Ghostly Trio

The Ghostly Trio (consisting of Stretch, Fatso, and Stinkie, formerly Fatso, Fusso, and Lazo) are fictional characters appearing in Harvey Comics. They are the uncles of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Their first animated appearance was in Fright from Wrong, a cartoon of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios theatrical series from the 1950s. When Casper was transferred to Harvey Comics, the characters were redesigned to make them more mischievous than terror-inspiring. The characters made numerous Harvey Comics appearances and were featured in the title Casper and the Ghostly Trio. Versions of the Ghostly Trio remained prominent in subsequent adaptations/spin-offs.

Originally, Casper was frequently provoked by unrelated generic ghosts for his friendly nature. They were gradually reworked into the Ghostly Trio in order to maintain consistency. Similar to his later incarnation, Fatso was overweight and gluttonous (although, as ghosts were capable of eating in the early stories, this trait was not as odd as it later seemed). He was the Trio's leader, as the toughest and (marginally) smartest of the three. Fatso's "second-in-command", Fusso, was portrayed as average in height and build and was characterized by exceptional fussiness and attention-to-detail. The third ghost, Lazo, was the tallest, laziest and least intelligent. Fatso's brashness and quick temper often led him into mishaps, as well as an occasional role in one of Casper's adventures; Fusso and Lazo were sometimes called "the Ghostly Duo" in his absence. The names do not seem set in stone; in "The Missing Haunts", their names are Eeko, Stretcho, and Fatso.

Since the 1995 Casper feature film, the Ghostly Trio's names have mostly remained Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie. In most appearances, they enjoy scaring people (in contrast with Casper). The group generally treat Casper as their own personal slave and mistreat him. Despite this, the Trio do care about Casper and like him more than they are willing to admit. On rare occasions, they protect him, sometimes out of self-interest. In the 2006 TV-film, Casper's Scare School, the Ghostly Trio are depicted as nice towards Casper and the brothers display concern for him. For example, when Casper leaves for Scare School, the Trio cry.

Most of the time, the Ghostly Trio express a general feeling of superiority towards the living, sometimes degenerating into hatred. In the films from 1995 onwards, they sometime refer to humans as "fleshies" or "bonebags". The 1995 film and spin-off cartoon series, however, show their friendship with Dr. James Harvey. At first, they demand he vacate their home and make his quest to learn about the afterlife difficult. They grow to like him and, certain that his obsession with finding his wife will make him become a ghost, consider expanding their group into a Ghostly Quartet. That would require killing him, but they ultimately prove unable to do it themselves (Harvey later dies in a manhole accident, but this proves temporary). After he stops trying to get them to cross over, they also keep their promise to briefly reunite him with the spirit of his wife. The spin-off cartoon (in which they appeared as the main antagonists) depicted them in a similar light, where they often harass the doctor, although out of mischief rather than hatred.