The Birth: A cop named Corrigan back in the 40's was murdered by Louis Snipe - a gangster who was regularly being busted by Corrigan. His gang dumped him into a barrel of cement and tossed him into the river. Corrigan - the man was killed, but his spirit stayed on as he became the Spectre!
The Spectre was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily and had it's first appearance way back in the golden age in More Fun Comics #52. The Spectre's canonical debut took place in The Spectre #1, December 1992 an issue by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake.

The Legend: When Corrigan became the Spectre, he became an entity who could travel the different realms, of the dead and the living, and see into the very souls of the people. His resolve was to fight crime in ways which the others could not.

Jim Corrigan was not the first being to be the Spectre. Originally the Wrath of God was the being that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, the one that humbled the Pharaoh and killed the first born of Egypt. (See Spectre #0 Volume III) This Wrath of God was the horn blast that brought down the walls of Jericho and stopped the sun in its tracks for the battle. For centuries the Wrath of God punished and humbled mankind, until the son of God was born. At that instant, the Wrath of God was cast into limbo, for vengeance and forgiveness cannot walk the same earth together. When the son of god died on the cross, the Wrath of God exploded from limbo and sought vengeance on mankind. The Godhead had declared that since the son of God had walked the Earth, beings such as the Spectre must be bound to a human soul. The first Spectre to walk the Earth and perform its duties was Charaka. For Chakara's family was slain by Lady Beltane and Chakara had cried for justice! Kali appeared and joined with Chakara to become what we know as the Spectre. His soul mixed with the essence of the divine wrath. and became a killing ghost that seeked justice and enlightenment. For years, Chakara fullfilled his mission on Earth until others took his place.

Although the Spectre was dormant for centuries, he would soon emerge in the world of mystery men, the 1940's. Police detective Jim Corrigan and his fiancee socialite Clarice Winston were captured by the criminal "Gat" Benson and two of his men. (See More Fun Comics #52) Corrigan was placed in a barrel that was filled with cement, and then dumped off a wharf into a river. Corrigan died and his spirit, now in a void, began travelling toward a streaming light ahead of him, but was somehow prevented from reaching its source. A Voice told that his mission on Earth was unfinished and that he was to return there to fight evil with the supernatural powers he now possessed. Back on Earth Corrigan's spirt confronted Benson, took his vengeance on him. However Clarice Winston was shot at the last moment but with his newly found power, Jim Corrigan gave part of his essence to save the woman he loved. Later, the Spectre killed the criminal named Rhami, who had hired Benson to murder Corrigan.

Corrigan worked on the police force while battling both ordinary criminals and supernatural menaces as the Spectre. (Eventually, the Voice allowed the Spectre to inhabit Corrigan's resurrected body, which Corrigan's spirt would leave to go into action as the Spectre.) In recent times, certain points of the Spectre's origin has been rewritten. With Jim Corrigan's new mission as an agent of God, he confronted the criminals as Jim Corrigan and not as the Spectre in his early days. It was not until his partner in the police force, J. Percival Poplaski (Percival Popp) who knew of Jim Corrigan's supernatural abilities created a costume for him. Jim Corrigan could now become one of the mystery men of the 1940's and he was now truly the Spectre. The following year, the Spectre helped other mystery men stop Hitler's attack on England and the United States and with Fate vouching for him, helped found the legendary Justice Society of America. The Spectre was a founding member of the Justice Society of America and a member of the wartime All-Star Squadron.

When the evil astral being Azmodus came to Earth and inhabited a human body, both Azmodus and the Spectre became trapped in their host bodies. Decades later, the Spectre was finally able to leave Corrigan's body when Azmodus' human host died, and the Spectre defeated Asmodus.

The Spectre's career has been checkered, mostly owing to the size of the mission he was given. Despite unimaginable power, the Spectre was unable to make a difference during the Crisis on the Infinite Earths & Zero Hour. During Zero Hour, Parallax attained enough power to battle the Spectre. The Spectre failed yet again to make any difference during the Final Night as it may have been God's will to allow the sun to be extinguished. However, the Spectre merged with Gaea to protect and heal the Earth while the sun was extinguished. The Voice reduced the Spectre's powers after the Crisis on Infinite Earth and gave him a new mission on Earth: the Spectre was now to attempt people from killing others and to avenge the spirits of the unjustly slain by punishing their murderers in manners befitting the nature of the crime. As Corrigan, he is now a private investigator in New York City. His office was in the same building as Madame Xandu's parlor. The mysterious lady is linked to the Spectre's destiny. Also added to Corrigan's life was Kim Liang, an assist charged by Madame Xanadu to keep watch over Corrigan's body while the Spectre was on a mission. This was over seven years ago.

In recent times, the Spectre and Jim Corrigan have become one being and he has formed strong bonds with Father Craemer and often councils Jim Corrigan on the problems he faces as the Spectre. On some occasions, Corrigan takes his advice too literally, such as when Father Craemer wished that no one would be murdered on Christmas Eve. And New York was made safe for one night.

During the recent Genesis crossover, the Spectre found the gates of Heaven ajar while Heaven itself was empty. In an effort to find God, the Spectre encountered his version of God. After a short battle with "God", the Spectre returned to Earth, realizing that this being was created by Corrigan himself and the path that he chose. Corrigan was battling his own consciousness while questioning his mission. Father Craemer helped recover the remains of Jim Corrigan and organized a funeral for him to finally put his soul to rest. Those attended included the remaining members of the JSA, Superman & Swamp Thing to name a few. Once his funeral was complete, Jim Corrigan was split from the Spectre entity and was allowed into heaven.

Just Recently the Earth was threatened from an invasion from the 5th dimension and the JLA member Zauriel and JSA member Sentinel seeked out the Spectre for assistance. Beings from the 5th dimension had tied the Wrath of God to an alien planet in another dimension. However, by freeing the Spectre, the Spectre would destroy every living creature on the planet so he used his powers to accelerate time on the planet. Thus causing the planets inhabitants to live their lives in seconds and when the last of their race died, Zauriel and Sentinel freed the Spectre. However by the time they returned to Earth, the Crisis was over and the Spectre continued to search for a suitable new host.

Mosr recently Parallax was recued from purgatory and bonded with the Spectre to become the new Spectre.