Kestrel[2] was a witch imprisoned in a crystal ball by Eli Spengler, the great-great-great-grandfather of Egon Spengler.[3]
History[]
Primary Canon History[]
The Real Ghostbusters[]
300 years ago, Kestrel terrorized Lewiston, a New England village in Massachusetts. A band of Pilgrims led by Eli Spengler trapped her and her legion of Goblins in a crystal ball, a primitive version of the Ghostbusters' Containment Unit.[4] The ball was placed on an Elron Witchcraft Altar but was lost as centuries passed. Some time later, the Lewiston Girls Academy was built on land over where the crystal lay buried. During an excavation in 1990, to pave way for a new gymnasium, the crystal ball was split in half and Kestrel was freed. She and her Goblin minions spent the next few days kidnapping the descendants of the people who imprisoned her. They were kept underground the academy where Kestrel took Headmistress Margaret Prandish as a human host.
After a bus driver was kidnapped, the Ghostbusters were hired for double their usual fee.[5] Around the same time, Egon had a vision of Kestrel in his lab and blew himself out a window when his experiment went awry from the distraction.[6] With about 11 captured, including Mayor Moody, she possessed Egon and attempted to use the crystal to imprison the descendants. Ray Stantz and Slimer doused Egon in Exorcism Juice and expelled the demoness. Egon came to his senses and used the crystal to once again trap Kestrel and the goblins.
Secondary Canon History[]
Insight Editions[]
Kestrel was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials of the 1690s. Unlike the others executed during the trials, Kestrel was an actual witch and guilty of the crime she was charged with.[7] Before her death, she threatened to enact revenge. Over 300 years later, Morgan Hrom, an opportunistic medium with her own TV show, planned her latest publicity stunt around a seance in Salem aimed to communicating with the ghost of Kestrel. Hrom succeeded but brought her ghost back.[8] Kestrel possessed Hrom and transmogrified to match the witch's appearance. She addressed the crows then attacked Salem. She lit buildings on fire with her psychokinetic powers. The Ghostbusters were called. They attempted to douse Hrom's body in positively charged Psychomagnotheric Slime but Kestrel proved extremely resistant.[9] They instead modified a Trap and forced Kestrel out of Hrom long enough to wrangle her with a Proton Stream. Before Kestrel was trapped, she conjured one last fire and engulfed the Salem Witch Museum. The fire burned for three days but the museum was surprisingly unharmed.
Tertiary Canon History[]
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed[]
Sometime before 1920, one of the voyages to North America taken by John Horace Tobin involved a case in Salem. Tobin felt a strong aura of lingering trauma and evil from the hundreds of guilty and innocent executed in the Salem Witch Trials. He encountered an extremely powerful Class IV possessor but discovered it was sensitive to fire. He imprisoned the possessor in a crystal ball.[10]
Classification[]
Secondary Canon Classification[]
Insight Editions Classification[]
Kestrel is a Class 4 possessor.[11]
Tertiary Canon Classification[]
Spirits Unleashed Classification[]
Kestrel is a Class 4 possessor.
Tobin's Spirit Guide[]
The Real Ghostbusters[]
According to Tobin's Spirit Guide, Kestrel is "An evil demoness who has no physical shape so she takes possession of people's bodies and makes them do terrible things."[12]
Powers[]
The Real Ghostbusters[]
Kestrel can possess people, transmogrify her hosts, gain their awareness, can imbue her hosts with increased strength, and commands a legion of Goblins.[13] She has a mastery over magic, like most Witches, and can cast spells and turn brooms into her personal transportation.
Insight Editions[]
Kestrel can possess people, transmogrify her hosts, and psychokinetically manipulate the element of fire.
Appearances[]
Primary Canon Appearances[]
Secondary Canon Appearances[]
- Insight Editions
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
- Section III: Metaspecters
- Page 38
- Pages 58-59
- Section III: Metaspecters
- Tobin's Spirit Guide
Tertiary Canon Appearances[]
- Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed
- Mentioned in Tobin Page #4.
References[]
- ↑ Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989).
- ↑ Kestrel (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 07:07-07:11). Time Life Entertainment. Kestrel says: "You will soon taste the revenge of Kestrel!"
- ↑ Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 05:22-05:29). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "I always thought Grandma Spengler made up that story about her Great Grampy Eli imprisoning the witch in a crystal."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 07:58-08:03). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Mayor Moody is a descendant of the original Pilgrims who captured Kestrel."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 08:04-08:07). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "So is the missing bus driver... So am I."
- ↑ Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 07:16-07:18). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "That's her. The hag whose face I saw in the lab today."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.59). Paragraph reads: "The witch known as Kestrel was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials of the 1690s. Unlike many of those who were executed during this time, Kestrel was actually guilty of the crime she was charged with."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.59). Paragraph reads: "Over three centuries later, Morgan Hrom, an opportunistic medium with her own TV show, heard about Kestrel and came to Salem to hold as seance as a publicity stunt. The seance was wildly successful, fully drawing Kestrel's spirit back to Earth."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.59). Paragraph reads: "Kestrel proved extremely resistant to our usual method of counteracting a possessing entity (i.e., physical application of positively charged psychomagnotheric ectoplasm to the host body)."
- ↑ Tobin; Tobin Page #4 (2023). Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed – Ghost Realm (2023) (PS4/PS5/PC/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/Nintendo Switch). Illfonic. Tobin says: "Oh yes, this one is particularly interesting. Documented during one of my many voyages to America, in a small town known as Salem. The lingering trauma and evil of that place was so strong, the air was thick with it. Hundreds of innocents and not-so-innocents met their maker at the hands of the so-called 'righteous few.' And believe me, the spirits are still angry about it, back when I crossed them and to this day. Of course not all were unjustly tried... I came by an extremely powerful Class IV possessor, sensitive to fire and flame. I lacked your modern ghost-trapping methods, but imprisonment in a crystal ball seemed to do the trick."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.59). Paragraph reads: "CLASS IV. POSSESSOR. EXTREMELY POWERFUL WHEN IN POSSESSION OF A HOST BODY."
- ↑ Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 07:45-07:54). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "According to this, Kestrel is an evil demon who has no physical shape so she takes possession of people's bodies and makes them do terrible things."
- ↑ Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "If I Were a Witch Man" (1989) (DVD ts. 19:09-19:15). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "By possessing Egon, she also possesses his awareness so she knows where our half of the crystal is hidden."
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Primary Canon Images[]
Secondary Canon Images[]
Tertiary Canon Images[]
