Dead people appearing off-island

[Joe Washington]

I think the dead people appearing off-island weren't disguises taken on by the MIB. I think they actually were those people or, more specificially, souls of those who have difficulty moving on the island (the whispers). They were given permission by Jacob to communicate with those in the outside world as long as they serve the function of messengers on his part like delivering the message of telling the Oceanic Six to return to the island through Hurley.

On the subject of Claire, I also think the MIB imprisoned Claire within the whispers of the island while slowly corrupting her with his influence after taking her in Season 4. Either Jacob wasn't able to relinquish the MIB's hold over Claire among the whispers or he felt it wasn't time yet for her to rebel aganist it. But at some point, he was able to let her communicate with someone off-island and that someone was Kate. He wanted Claire to tell Kate not to bring Aaron to the island, either fearing for his safety or believing it wasn't time yet for Claire and Aaron to reunite.

 

[Mr Light]

Since Cerebus is so desperate to escape the Island I have to assume that none of those off-Island appearances were by him. So I guess they were just other ghosts. As for Claire appearing to Kate, I guess it was an actual dream/prophecy and not a ghost visit. They never actually said that Claire died and was resurrected after all.

 

[Mallet]

The ghosts might have been real ghosts trying to warn/help the Losties. Remember Miles could talk to dead people anywhere, so in the Lost universe, dead people can still hang around and talk/do stuff. Hurley can actually see them and talk to them. So maybe the others can do so occasionally as well? or maybe the ghosts can choose to appear to people? Thinking about it, there is a whole lot more supernatural stuff going on in the Lost universe, then what is confined to the island.

Psychics, ghosts, people that can talk to ghosts, healing locations (off island) and probably other stuff I am forgetting right now.

Lost has really become way more of a fantasy show then the original Sci-Fi show I thought it was going to.

 

[McCoy]

Miles can't talk to dead people he can only hear their last thoughts. It's not a two-way conversation like it is with Hurley.

 

[Mallet]

Miles can't talk to dead people he can only hear their last thoughts. It's not a two-way conversation like it is with Hurley.

That's what he has told people, but the very first time we met his character he did talk to the ghost (of that old ladies grandson).

He told it to calm down. He asked it where the stuff was hidden & threatened it and the ghost responded by moving the bookcase so Mile could find the stash of money and drugs. He then told the ghost to leave/depart and it apparently did.

So that first time we met him he did have a conversation with the ghost, since the ghost did stuff he wanted it to. In fact, wasn't the whole reason he was hired to go to the island in the first place was to talk to dead people and find out when Ben was? If he could only hear the ghost's "last thoughts" like he is saying now, then he would have been useless. I mean what are most people's last thoughts on the Island? "Oh shit what's that big cloud of black smoke?!!"; "It's eating me!" or something similar, not very helpful for learning detailed information on a person you are tracking. So Miles must be able to converse with dead people. We've seen him do it and he was hired because he could do it.

So the case now is, why Mile's is lying about only being able to hear the ghost's last thoughts or did the writers make a major retcon of Miles's power later on when it became inconvenient to have Miles being able to talk to dead people since there were so many dead people with lots of answers to lots of island questions and if Miles could talk to them all he would learn/know everything that was happening on the island to easily.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I think they pretty much retconned Miles' abilities after his first flashback. He seemed to think Hurley was certifiable when Hurley told him he had actual conversations with dead people.

 

[McCoy]

If he could only hear the ghost's "last thoughts" like he is saying now, then he would have been useless. I mean what are most people's last thoughts on the Island? "Oh shit what's that big cloud of black smoke?!!"; "It's eating me!" or something similar

And yeah, I think it's a retcon.

 

[Aeon]

I think they pretty much retconned Miles' abilities after his first flashback. He seemed to think Hurley was certifiable when Hurley told him he had actual conversations with dead people.

I remember Miles having pretty much the same reaction with Hurley during the fifth season so I don't think it was changed.

 

[Jenee]

Miles character has been retconned - I guess the writers decided Hurley needed a reason to go back to the island - but, only to a point. It was this season that Miles remarked about Nikki and Paulo and the diamonds weren't their last thoughts - more like OMG! I'm still alive! Don't bury me! I ... can't ... breathe ...