than just a simple case of 'oh vigo turned you into a puppet too! RUN WHILE YOU CAN!' The voice sounded malevolent, and the manifestation of the train was too coincidental... I want to know the connection there, who winston is to whatever spirits had been down there, and why they called him out... if it was just a death omen, why winston? if it was an attack.... why winston? It's driving me nuts! watching it right now and I am just so curious!

[PrometheanWorks]

I personally subscribe to 'playful spooks' or ambient PKE, but if you'd really like a lore connection, here's a theory:

Staff Sergeant Adams
http://ghostbusters.wikia.com/wiki/Staff_Sergeant_Adams

If the mandala of slime/river of slime had a behavioral tendency to 'connect the dots' between its victims and their own troublesome ghosts, Staff Sergeant Adams fits the bill as he not only has history with Winston, but acts on that history in issue #16 of the IDW monthly ongoing (he even plays the same 'trick', but in this instance, uses Winston's last name). A stretch, but plausible.

[pyhasanon]

Speaking off (and SLIGHTLY off topic):
Has anyone loaded this sound onto a sound board in your pack and played it in front of Ernie? I know it sounds cheesy, but it might merit a good laugh or two.

Damnit, Grimmy, why must you fill my head with such ideas... =P

[Spengler02]

Ok so it's proven in the courtroom scene that the negatively charged slime can use its energy to manifest ghosts that are appropriate to the area it's in (hence the scoliari brothers) so it's not beyond rational thought to assume that the slime itself is active with paranormal activity and simply doesn't want to be discovered...so it manifests the train and the heads.

As far as calling Winston by name it is a common thing in many ghost stories for the spirit to somehow k ow the name of whoever it's trying to scare or attack.

While the slime is connected to Vigo I would doubt it was him causing the events, if nothing else because he seems a vain enough villain to do everything himself.....plus the most he could do before reaching full power was to light photos on fire and make yanosh appear as a ghost. Oh and arguably make muppet slime.

I agree with most of what you said, but regarding the Muppet-slime-thing, it would just be puppet slime because muppets are a mixture of marionettes and puppets, while the slime-thing that was in Dana's bathtub appears only to be a puppet. However, muppets like Fozzie, or Rowlf, didn't have strings and are still considered Muppets so...

[Kingpin]

I agree with most of what you said, but regarding the Muppet-slime-thing, it would just be puppet slime because muppets are a mixture of marionettes and puppets, while the slime-thing that was in Dana's bathtub appears only to be a puppet. However, muppets like Fozzie, or Rowlf, didn't have strings and are still considered Muppets so...

I'm tempted to quote a line referring to Louis at this moment, but as this site is trying to keep a positive atmosphere... it deserves better from me.

Although the clarification helped explain the difference between Muppets and puppets... it was a clarification that wasn't necessary.

[Spengler02]

You shouldn't have mentioned the quote because now I'm tempted to know what it is...anyways, my Muppet-thing was for a reason. Everyone thinks any puppet is a Muppet and it just isn't right. Know the difference! Stand up against mislabeling puppets!! Support the non-Muppets!!! Make a difference in this world!!!!

[Alex Newborn]

I wandered in here just to see if anyone had said it was Ivan Reitman saying the name "Winston" in the tunnel.

But now, apologies to Kingpin for validating an off-topic comment with an even-futher-off-topic reply, I do have to clear one thing up.

1983: "I think we did the term Muppets before we got the show Sam and Friends - a few months after I started working. It was really just a term we made up. For a long time I would tell people it was a combination of marionettes and puppets but, basically, it was really just a word that we coined. We have done very few things connected with marionettes." ~ Jim Henson, Cinefantastique

1984: "We told reporters the word was a combination of puppets and marionettes, but that wasn't true. We just coined it. We just made it up. We just said that to satisfy the reporters." Jim Henson, Baltimore Evening Sun

1986: "In actuality, Muppets was a word we just coined. It was merely to be the name of our act. ... I used to say to people that It was a combination of 'marionettes' and 'puppets.' But that was mostly an answer that I made up so that people who needed an answer would get an answer. But then I stopped telling this lie, and I'm back to the truth: It just came out of mid air." Jim Henson, The Gettysburg Times

1986: "Well, you know, in reality it was just a word that we made up. I used to tell people that it was a combination of puppets and marionettes, but that was just sort of an answer so I would have something to tell people when they asked the question. I've stopped saying that now." Jim Henson interview, Breakfast Time

Alex

[Spengler02]

...woah..."I sit corrected"...

[Vale_Spengler]

I think the voice that called for Winston was at manifestation and the skulls were another manifestation of the slime, as for the train. That would explain a lot, just follow me: slime can summon entities that are somehow connected with a person or with a place nearby the slime sample (see the courtroom incident with the Scholeri brothers).

So, if we consider the voice like a class 1 entity (without body, a medianic voice), it could be directly related to Winston and that's why it calls for him. That would be even more scary, because it would mean that is the voice of someone close to Winston, maybe altered.

Then, the skulls: possibly (I found this theory fascinating) victims of Vigo. Or they could be dead miner who dug the tunnel, or victims from Manhattan native americans...you know, more I think about this and more I'm fascinated by all the possibilities.

[James-Frenshman]

I`ve got an another theory. Egon said that the train was derailed in the 20s so what if those Heads on the pillars where those passengers?
Why did they called out Winstons name? Well, he already is scared from all those rats and cockroach stories from Egon and Ray. What if these ghosts from the passengers had felt his panic and they only waited to show up and scare them away. Why I also think that it couldn`t be Vigo is that the Mandala was there and why would Vigo try to stop them. They can`t do anything against the river of slime. They already knew that Vigo was in the building so they knew he was dangerous. I think that the heads and the train where warnings that Vigo in combination with the slime are more dangerous then only one of them.

[Vale_Spengler]

You know, James, this is indeed an interesting theory, mostly beacuse I see another question: how pink slime interact with fear? I mean, we saw the slime reacting to anger, hatred, love and affection, but we don't know nothing about its reaction to fear.

[windycitywarrior71]

I think the manifestation of the severed heads, the train and the voice saying Winston was answered in the movie itself. That very scene actually, Egon says we must be close something is trying to stop us. The spirits or Vigo know why they are there they are trying to scare them off. I think who the voice is, is left up to the viewer since they never say, but its reasonable to assume it was Vigo since the slime was his baby.

On a side note, I loved reading all the responses to this!