Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Ghosts season 4, episode 6, “The Primary Source”

Although ghosts of CBS’s Ghosts are constantly discovering new powers in the afterlife and, in the process, they are always learning more about how the show’s world works. In season 3, Sass discovered that he could appear in people’s dreams and Pete found out that he could leave the bounds of the Woodstone Mansion whenever he wanted. Since then, Patience's powers expanded the show’s existing repertoire of ghostly abilities.

While future Ghosts guest stars in the form of more animal ghosts.

Ghosts Season 4 Explains Why Animal Spirits Are Rare

Thor Explained That Most Animal Ghosts Are Pure of Heart

When the ghosts discovered the snail ghost wandering across the garden, the first question was why the mansion isn't constantly overflowing with animal ghosts. After all, there are more animals than humans on the grounds of the mansion and there always have been, and the animals die sooner than human inhabitants of any given space. As such, there should theoretically be countless animal ghosts clogging up the Woodstone Mansion at all times unless Ghosts had an explanation for this discrepancy. Fortunately, Thro explained that most animals were so pure of heart that they never lingered in the afterlife for long.

The main characters theorized that the snail “Escar-Ghost” must have been a nasty customer during its life.

This explains why the mansion isn’t overrun with animal ghosts all the time, as most of them are “Sucked off” into the afterlife without attending to any unfinished business. Isaac’s Ghosts season 4 character evolution is a great example of how the sitcom handles “Unfinished business,” as each of its undead characters has some lesson they need to learn before they can move on to the afterlife. In a hilarious twist, Trevor thought that caring for the snail that they had dubbed “Escar-Ghost” would result in him being “Sucked off,” but the beam of light was actually for the snail.

How Ghosts' Animal Spirit Explanation Births A New Recurring Gag

The Sitcom Can Bring Back Animal Ghosts Anytime

Now that their existence is confirmed, Ghosts season 4 can feature most animal ghosts going forward. The main characters theorized that the snail “Escar-Ghost” must have been a nasty customer during its life, as only this would explain its persistence in the Woodstone Mansion. Thus, future animal ghosts could be similarly tricky figures who need to earn their way into the afterlife via some selfless good deeds. This means Ghosts season 4’s episodes could feature more ghost animals, setting up a fun recurring gag while also allowing Ghosts season 4 to explore a more caring side of its title characters.

New episodes of Ghosts air on Thursdays at 8:30pm on CBS.