Vanessa didn't set out to break a world record. She just never stopped loving a friendly little ghost.
It started at five years old, watching late-night cartoons with her grandfather. While other kids gravitated toward Popeye or the Jetsons, Vanessa locked eyes with Casper — a small, floating figure who just wanted to be friends. At that moment, she didn't just see a cartoon character; she saw herself.
"I felt so much sympathy for him," she recalls. "I saw myself in him — being different from my peers, pushed aside, the black sheep. Casper would have been my best friend."
Her grandfather began buying her Casper VHS tapes from the dollar store — simple cassettes with three cartoons apiece, different covers but often the same cartoons inside. She kept every single one. When the 1995 Casper movie was released, the same month as her eighth birthday, her great-grandmother gifted her a small plush with glow-in-the-dark eyes. That plush became her comfort through hard nights, a tiny figure she'd hug when the world felt too heavy.
That plush now sits behind glass to showcase the spark that started her collection as a young girl.
The Casper the Ghost plush with glow-in-the-dark eyes that Vanessa’s grandmother purchased for her
From Dollar Store Tapes to a Room Full of History
What began with VHS tapes quietly grew into something extraordinary. After the 1995 movie, merchandise flooded stores — lunch boxes, backpacks, pencils, paper book covers, a candelabra that still sits in her collection today, a little wobbly after her grandfather repaired it years ago. She kept everything.
Today, Vanessa's collection numbers over 1,800 individually licensed Casper items, all housed in a single room she describes as a "cozy safe space." Her son watches VHS tapes there on a working VCR — one of the only kids she knows who understands how to use one. Her husband also loves coming in to enjoy her collection. "They're friendly eyes," she says of the hundreds of Casper figures watching from the shelves. "Eyes that are not judging me."
Among her most prized possessions is a jacket given to the cast and crew of the 1995 film, confirmed by actor Jonah Pulte, who played Uncle Stretch, as identical to the one he received on set. Two newspaper props are used in the attic scene where Casper recalls how he passed away. And two deed papers from the opening sequence — the ones Carrigan tosses into the fire — she acquired at auction just recently, now framed with certificates of authenticity, and pictures from the movie.
"Somebody was trying to outbid me," she says. "I was like, trust me — you don't love Casper more than me."
The original newspaper articles from the Casper the Ghost movie that Vanessa purchased from an auction
There is one that got away, though. A Lazarus bottle — the glowing green vial central to the movie's plot — came up at auction, and Vanessa bid hard. Her husband watched the total climb. It passed $5,000 when auction fees and shipping were factored in, and she had to let it go, unfortunately, but Vanessa is a creative lady!
So she made her own. She built a replica, lit from the bottom so the liquid glows, and has since had it signed by Cathy Moriarty, Devon Sawa, and Christina Ricci. It sits in her collection now — not the original, but in some ways more personal than the original ever could have been.
Vanessa with her homemade Lazarus Bottle
The Record Nobody Had — Until She Created It
The idea to submit to Guinness World Records came from an unlikely place: a friend on TikTok who held the world record for the largest Scooby-Doo collection.
"She asked me why I hadn't submitted yet," Vanessa recalls. "I just had self-doubt. I thought they'd ignore me."
She submitted anyway. Guinness World Records responded quickly — and with a twist. There was no existing category for Casper the Ghost collectibles. They would create one, specifically for her. The requirement: a minimum of 1,000 individually licensed items. No bootlegs. No fan art. No autographs. Cards collected as a set counted as one item, not individually.
What followed was months of methodical work. Every year, Vanessa and her husband travel to Japan, where vintage American cartoon merchandise is still widely available in specialist shops. Store owners who once simply sold to her now greet her like a regular, pulling Casper items before she even walks through the door. She returns home each trip with over 100 new pieces — new production items are still being made there alongside vintage finds that have long since disappeared from American shelves. Japan alone increased the collection’s numbers significantly.
Back home, she tracked down a closing comic book store and acquired nearly 300 Casper comics in a single lot, each counting individually toward her total. She hunted eBay for lots, Facebook Marketplace for deals, and never paid more than she had to. "I still shop smartly," she says. "I have a family. The money should go to important things first."
Once she crossed the threshold, the documentation process began in earnest. Two independent experts (friends who owned a vintage toy shop) came to physically count every item while being filmed as proof. A police officer attended as an official witness, with a clicker in hand. Every single item required a photograph, a description, its location in a photo album, and the exact timestamp of when it appeared on the counting video.
The spreadsheet alone took two weeks to complete!
If Vanessa did the collection management with Collectibles.com, cataloguing her collection would have taken a few hours, and she would have been able to export a spreadsheet of her collection in minutes! Don’t believe us, try it yourself and catalog your collection in a few simple steps.
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"It was a whole job," she laughs.
Three months after submitting her evidence, an email arrived from Guinness World Records. It landed on February 9th — just before her late grandfather's birthday. The man who had started all of this, buying dollar store VHS tapes for a little girl who just wanted to see her favorite ghost, had passed away in 2018. She was too scared to open the email. Her husband read it instead.
"He got excited. He said, 'Congratulations — you have the Guinness World Record for Casper.' Six in the morning, and I was just so happy."
All the effort and countless hours paid off thanks to that one simple email.
Vanessa with her Guinness World Record certificate
More Than a Record
The certificate confirmed what Vanessa had always known, even when the world didn't: her story was worth telling.
She has since written a book — Kindred Spirits — about her life story, her spiritual experiences, and the role one friendly ghost played throughout it. She's appeared on Japanese national television. She travels with a suitcase of duplicate items for what she calls her traveling Casper Museum. Cathy Moriarty, who played Carrigan in the 1995 film, has become a genuine and close friend.
Vanessa with Cathy Moriarty, who played Carrigan
And she's not done. The goal for this year is 2,000 items!
"It wasn't the end goal," she says. "It's a milestone. The love of Casper — he deserves so much praise. I just want to keep going."
Her grandfather would have agreed.
Vanessa’s Casper the Ghost collection
If you think that's impressive? You haven't heard the half of it!
Watch the full video interview with Vanessa on our YouTube channel to hear the stories that didn't make the page — including the auction that nearly broke the budget, her traveling Casper the Ghost Museum, and what she wants Universal Studios to know.
Watch The Full Interview here →
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