On his head the ghost dancer wore a net filled with down, a feather tuft, a band of yellow-hammer quills that followed the crown and hung down behind, and a circlet of pepperwood leaves. No other regalia were worn except a girdle and sometimes a necklace of the same foilage. The entire body was covered with paint. The most common pattern was a horizontal banding, but the style of application, as well as the colors used, were left to the choice of each performer. There was no covering for the face, although the combination of shadowing leaves and crudely smeared paint no doubt effectively diguised identity.

The ash ghosts wore a few feathers on the headand a screen of leaves to hide the face. Their bodies completely covered in paint. Ash Ghost carried a crocked stick, the butt of which was fashioned to represent the head of a crane. Ghost dancers carried live rattlesnakes on approaching the dance house and wore on their heads a flaming device. Ash Ghost would eat live coals and plunge there hands into the fire.