Elaine Zacharides was Dr. Plato Zorba's servant before his death.
Biography[]
Elaine was Dr. Plato Zorba's servant at his house, and was aware of his experiments with the supernatural. However, when Dr. Zorba began converting the stocks and real estate into money, Elaine was disgusted. One morning, Elaine entered Dr. Zorba's room to find him suffocated in his bed. She blamed the eleven violent ghosts inhabiting the house for Dr. Zorba's death, and began to fear them without Dr. Zorba to control them.
13 Ghosts[]
When Dr. Zorba's nephew Cyrus and his family inherit the estate mansion, Elaine tries to warn them about the ghosts and get them to leave. She also tells the son of the family, Buck, about the various ghosts such as Emilio. Eventually, Elaine convinces the family to have a seance with her, during which Dr. Zorba's ghost possesses Cyrus. Through Cyrus, Dr. Zorba tries to warn the others that he and the other eleven ghosts need a thirteenth ghost to move on, and that one of them will come close to dying that night.
The day after Ben Rush is killed trying to silence Buck from revealing the house's hidden treasure, Buck talks to Elaine. Elaine assures him that when Ben died and became the thirteenth ghost, the ghosts moved on. However, Elaine also predicts that the ghosts will return one day.
Trivia[]
- According to Buck, Elaine was a witch, though this was never confirmed in the film. However, it was hinted, as at the end, Elaine took a broomstick with her when she left the mansion (possibly to fly on it). This was likely a sly reference to Hamilton's role in the classic 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Elements of Elaine's character were divided and adapted into three separate characters for the 2001 remake, basically Dennis, Maggie and Kalina. Elaine was a medium, housekeeper and assistant to Plato Zorba. The "medium" aspect of her was made into Dennis Rafkin, Maggie was made into the housekeeper and Kalina played the role of the dead uncle's assistant.
- It could also be possible that the witch belief was adapted to the character, the Pilgrimess.
- Elaine has a theoretical bio on the "Collinsport Ghost Society" website. Although non-canon, it makes an attempt to expand on her life and career, a probable fate for her character and link the character to the events of the reboot.