Pokémon has never done horror, but it has done ghosts since 1996 and somewhere along the way the TCG developed a serious appetite for graveyards, haunted houses and things watching you from the dark.
This is our running list of the spookiest cards in the game, from the modern full arts and cute cards to the vintage Gengars that started it. Grouped by what kind of spooky you’re after!
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Gengar, Haunter & Gastly Full Art Cards
The original Ghost line from Gen 1, and still the ones everything else gets measured against. Gastly is a ball of gas, Haunter is hands, and Gengar is the grin. Thirty years on, illustrators still can’t leave them alone.
These are our modern picks, and we have a full vintage section further down if you’re after those!
Our Picks:
- Gengar ex · 30th Celebration #154 on eBay
- Gengar VMAX · Fusion Strike #271 on eBay
- Gengar · Chinese Gem Pack 3 #307 on eBay
- Mega Gengar ex · Ascended Heroes #284 on eBay
- Pikachu · Chinese 151 #172 on eBay
- Gastly · Temporal Forces #177 on eBay
- Haunter · Mega Evolution Promos #027 on eBay
- Morty’s Conviction · Temporal Forces #211 on eBay
- Mega Gengar ex · Ascended Heroes #269 on eBay
- Gengar V · Fusion Strike #156 on eBay
Darkrai Full Art Cards
Darkrai is about as close as the Pokémon TCG gets to painting with straight black. It’s a Pokémon whose whole design is shadow with a face in it, so illustrators don’t have to add anything spooky to the frame.
Our Picks:
- Mega Darkrai ex · Pitch Black #116 on eBay
- Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND · 30th Celebration #99 on eBay
- Umbreon & Darkrai GX · Unified Minds #125 on eBay
- Darkrai · XY Promos #XY114 on eBay
Mimikyu Full Art Cards
The saddest Pokémon on this list. Mimikyu hides under a homemade Pikachu costume because it wants to be liked the way Pikachu is, and the costume comes out slightly wrong every time. If it gets torn in a fight, it stays up all night stitching it back together.
Whatever is under the cloth is a secret the lore refuses to reveal, which is a lot of menace for something this small. We have a couple great Gengar team ups here, so if you didn’t get enough Gengar above there are cameos here too!
Our Picks:
- Gengar & Mimikyu GX · Team Up #165 on eBay
- Gengar & Mimikyu GX · Team Up #53 on eBay
- Mimikyu V · Brilliant Stars #TG16 on eBay
- Team Rocket’s Mimikyu · Ascended Heroes #238 on eBay
- Mimikyu · Cosmic Eclipse #245 on eBay
Umbreon Full Art Cards
The Eeveelution you only get by leveling up at night, which made it a must-have for this list. Its black fur, red eyes, and glowing yellow rings are perfect for the theme. The two Evolving Skies cards feel like they were made for a page like this, and they do it in completely different registers.
Our Picks:
- Umbreon V · Evolving Skies #189 on eBay
- Umbreon & Darkrai GX · Sun & Moon Promos #SM241 on eBay
- Umbreon V · Brilliant Stars #TG22 on eBay
- Umbreon VMAX · Evolving Skies #215 on eBay
Scary Cards
These aren’t spooky, but scary. These are the ones that skip atmosphere and go straight for menace, and half of them aren’t even Ghost types.
Our Picks:
- Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex · Ascended Heroes #281 on eBay
- Drowzee · Scarlet & Violet #210 on eBay
- Cynthia’s Spiritomb · Ascended Heroes #244 on eBay
- Hydreigon ex · White Flare #169 on eBay
- Miraidon ex · Scarlet & Violet #244 on eBay
- Garbodor V · Evolving Skies #100 on eBay
Purple Spooky Cards
Purple is doing a lot of work in this hobby and nobody ever says it out loud. Ghost and Poison both lean on it, so it ends up being the color your brain reads as haunted before you’ve even registered what’s on the card. Put these on one page with Gengar, Gastly and Haunter, and the theme does itself!
Our Picks:
- Mewtwo ex · 30th Celebration #151 on eBay
- Mismagius · Paldea Evolved #212 on eBay
- Pecharunt · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP129 on eBay
- Miraidon · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP013 on eBay
- Toxtricity · Phantasmal Flames #103 on eBay
Haunted Houses & Mansions
Chandeliers, arches, long corridors, and a Pokémon that happens to be a light fixture standing in a building full of them. The Litwick line was designed for exactly this!
Our Picks:
- Lampent · White Flare #102 on eBay
- Chandelure · 30th Celebration #137 on eBay
- Chandelure · White Flare #103 on eBay
- Froslass · Twilight Masquerade #174 on eBay
Black, Dark & Night Spooky Cards
Where the fireplace and haunted house cards run warm, these run cold. One light source at most, everything else swallowed, and the Pokémon either emerging from it or made of it.
