If you’ve been on TikTok for the past few months, then you’ve probably seen the ghost photoshoot trend all over your feed.
The #GhostPhotoshoot encourages content creators to express their take on the classic and affordable white-sheet ghost costume, and people are loving it. Groups of friends get together and wander around their neighborhoods, cities and towns taking photos of each other with white sheets over their heads and black sunglasses. The shades seem to have attracted the trend because it looks cooler than seeing your eyes through the cutouts. The resulting montage post is typically accompanied by the song "Oh Klahoma" by Jack Stauber.
TikTokers have done just about everything one could do as a cute, homemade ghost. Some people have taken photos of ghosts skateboarding in empty pools, swimming at the beach, dancing in the street and even driving a taxi. The possibilities seem endless.
A few have taken it a step further by putting carved pumpkins on their heads. Still, in the spirit of Halloween, my friends and I decided to do our take on the #GhostPhotoshoot.
The first thing was to acquire a white sheet. This step can be made easy by searching your linen closet, or you can expect a pricy search and limited options as Halloween gets closer.
The next step is where you can get creative. A light-hearted and fun-spirited — all while still remaining mysterious — photo can be accomplished using dusk to your advantage. The majority of the photos have gray-clouded skies and dark alleyways with an absence of humans, other than those under the sheets.
Without a plan, we roamed the streets of Columbia, thinking of ideas under the nightfall.
The cemeteries were closed, but since we were afraid, this was probably a safe drawback. Inspiration hit while we were parked in an empty lot. This trend doesn't have to be extreme, only a chance to dress up and feel the joy of Halloween. Laughing, we took pictures of each other in the front seats of our friend’s red Volkswagen, feeling a little embarrassed as cars passed by.
One person honked at us, and we were hoping that they thought it was funny, but recently some have been skeptical of the ghost trend as it looks somewhat similar to the uniforms worn by the members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Ultimately, conversations on Twitter and other social media defended that the sheet-over-the-head ghost costume, which has long been a Halloween staple, was completely harmless. At the end of the day, it's just kids having fun with the hope nobody gets the wrong idea.
After taking pictures dancing under the arch of the old church on the corner of Main Street and Gervais, we crept over to Speedway for a slushy, still repping the trend.
The pictures were pleasing and put smiles on our faces and the faces of fellow gas station patrons. All in all, we enjoyed ourselves, and though we won’t be posting a montage on TikTok, we now understand why a ghost photoshoot has been trending.
If you're bored, why not give it a try under one of many beautiful Columbia sunsets? Who knows, you could start trending.