The Shades are a group of people who possess the ability to see ghosts, which is called the Sight. This ability is thought to be hereditary, and is only triggered when a teenager with the requisite gene recovers from a near-death experience. It is implied to be a rare gift. During Rory and Boo's conversation with ghost Alistair, he claims that he has only ever encountered one or two people with the Sight in over two decades of lingering at Wexford Sixth-Form College.
Department of Paranormal Investigations[]
The 'Shades' is also the colloquial term for those that work in London's Department of Paranormal Investigations. Stephen Dene is the most recent leader of the official Shades police sector, commandeered by Mr. Thorpe (Head of Paranormal Investigations). Known Shades under Stephen's authority are Boo, Callum, and --most recently-- Rory.
Jobs & Investigations[]
- Monitoring ghost activity in public spaces (Ongoing)
- King William Street Incident
- Copy-Cat Killer Case ( Closed)
- Death of Dawn Somner
- Search for Stephen (Unofficial)
History[]
The London Metropolitan Police was founded in 1829. Fifty-three years later, a group of English scientists founded the Society of Psychical Research; a society that was created to study the subject of an afterlife. According to Stephen Dene, this Society later contributed to the formation of the Shades department in 1919.
At the conclusion of the Copy-Cat Killer case, the Shades have lost all of their functioning terminus devices. This has severely hindered their ability to carry out their duties, as they are left temporarily without any means of terminating disruptive ghosts. Callum, who patrols the stations of the London Underground, resorted to slapping ghosts on the head. Mr. Thorpe (the Head of the Department of Paranormal Investigations) considered disbanding the sector. However, Stephen makes a bid to keep the Shades' division in operation by telling Thorpe about Rory's newfound terminus ability. Since Newman's attack on Rory, she has absorbed the power of the terminus device and can now terminate any ghost on contact with her skin. Mr. Thorpe and Stephen lead Rory to a Tube station under false pretenses, where they force her to demonstrate her ability.
During The Shadow Cabinet Rory obtains two working termini, allowing the team to continue their work without relying on her abilities.
Known Shades[]
- Current Police Sector Members:
- Freddie Sellars (Unofficially)
- Aurora Deveaux (Unofficially)
- Bhuvana Chodhari
- Callum
- Mr. Thorpe
- Stephen Dene
- Former Police Sector Members:
- Alexander Newman (Defected; Killed)
- David Lennox (Killed)
- Jane Watson (Killed)
- Katie Ellis (Killed)
- Margo Riley (Killed)
- Mark Denhurst (Killed)
- Other Shades:
- Jessie Johnson (Unaffiliated)