Our Picks:
- Gothitelle · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP211 on eBay
- Mega Chandelure ex · Pitch Black #115 on eBay
- Houndoom · Shrouded Fable #066 on eBay
- Zekrom ex · Black Bolt #172 on eBay
- Noivern V · Evolving Skies #196 on eBay
- Mewtwo · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP052 on eBay
- Spiritomb · Mega Evolution #148 on eBay
Cute & Aesthetic Spooky Cards
Spooky and Halloween has always had a second setting, the one that’s more pumpkin spice than jumpscare, and this is the section for that. Pastels, fairy lights, small ghosts having a nice time. Acerola’s Mischief is the anchor. Nothing about it is frightening and it’s still the most Halloween-y card here.
Our Picks:
- Litwick · White Flare #101 on eBay
- Acerola’s Mischief · Mega Evolution #183 on eBay
- Gothita · White Flare #124 on eBay
- Gothorita · Paldea Evolved #213 on eBay
- Espeon V · Evolving Skies #180 on eBay
- Banette · Ascended Heroes #234 on eBay
- Greavard · Scarlet & Violet #214 on eBay
Shrouded Fable Ghost Trio
Three cards, one evolution line, one continuous scene. Shrouded Fable gave Duskull, Dusclops and Dusknoir a flat cartoon treatment that looks nothing like the rest of the set and lines up left to right as a set. Goofier than it is frightening, which puts it somewhere near our funny cards post as a great connecting art set.
Our Picks:
- Duskull · Shrouded Fable #068 on eBay
- Dusclops · Shrouded Fable #069 on eBay
- Dusknoir · Shrouded Fable #070 on eBay
Fall-Themed Cards
Not spooky on their own, but they page beautifully next to everything above.
See the full run in our fall Pokémon cards post!
Our Picks:
- Vulpix · Mega Evolution #138 on eBay
- Leafeon V · Evolving Skies #167 on eBay
- Dedenne · Perfect Order #093 on eBay
- Mimikyu · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP075 on eBay
- Tepig · White Flare #096 on eBay
Vintage Spooky Cards
The old ones hold up, and the range here is wide. A few of these are grails and a surprising number are cheaper underrated gems, including some really great Expedition and Skyridge era cards that nobody talks about.
We couldn’t believe how many good ones there were, and this list is us showing restraint.
Gengar
- Dark Gengar · Neo Destiny #6 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Gengar · Gym Challenge #29 on eBay
- Gengar · Expedition #13 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Gengar · Gym Heroes #14 on eBay
- Morty’s Gengar · Japanese VS #21 on eBay
- Gengar · Skyridge #10 on eBay
- Gengar GL · Rising Rivals #40 on eBay
- Gengar · Fossil #5 on eBay
- Gengar · Diamond & Pearl #27 on eBay
- Gengar · Triumphant #94 on eBay
Haunter
- Haunter · Expedition #80 on eBay
- Dark Haunter · Neo Destiny #36 on eBay
- Haunter · Skyridge #63 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Haunter · Gym Heroes #58 on eBay
- Haunter · Legendary Collection #46 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Haunter · Gym Challenge #55 on eBay
- Haunter · Stormfront #40 on eBay
- Haunter · Arceus #41 on eBay
- Haunter · Arceus #42 on eBay
Gastly
- Gastly · Expedition #109 on eBay
- Gastly · Skyridge #57 on eBay
- Gastly · Neo Destiny #65 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Gastly · Gym Heroes #93 on eBay
- Sabrina’s Gastly · Gym Challenge #97 on eBay
- Gastly · Triumphant #63 on eBay
- Gastly · Fossil #33 on eBay
- Gastly · Base Set #50 on eBay
- Gastly · Stormfront #62 on eBay
- Gastly · Arceus #36 on eBay
More Vintage Spooky Cards
- Hypno · Aquapolis #16 on eBay
- Drowzee · Team Rocket #54 on eBay
- Golbat · Neo Revelation #29 on eBay
- Zubat · Team Rocket #70 on eBay
- Zubat · Delta Species #88 on eBay
- Golbat · Skyridge #60 on eBay
- Dark Golbat · Team Rocket #24 on eBay
Trick or Trade Set
The most on-theme product Pokémon has ever made. Since 2022 they’ve put out annual bundles of mini-packs designed to be handed to trick-or-treaters instead of candy, three cards per pack, and mostly reprints from recent sets with a pumpkin Pikachu stamp.
There are deliberately no chase cards in them, which is the whole appeal. It’s a set that exists to be given away and the stamp is the only thing that makes these different from the versions you might already own.
Our Picks:
- Umbreon · Trick or Trade #130 on eBay
- Darkrai · Trick or Trade #136 on eBay
- Mimikyu · Trick or Trade #37 on eBay
- Gengar · Trick or Trade #57 on eBay
- See all Trick or Trade cards on eBay
Commons & Affordable Spooky Cards
You don’t need a full art to build a spooky page. Gengar and Mimikyu alone have enough cheap printings to carry one. Here are some starters!
Our Picks:
- Gengar · 151 #094 on eBay
- Team Rocket’s Hypno · Destined Rivals #080 on eBay
- Gengar · Sword & Shield Promos #SWSH241 on eBay
- Mimikyu · Sun & Moon Promos #SM99 on eBay
- Mimikyu · Darkness Ablaze #081 on eBay
- Gengar · Lost Origin #066 on eBay
Which spooky card is going in your binder this October? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments below!
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