Ghost Graffiti

Around Harvard’s campus exists a ghost-like figure painted on various street items like trash cans. I bump into this guy pretty frequently, so I started taking pictures of the different places where (the figure I call) Ghostyboi could be found.

To my surprise I found that Ghostyboi can be found outside of Cambridge! After walking back from some shawarma place, I noticed it painted on a wall in Allston. One difference here is that Ghostyboi’s body is filled in and it looks like it might be sweating. Guess it’s on the run.

Ghostyboi isn’t always well received though. I intended on taking another picture to add to my collection but found that it was painted over. Though if looked at closely, it can still faintly be seen.

A bit after originally writing this post, I found a post on /r/boston that asked about “this ghost tag.” According to the comments on that post, Ghostyboi can be found along Fitchburg commuter rail line and even as north as Concord, NH, which is about 70 miles away from Cambridge.

Another comment in the same post claimed to know what the ghost is: “It’s Basquiat’s ghost. The jaggedy part is adapted from his crown tag.” Though there are some similarities between Basquiat’s crown and Ghostyboi’s shape, I’m skeptical if that is the true origin.

Here are some more links with information about this ghost:

• A Flickr with pictures of variations of Ghostyboi. Main difference between some of the pictures here and mine is that most of these ghosts only have one eye whereas mine have two slanted ones.
• Another Flickr which refers to the one-eyed ghost as "One Eyed Space Alien."
• One user on /r/boston thinks the tag comes from a hip hop group called Dilated Peoples. I think this one is closer than the theory regarding Basquiat.
• A Twitter thread with lots of pictures of the "ghost alien." Cities or neighborhoods where it can be found include Quincy, Somerville, Waltham, and Watertown.

I’ll update the post with more sightings of Ghostyboi as I see him.