When you enter Vanessa Irino’s Texas home, you’ll find a treasure trove of items featuring Casper from The Friendly Ghost lining the shelves and walls.
“It started as a little shelf collection, and then it moved to the guest room, because it started growing and growing,” Irino, 37, told Yahoo Entertainment. “We don’t have many guests, but when they come, they can sleep in the ghost room!”
Irino’s love for the gentle ghost runs deep, earning her the 2025 Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Casper memorabilia, with 1,153 items in total.
As a kind-hearted ghost who reaches out to the lonely and misunderstood, Casper’s message of kindness and acceptance resonated with Irino from an early age.
“Casper just wanted to make friends,” she explained. “People were scared of him, but his intentions were always so pure. He befriended the unseen, the misfits, the rejects, which is how I felt growing up, so I always felt drawn to Casper. He became my best friend.”
Since his 1945 debut, Casper has charmed audiences through comics, cartoons, a 1995 live-action film and countless pieces of merchandise.
Irino spent 30 years gathering every Casper item she could find, from dolls and comics to VHS tapes, PEZ dispensers and lunch boxes, determined to keep his spirit of kindness alive. For her, it was a way to share Casper’s message with the world.
“I’ve felt unseen my whole life, but Casper gave me a voice,” she said. “It’s only been recently, after getting a world record, that people are now seeing me. Finally, people are wanting to hear me and see me. It’s been really wonderful.”
Irino first submitted her collection for a world record on Oct. 25, 2023, and learned she had officially nabbed the title in February 2024. She’s featured in the 2025 Guinness World Records book, out now.
She began collecting at age 7, with dollar-store finds and VHS tapes she watched with her grandfather, who encouraged her passion until his death in 2018.
“Casper is a comfort in my life, just like my grandpa was,” she said.
Her collection blossomed over time, especially during the pandemic, when she began scouring online and at thrift stores for Casper finds — with the support of her husband, who encouraged her to “shop smartly.”
“He sees the boxes coming in, and I assure him I get things at a good price,” she joked. “I do my due diligence.”
When her son was born in 2016, Irino shared her love for Casper with him, too. Now that he’s 8, she said he often introduces himself to new friends with a touch of Casper’s spirit, saying, “I wanna be your friend. You’re my best friend!”
“Casper is teaching him to be a kind, friendly person with other kids,” she explained. “He inspired me the same way when I was little. I would see a girl or boy crying and go up to them to try and cheer them up. ”
Through her Casper memorabilia, Irino hopes to remind people to reach out to others.
“The world needs more Caspers,” she said. “He doesn’t judge anybody for who they are. He just wants to be kind to everyone, to be a friend, to help and to do good. Adults need to be reminded of this.”
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