It is a type that's characterized for having few amounts of Pokémon and moves, also because its Pokémon tend to have low HP. In battles, this type is useful because it's the only type that has two immunities, Normal and Fighting, and its common to have moves of those two types. From Generation VI onwards, they are also immune to moves and abilities that prevent the Pokémon from escaping, like Block and Shadow Tag.
The Pokémon of this type are usually related to fear, dark and the afterlife. They usually live in abandoned houses, cemeteries, funeral places and inhabited and dark places. Also Ghost-type Pokémon tend to be extremely naughty, pranking on humans just to see their faces and reactions. A curious thing is that if the human is more scared, more power the Pokémon it will have to prank with it.
They're strong against the Psychic type because some people are afraid of ghosts, and fears affect the mind, just as the Bug type.
They're strong against themselves because there's a belief that the strongest spirit wins, referring to the spirit to the desire to win something.
They're weak against the Dark type because dark represents terror and evil, and they say that evil spirits (like Spiritomb) are punished.
They're immune against the Fighting and Normal types because spirits are incorporeal beings, thus can't be hit normally. This is also the reason why the Normal type is immune to them, because a mortal and a ghost can't hurt each other. Interestingly, the Fighting type is not immune to them.
They resist the Poison type because you can't poison someone who's already dead.
Before Generation VI, a Ghost and Dark type didn't have any weakness and was immune to the types Psychic, Normal and Fighting. However, from Generation VI onwards, they're weak only against the Fairy type.
Trivia
The only Ghost-type Pokémon released in Generation I were Gastly and its evolutions.
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??? type · Only exists within Colosseum and XD: Shadow
