The Afterlife Counseling Center is a bureaucratic government service in the Afterlife tasked with assisting recently deceased ghosts get adjusted to the afterlife.
Description[]
The NCC's sign
The Counseling Center is tasked with notarizing and overseeing new arrivals to the Afterlife and assigning case workers to act as their advisors and disciplinary officers on behalf of local Afterlife governments and police forces.[1][2][3] The center also determines or officiates how many years ghosts will spend in the living world until their souls can pass on which is usually determined by how a ghost lived in life which may leave them tied down to a certain place or town they were fond of, or simply due to the bureaucratic process taking too long for staff members to go over a ghost's case.[3][2][4]
Waiting Room #8 in the counseling center.
After a ghost completes their designated time of stay (if they've been assigned one) they will be sent to the center's Immigration Department where, based on their record, they will be assigned to move onto the Great Beyond for a peaceful eternity.[3] However, if certain ghosts have committed heinous sins and crimes during life or while in the Afterlife, they will instead be sentenced to Saturn/Sandwormland or to the Fires of Damnation for heinous suffering.[3][2]
The Counseling Center also has a dedicated complaints office where ghosts can report complaints to be documented, but too many complaints will result in a center agent being dispatched to rehabilitate the ungrateful ghost into appreciating their afterlife by having them experience a world where they do not exist.[2] The Counseling Center also houses a call center where ghosts can phone in concerns they may have and ask for guidance regarding haunting.[3] Ghosts can also arrange to be resurrected by convincing a living human into taking their place in the afterlife or marrying them which will also be notarized by the center's immigration department.[1][3]
Staff[]
The Counseling Center employs a large staff of ghosts to help manage the affairs of the deceased until they can pass on, but the most important staff members are the case workers who directly handle most of the bureaucratic process and directly interview ghosts in need of assistance. Case workers also seem to be granted a degree of special powers to assist in their roles.[1]
Case Workers[]
- Juno
- I.M. Smallhead
- Neitherworld Complaint Office Boss
Receptionists, Secretaries and Assistants[]
- Beetlejuice
- Miss Argentina
- Road Kill Man
- Hanging Man
- Three Fingered Typist
- Clarence Sale
- Numerous Skeletons
- Numerous Shrinkers
Areas[]
- Afterlife Waiting Rooms
- Waiting Room #8 and others
- Juno's Office
- Smallhead's Office
- Afterlife Complaint Office
- Afterlife Call Center
- Afterlife Immigration Department
- Warehouse
Appearances[]
- Beetlejuice (movie) (1988)
- Chapter 11: "The afterlife."
- Chapter 12: "Interview with Juno."
- Chapter 20: "Never trust the living."
- Chapter 27: "Lightheaded."
- Beetlejuice (animated series) (1989)
- Beetlejuice Comics (1991)
- Beetlejuice: The Musical The Musical The Musical (2018)
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (movie) (2024)
Cancelled appearances[]
- Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian (1990, mentioned)