Spider Witch

The Spider Witch is a serial killer and a villainess from both Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) and Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Stylized Versions).

According to Tobin's Spirit Guide

 * Category: Class VI Elevated Remnant
 * Type: Deity (supreme being)
 * Behaviors:
 * Attacks: Melee, Range
 * Weaknesses: Proton Stream

Notes:
This anonymous woman (the authorities never discovered her identity), spent several years in the 1920s living in the Hotel Sedgewick. There, for purposes only known to herself and to her master, Ivo Shandor, leader of the Cult of Gozer, she lured men into her rooms and then murdered them (though it's uncertain if they were killed before or after they were hung from the ceiling and drained of their blood).

As a reward for her efforts as a member of his inner circle, after her death, Shandor used his powers to "elevate" her, creating the Spider Witch. Now a terrifying spider-human fusion, she and her insect-like minions protect Shandor's interests in the strange, twisted plane that exists immediately between our world and the ghost world.

Notes from the Sedgewick's Manager "Most of the old staff knows the stories about the Spider Witch. She was a professional widow who did unimaginable things in a room on the twelfth floor back in the 1920's. Her victims were hung from the ceiling, drained of blood then dragged around. The walls of her room were literally painted with blood. The furniture was hacked, chewed and crushed up in the corner like a giant nest. Her room was 1221. After her spree it was locked up, until about five years ago when the hotel was remodeled."

In Game After getting separated from the others, Dr. Egon Spengler and the Rookie eventually tracked her down to her room within a twisted spider lair of the Sedgewick Hotel. After an intense battle with the demonic murderess, the duo managed to defeat the creature.

Contact Protocol:
The Spider Witch is a fierce fighter! She is extremely susceptible to your Proton Stream and often needs to scamper away to regenerate her PK energy. When she does, use your P.K.E. Meter to locate her and interrupt her feeding with a Boson Dart. When she attempts to rush you head-on, back her away with a Boson Dart, then continue weakening her P.K.E.. Fend off her Venom Crawlers as you chase after the Spider Witch and finish her off quickly before she manages to regenerate her PK energy.

Manifestation Point:

 * Hotel Sedgewick (second visit)

According to Tobin's Spirit Guide

 * Category: Class 6 Full Torso Floating Manifestation
 * Abilities: Slime

Tobin's Summary:
A standard paranormal event is the anthropomorphic manifestation. These are the remnants of people that probably inhabited the area where they ghost is now being witnessed. Oftentimes the person in question had some strong tie to the location or had unfinished business there. The spirit remains until either the business is attended to or it is driven away.

Egon's Notes:
The hotel manager mentioned some details about a woman with nefarious habits that occupied the hotel back in the 1920s. Apparently her deeds carried enough psychic trauma that her spirit became trapped here in the afterlife, regardless of where her physical remains lie. I believe her acts in the '20s could have been a precursor to the trouble she's begun recently. Perhaps she had some sort of pact with Shandor and agreed to act out this plan so many years later.

Ray's Tips:
Not so scary now is she? Finish her off with the Blast Stream and a trap and we can consider this 70-year-old mystery closed.

Supplemental Data
The art page can be found in the Hotel Sedgewick (second visit), during the "The Mysterious 13th Floor" section. It is in the room where the Spider Witch opens a portal.

According to Tobin's Spirit Guide

 * Category: Class 7 Transmogrified Manifestation
 * Abilities: Summon Spider Scuttlers, Web-Walking, Web-Hanging, Web Slinging

Tobin's Summary:
Some manifestations have hidden reserves of energy either buried deep within themselves or stored in an external location, similar to the way ancient Egyptians used canoptic jars. When in duress, these spectres will often draw from this source to assume a more frightening form. Far from a scare tactic, this new shape carries with it any appendages and size advantages that its appearance implies. This is usually a last-ditch move for the ghost in question, though, as tapping the secondary energy source will drain it until it can slowly build up over a couple of weeks or months.

Egon's Notes:
I hope my arachnophobia hasn't clouded my observational acuity in the case of the "Spider Witch" entity. She was obviously storing mass amounts of energy through the Mandala and thirteenth floor flux in order to fuel her transformation. This is another example Tobin would probably attribute to pattern selection from the soniferous ether, citing the choice for such an iconic form as a memetic path of least resistance for the Spider Witch.

Ray's Tips:
She was scary enough before, sheesh! Our devices don't seem to phase her directly, but we already know the Stasis Stream works wonders on her webs. Try using that to freeze her webs, whether she's hanging on them or trying to crawl around on them. Falling to the ground should prove damaging to her physical form--enough falls and we can force her to abandon it.

Supplemental Data
The art page can be found in the Hotel Sedgewick (second visit), during the "Squish the Spiderwitch" section. It is hidden in a table in the center of the normal ballroom (don't be slow!).

Trivia

 * There are some strong clues and hints in the games that the Spider Witch was already not human, but some type of supernatural creature long before she became the guardian of the Mandala.
 * In the Realistic version, the bones of the Spider witch victims lay scattered on the ground throughout her realm.
 * In the Stylized Version, Spider Witch is the only boss you can trap after you 'killed' her physical form.
 * Presumably, Shandor must have stayed a few nights at the Sedgewick with the Board of Trustees and the Chairman, and must have met the Spider Witch when she was dead or alive, who then helped him activate the third node of the Mandala.
 * It is safe to hypothesize that the Webbed Fiends encountered in the second trip to the Sedgewick just may be the transmogrified spirits of her victims still under her twisted influence.
 * She resembles the Other Mother's true form from the 2009 stop motion movie Coraline.
 * Spider Witch looks very much like Spiderlegs, an evil entity from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Ransom of Greenspud".
 * During the first mission in the Sedgewick while tracking down Slimer, pass by room 1221 and if you look through your Ecto Goggle at it you can see a spectral spider on the door. It also puts off high PKE readings. This is absent in the Stylized version.
 * In the Realistic version, she appears as an attractive young woman. In the Stylized version, her human form appears older and heavier set, while her transmogrified form seems to be based on the realistic one.
 * In What in Samhain Just Happened?!, the Spider Witch appears in the mirror above the four Ghostbusters on the Cover RI variant.