Like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor had ghosts hiding in shots. One was a World War I ghost, but who was he?

The Haunting of Bly Manor gave us a bittersweet love story that seemed to be a ghost story. Sure enough, there were ghosts in the tale.

Like The Haunting of Hill House, there were many ghosts that caused no harm. They just appeared in shots, in the background or off to the side. The aim was to see them as the story played out in the foreground.

One of the ghosts was a World War I ghost. He appeared in a couple of episodes at the very least, although IMDb puts him in four episodes.

During The Haunting of Bly Manor Episode 8, the story behind the ghosts was explained. We learned how they ended up dying and being trapped to the grounds. One that was missing was the World War I ghost.

Caution: We’re getting into spoilers as we theorize this regularly appearing ghost.

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How did the World War I soldier die?

Not all the ghosts were killed by other ghosts. The majority of them were killed by Viola Lloyd, who would roam the halls at night for centuries. She’d kill whoever was in her path, taking a small boy to the lake with him to kill him there.

We saw her kill the plague doctor and a priest. We saw her take a small boy into the lake with her. We’d also see her kill Peter. But we never saw her kill a soldier ghost.

Now, maybe it’s a deleted scene. It could also be possible that the soldier simply died on the grounds similar to Hannah and Becca. His death on the grounds meant that he was trapped there until released.

Why would he have been on the grounds? Bly Manor was turned into a makeshift hospital during the plague. We saw various people gathered in the hallway, where it would have been easier to contain the spread of the disease. It’s likely based on this that Bly Manor was turned into a hospital during World War I.

Many homes like this were turned into hospitals. Just look at Downton Abbey. Some soldiers wouldn’t have survived their injuries, so the World War I ghost may have been him. It’s also possible that he wandered the halls at night and got in Viola’s path.

Either way, that’s probably how he ended up dying on the grounds since he does seem important enough to get a story of his own.

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What did you think of The Haunting of Bly Manor? Did some of the ghosts confuse you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is now available to stream on Netflix.