westly185, although it could be that Kate was just having a bad dream about Claire, the whispers she heard beforehand is enough to make me believe that the island had something to do with it. But why a telephone call? Ghost Charlie and others are "seen" by the losties off the island.

All the visions of dead people can’t be attributed to the same process and the people in the visions shouldn't be taken at face value. First, those in dreams could be more about the dreamer than the person they portray. Then there’s Smokie or whatever intelligence is controlling Smokie. The writers have said that Yemi was the smoke monster, not really Yemi at all. Christian could be the same, either Smokie's ability to read live people's thoughts or to use corpses from the island to deliver messages - or both. Interesting how the only funeral we see for an Other is a Viking funeral where the corpse is destroyed.

There's no reason to believe that Ben's mother was ever on the island, but her photo is there along with Ben's imagining what his mother was like. This may be similar to Walt's ability. We know Walt is special and can "appear where he's not supposed to be." The Others, no doubt, hoped he was destined for leadership. It seemed to me that Richard recognized that Ben seeing his mother made him special, too, and therefore perhaps destined for leadership.

Charlie's and Anna's appearances to Hurley seem to be there solely to mess with Hurley's head. I just can't believe they are who they appear to be. His imaginary friend was all in his head too, obviously, but it could have been Smokie’s attempt to kill him. Perhaps Smokie was actually fooled into thinking that this was a real person because, at times in his life, Hurley believed him to be real.

Claire’s case is different, too. Assuming she died when her house blew up, Claire seems to come back to life immediately and doesn’t realize she’s dead. Only Miles seems to know this. It looks like Christian comes to her to inform her of her death and convince her to abandon Aaron. So is she really Claire, with her own free will, or is she Smokie? And where is her corpse? But maybe Claire’s not dead at all. Her appearance to Kate could be for real or, more likely, just an anxious dream of Kate’s.

Harper could be “traveling” around the island in her appearance to Juliet much like Tom, Ben, and Richard leave the island at different times. Not like when Ben turned the wheel but as Tom confirmed with Michael, that some of them “just come and go” at will through some mysterious method that presumably Locke has learned. There’s no reason to believe Harper is dead.

Zauriel, I don't think I can go along with you that Boone was only a drug-induced vision of Locke's. Boone had some pretty interesting stuff to say in that scene -- I don't think it just came out of Locke's head.

Also, I don't think we know for sure yet, but what about what's-her-face, Goodwin's wife? Is she dead? Did she die on-island? What was up with her appearance to Juliet?

And of course there's Walt -- he appears on-island, but as far as we know he's not dead.

zauriel,

it is true Christian died off island as well as Ben's mom.. But it remains to be seen yet weather either of them were on the island in the past. I don't think either Jack or Ben would be so central to the story if there family had no history with the island. I think time will tell that they have all been there @ some point.

Maven, I understand your theory (die in service, become part of it), but it doesn't really explain things. Christian died in Australia never having known about the island. As well as Ben's mother, who also died off-island and whose body never once touched it (unless Ben and his dad dug her up years after her death and brought her body with them on the Dharma sub).

The mobisodes showed us that Christian was up and walking around the jungle before Jack even ever opened his eyes in the Pilot, which is some pretty quick revival action for the island to take. Why is it only people who died off-island seem to appear on the island after death? Christian, Ben's mom, Eko's brother ... but those who died on-island don't? Boone, Shannon, Eko, Charlie, Libby, Ana Lucia ... (Eko's dream vision of Ana and Locke's drug vision of Boone not counting as actual on-island appearances). Oddly enough, it seems that those who die on-island only appear off-island after death (Ana and Charlie appear to Hurley, and Libby appears to Michael).

I don't think the fans would revolt.. The dead re-appearing has been an ongoing thing in the series, Christian being the first and best example. I'm still sticking with the idea that if you die in service of the island, you become part of it.

Time travel and reincarnation! Come on! There'll be a fan revolt!

But seriously, the whole test with Richard Alpert and young Locke pointed to reincarnation as an element of the show last season. This test is supposedly used by Buddhists to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other important Buddhists.

But I don't think that the reincarnation we'll find on Lost will be the same Buddhist or Hindu religions. It will tie into the sightings of dead people like Ben's mother and Charlie. It will have something to do with Miles' ability to communicate with the "dead," his indifference to Naomi's death, and his interest in Claire before she disappeared. It will have something to do with Locke's body supposedly having to be returned to the island. In short, it will tie in more with time travel than the traditional idea of reincarnation.

I agree with jmm635. Remember when Christian said to Locke that he wasn't Jacob but could speak on his behalf? So if they take Locke's body back to the island Jacob might, how can I say this without it sounding demonic, posses his body (nope it still sounds creepy). Also, Ben had a funny look on his face when Jack wondered why they needed to keep the body safe if Locke was dead. I bet that Locke, before "dying", will be told of his purpose (other than "because I was chosen".

Perhaps Locke will be reincarnated as Jacob on his return to the island. Maybe that's why we see Christian Shepard as Jacob last season.

On an easter egg on the Lost: Season 4 DVD, Damon Lindelof talked about reincarnation.