Ghost Animation

The Ghost Animation, coded as Haunting.swf, was intended to be placed in several areas throughout the tower, including in the center of a path on the second floor.

However, players cannot interact with it, leaving many to believe that it was intended as a “background feature”. The ghost animation as well must be viewed in individual frames. It is comprised of 59 frames total. However, after extraction, around half of these frames have been revealed to be the standard ghost model used in Pocket Monsters.

Around a quarter of the remaining frames are comprised of static, to produce a “fading” effect. However, interspersed with these bursts of static are several frames of screaming faces, along with images of a skeletal man in a cloak (hypothesized to be the Grim Reaper) and of several killed corpses. The meaning behind these are unknown- While under oath before the Video Games Commission Board, Lead Programmer Hisashi Sogabe testified as to having “No knowledge as to where these images surfaced.”

Out of all the phenomena associated with LTS, this animation is the most speculated on: In his thesis “Video Games and The Manipulation of the Human Mind”, Dr. Jackson Turner argued that the images were intentionally placed in. Due to their brief time appearing on the screen, and the graphic nature of the frames, Turner theorizes that these were meant to subliminally influence players into becoming more frightened by the disturbing surroundings.