Casper Collector: Vanessa Irino holds Guinness World Record
Story and photos by BRANDY CRUZ
One Central Texas woman transformed her lifelong love for a friendly, fictional ghost into a collection so massive and meticulously curated that it earned her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest collection of Casper the Friendly Ghost memorabilia.
Vanessa Irino’s collection joined more than 65,000 other recorded entries in the Guinness database.
“I first saw the old ‘Casper’ TV series late at night. It was a really old one where he was a blob walking around,” Irino recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s the cutest ghost!’”
Feeling like a ghost herself while growing up, the native Texan felt drawn to the ghost’s friendly charm.
“Unfortunately, since a young age, I always felt like I was invisible in my family dynamic. I just related to him and Casper would befriend all the misfit boys and girls … he was just a friendly guy,” Irino said. “I was like, ‘Aww, Casper would be my friend if he was real!’ I found a lot of comfort in him.”
She received the first item in her collection in 1995, shortly after the “Casper” movie premiered. The small stuffed Casper doll was gifted to her by her grandmother, and remains one of her most treasured pieces of memorabilia.
As Covid swept across the world in 2020, and TikTok kept people busy, Irino ended up meeting Danii Meger, the world record holder for the largest Scooby Doo collection, through the power of social media. Irino, who already had a sizeable collection of Casper merchandise, asked her for advise and before long, she was emailing Guinness to ask if they had a world record for a Casper collection.
“They did not, but they would create the category for me,” Irino said. “They asked for proof of things that I have, so I sent over a video and lots of pictures.”
For consideration, she had to have a minimum of 1,000 individually licensed items. No bootleg items, no fan art. Autographs also do not count. The trickiest part was when it came to sets. If she had a full set of something, that counted as one item. If she had trading cards, that counted as one set. But, she discovered that items and sets in other languages count as a separate entry.
“I counted everything and had 830, but that was before we went to Japan,” she added. “We go to Japan every year because that’s where my husband is from.”
She explained that Japan has a lot of vintage Americana shops, so she was able to bring back an additional 115 items, bringing her total to 945.
“We were still a little short, but my husband was like, ‘Let’s shop smartly, but let’s get there, cause we’re full in on this,’” she explained. “There was a comic book store that closed down and he gave me a deal on comics. We looked on eBay for things I didn’t have and he had looked on Japanese auction sites. A lot of the stuff is from Japan that we either had shipped here or brought back. I finally made it at 1,153.”
Once the process begins, Guinness hopefuls only have one year to complete all the tasks required to achieve the record. Each item or set has to be photographed and labeled on a spreadsheet with a description. An expert in the field must be on hand while every single item is recorded for accuracy. And if there happens to be a mistake made? Irino said the error must be notated.
Then came the waiting game. Irino anxiously awaited the decision, which took three months. And since she discovered she had the record, she’s been on cloud nine. “How is this real?” Irino said. “Every since getting this, I’ve felt the sky was the limit.”
The sky was certainly the limit this year, as Irino also fulfilled her lifelong goal of meeting Christina Ricci, the star of the “Casper” movie, at Fan Expo Dallas, and asked the award-winning actress to autograph her Guinness World Record.
“I was embarrassed how much I cried, but I couldn’t help it — I couldn’t help it — I waited so long for this,” Irino said. “And after that, I just walked around with the dorkiest smile on my face.”
Irino also published her first book, “Kindred Spirits: A True Story on How a Friendly Ghost Changed the Life of Another.”
Her home includes an entire room dedicated to the world’s friendliest ghost, but it’s not just a room to hold a collection, it’s her safe space.
“This is a safe space — a safe haven for me — my sanctuary. I’ve always looked for such a place my whole life, besides my grandparents’ house being my safe space, and here it is,” she said.
And the girl who always felt like she was treated like a ghost her whole life, now feels loved and seen — just like her favorite friendly ghost.
