THE GHOST OF SPRINGDALE HIGH

Real Name: Fred Caskey

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Cat burglar, criminal-for-hire

Group Membership: "Speedball Revenge Squad" (the Basher, Bonehead, the Bug-Eyed Voice, , Leaper Logan, the Sticker, the Two-Legged Rat)

Affiliations: Nathan Boder, Clyde (employers)

Enemies: Speedball (Robbie Baldwin), Speedball (Darrion Grobe)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Moblie,

Twice in Springdale, Connecticut

First Appearance: Speedball#4 (December, 1988)

Powers/Abilities: Caskey is skilled enough to become a "notorious cat burglar". He's quick and agile and he wears a costume with gadgets including a rope-firing mechanism. The rope is attached to a suction cup and can be used to climb or swing on.

History: (Speedball#4) - When the skeleton of Alex Bow turned up in Springdale High, Fred Caskey was hired by Nathan Boder to break into the school and retrieve a strongbox containing information that could lead to Bow's killer. On his first attempt to break into the school, he encountered Speedball. The two fought and the cleaning staff working that night began to think the school was haunted. Caskey escaped and was told by Boder to try again. During this attempt he found the strongbox, but ran into the Masked Marvel yet again. As Caskey tried to escape, Speedball damaged his rope's feed line and Caskey became entangled. When the police arrived, Caskey was arrested and handed the strongbox to the police so that he himself would not be suspected in Bow's murder.

(New Warriors I#66 (fb) - BTS) - Caskey was one of the many villains that Clyde broke out of Springdale prison.

(New Warriors I#66) - Caskey and many other criminals were employed by Clyde to find Dr. Benson's cat Niels, which had powers similar to Speedball that Clyde intended to steal. When Speedball showed up he made short work of the group and Caksey, with the rest, went back to jail.

Comments: Created by Steve Ditko, Roger Stern, Dan Adkins and co.

In the Speedball issue, Nathan Boder is seen only in shadows and not identified as Bow's killer until Speedball #9.

On that one case Caskey was spotted and mistaken as a ghost (and even then, they also mistook Speedball for the ghost), but it I really can't consider it his supervillain name, since it was just that one time. But that is how Speedball identified him in the New Warriors issue.

I don't entirely buy Clyde's claim to have been behind all the villains of Springdale. Caskey, especially was just a cat burglar from out of town and there's nothing to connect him to Clyde prior to working for him.

My understanding is that the Speedball in the New Warriors issue wasn't really Speedball, but Darrion Grobe, who actually thought he was Speedball. That doesn't make much difference here though.

by Patrick D Ryall

CLARIFICATIONS:
Fred Caskey, The Ghost of Springdale High should not be confused with

• The Ghost of Ravenlock, Nick Fury enemy, @ Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD I#3
• The Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie Lumpkin character, @ Marvel Comics Presents#18
• The Ghost of Stone, The Queen's Vengeance version of the Vision, @ AvengersIII#2
• Fredd, Evil twin clone future self from an alternate dimenstion of Genis-Vell, @ Captain Marvel V#15
• Any other ghosts or people with similar names

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Back to Characters