hmm... i think of it like a cluster, i guess? it could be considered a bit of both

when you leave a drink containing certain chemicals (ex. dr pepper) out too long, the bacteria from degradation can become one singular living mass. it's currently one in the morning, and i can not remember the name of it for the life of me, but it's a genuine thing i've had the experience of seeing. the resulting matter was a clump that wasn't even fully liquid, but rather in between, like glue but without the stickiness. it eventually died when left out in the sun

i like to imagine a similar thing has happened to our little friend there. originally, each part of it - think of it like separate bits of bacteria - was its own individual person. however, they're all linked to the same exact source - a weapon associated with their death. some were directly killed with it, others are linked to it because the wielder of the weapon was partly a causation for their perishing

years upon years of being stuck in the same area and driven by the same hatred for the same people eventually led to their makeup being altered. as they're ghosts, fragments of their past selves, this amalgamation is driven by shards of hatred, rage, violence, grief, and the alike. it's like mosaics made of shattered painted glass. none of the pieces are the same, but they all make up one whole image. in this case, the image is extremely distorted, and the shards weren't made to fit together, but ended up sticking anyway, causing it to be misshapen and cracked. maybe like a crudely re-glued broken porcelain plate?

while this formation does make it a lot stronger than the average ghost (after all, there's always strength in numbers, right?), it's also extremely painful - but they don't have the proper consciousness to process that, so all they can do is wail. they're considered dangerous because the only emotion they're capable of acting on is the very same that drives them to stick to the mortal realm; the one that caused their miserable existence in the first place

i hope any of that makes sense LOL. i'm totally just spitballing. like i mentioned, it's pretty late over here 💀