Netflix's Paranormal has ghosts around every turn, and while some of them are more obvious than others, there are a few that went unnoticed. The streaming service's first Egyptian series has garnered positive reviews from both fans and critics for its depiction of supernatural phenomena intertwined with elements of a detective mystery. Paranormal's ghosts are intentional, and craft an even deeper understanding of each character as the series progresses. With each episode comes a new spirit: here is what they are, why they manifest, and what they mean for the show as a whole.
Paranormal follows a professor of hematology, Dr. Refaat Ismail (Ahmed Amin), as the supernatural occurrences he experienced as a child resurface in adulthood. With episodes that feature a "monster of the week", and two consistent spirits, the series artfully captures the personal experiences of Refaat by adding demons that reflect his personal and professional relationships. When it first release, Paranormal was compared to Mike Flanagan's The Haunting Of Bly Manor, the second installment of his The Haunting series. The longer it has been available to viewers, the clearer it is that the two are inherently different as the characters, their relationships, the ghosts, and the hauntings are not the same.
The paranormal sub-genre has been popular for years, and never seems to go entirely out of the zeitgeist of horror. As such, it constantly requires reinvention, which Paranormal provides. Most movies or television series that contain investigative elements venture towards the genre of detective mystery, and uphold certain traits within. This is part of what defines this Netflix original series from other similar titles. Paranormal completely reimagines how characters cope with the supernatural and how it can infiltrate a person's entire life, including their professional career. Without further ado, here's every ghost featured in Paranormal.
Shiraz is the first spirit that Paranormal introduces in the series and for a very important reason. When Refaat was a child, he and his friends went to an abandoned mansion during a game of hide and seek. When they first set eyes on the building, it appeared to be beautifully kept with a young girl dressed in white as its only resident. Refaat fell in love with her over time, and she is now considered his first love.
She appears sporadically throughout the series as a reminder that the paranormal has always been apart of Refaat's life. Shiraz is his guardian, whether he knows it or not. Even when an incubus or Lucifer is closing in on the professor, she stands in their way in order to protect someone she cares for so deeply. By season 1, episode 6, "The Myth Of The House: The Return", it is revealed that Shiraz burned in the mansion after Ibrahim had set it ablaze in hopes of freeing her from the confines of its basement. She was kept hidden by her grandfather and, as a result of his cruelty, was not rescued while it burnt to the ground. Shiraz is the most important spirit in Paranormal as she protects Refaat and warns him of Lucifer's intentions.
The spirits of the massive manor appear by the end of episode 1. As Refaat wanders through the mansion, he sees several servants, what appears to be a religious practitioner, and a woman giving birth. They are only recognized as spirits once the building reveals its true appearance as a burnt shell of what it used to be. It is unknown who the woman giving birth is, but it can be assumed that she may be Shiraz's mother. These ghosts serve the purpose of highlighting how powerful Refaat's connection to the spirit realm has grown since his first meeting with the young girl.
In season 1, episode 2, "The Myth of the Curse of The Pharaoh", a black cloud covers the skies of Cairo, as a mummy has been excavated from a tomb. It is revealed that the body is that of a pharaoh, whose awakening has caused illness to anyone who comes in contact with his remains. When Refaat is approached to conduct an autopsy on him, he finds scarabs and bizarre objects. In order to stop the Black Pharaoh's reign of terror, he reunites him with his queen right before his spirit can kill him. This is the ghost that causes Refaat's significant other to grow ill and become confined to a hospital bed. It is an excellent interweaving of the historical with the paranormal.
While it is not revealed that Louis is Lucifer until the very end of season 1, he does appear following the Pharaoh's episode in "The Myth Of The Guardian In The Cave." He presents himself as an all-knowing tarot card reader, who pulls cards that normally do not bode well for Refaat. He accompanies them on a journey to find an antidote to cure Huwaida following the pharaoh's attack on her. While they do not know that he is Lucifer, he does assist in taking them in the direction of danger.
The Naiad appears in episode 4, "The Myth Of The Naiad." Much like a siren, she lures men to their death. It is revealed that the Naiad is the spirit of Samar's sister, who was sexually assaulted, then murdered by her father by the lake. Once Refaat uncovers this horrifying and tragic tale, he dives into her watery tomb to bring her skeletal remains to the surface to bring her peace.
According to mythology, a Naiad is a siren, but it does not simply appear as one, it is created. When the Sheik's daughter was wrongfully murdered for being sexually assaulted, her spirit manifested into a Naiad, who seeks revenge against men for being a constant source of agony when she was still living. It is one of the most impressive creations of a siren creature in recent popular culture, which is comparable to Monsterland's incredible depiction of the mythological being.
The final spirit in Paranormal is an incubus. It appears in episode 5, "The Myth Of The Incubus," and torments Refaat while he sleeps. In his dreams, he is pursued by the vicious spirit, but does not die by its hand. Instead, he awakens to discover that it has killed his cat, proving that it can cause harm in the physical realm.
When Refaat decides that he must go up against the incubus, he finds himself in a tunnel lined with bodies and coated with blood. As he hunts down the spirit, the bodies of its victims rise with him to go against it. According to mythology, an incubus is a demonic spirit feasts on the essence of the living as they lay asleep at night. They are commonly tied to sleep paralysis demons that have caused people to wake from their slumber only to discover they cannot move or make a sound. The incubus is the most malevolent spirit Refaat encounters in the series, despite Lucifer's ability to manipulate what he sees once he returns to Shiraz's mansion. If Paranormal gets the green light for season 2, it is likely that there will be more mythological and folkloric spirits that Refaat must defeat as he comes closer to taking down Lucifer.
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