Are there such things as ghosts?

If we believe, as certainly we do, in the Old Testament (Isaiah 19:3, 1 Samuel 28), as well as the New (Matthew 14:6, Luke 24:37, Mark 6:49): of course there are.

In a book, The Spirits Around Us, are copious examples even of bishops who wrote of them (calling them revenants). Jesus Himself used the term “ghost” in a Catholic translation (Matthew 24:39).

He would not have mentioned “ghost” if ghosts did not exist, and to be frank, His disciples would not have feared such entities if they didn’t think such entities could cause damage.

Noted an eminent Church scholar named Sir Shane Leslie long ago, “The Church forbids the dead to be evoked, but there is nothing to forbid the dead making the gesture themselves, since it is clear that only by Divine permission could they do so. Whether ghosts are miracles or not, Saint Thomas Aquinas accepts the apparition of the dead which he attributes to the special dispensation of God or else to the operation of spirits, good or bad.”

Saint Gennadius once rebuked a specter that addressed him. Saint Eulogius of Alexandria [left] saw a wraith. Saint Amatus appeared after his death to his mother. And Saint Gregory — it is in his Dialogues — tells of a deacon who haunted certain baths (and was witnessed by a bishop).

Ignoring such entities is as negative as fearing or obsessing about them.

They are to be prayed for. We think of all this around Halloween and more importantly, All Souls Day (November 2). As so many focus only on humans — and things of this world — spirits swirl around (and often affect) them.

ITEM:

From LiveScience:

“A museum curator has discovered the oldest-known ghost drawing on a 3,500-year-old ancient Babylonian tablet that also includes instructions for how to exorcise the unwanted spirit. The drawing on a clay tablet depicts a seemingly grumpy, bearded male ghost being led to the underworld on a rope by a woman. A ritual engraved alongside the sketch explains that the solution for removing pesky male ghosts is to give them a lover. While examining ghost-related tablets in the vaults of the British Museum in London, Irving Finkel, a senior curator in the museum’s Middle East department, discovered the drawing and translated the accompanying ritual, The Guardian first reported.”

There is thus the belief that spirits of the deceased — not just demons — can haunt us.

Exorcists debate the matter, some arguing that ghosts, or so-called “familiar,” “familial,” or “earthbound” spirits, are always a deception — demons in masquerade (which does happen often). Others say they encounter revenants who are “stuck” on this plane of existence (and instead of being exorcised, need to be prayed into the Light).

This advice: If there’s a knock in the night, start by casting any evil spirits out, in case that’s what it is, then pray for any spirit of the deceased to be taken to the right place by Jesus.

It happens even to those who usually are skeptics.

ITEM:

From the London Mail (caution, tabloid):

The tag line: “A ghost story spooky enough to give even skeptics the chills: Geneticist who ‘doesn’t believe in ghosts’ recalls facing an ‘evil spirit’ in his university halls – only to learn THREE former residents had died.”

Begins this news item, “A geneticist has revealed how he and other students were ‘terrorized’ by an ‘evil spirit’ in the same university room in a chilling new podcast series that claims to be ‘the biggest-ever’ investigation into the paranormal.

“[The scientist, identified only as] Ken, now in his 60s, recalled a malicious force that haunted his bedroom at Queen’s University Belfast in the 1980s, sending cutlery flying, stalking empty corridors, and trying to ‘bang down the door.’

“Over three years, three groups of students staying in room 611 in Alanbrooke Hall reported supernatural happenings, including friends who believed their dreams had been hijacked by the force.”

Nothing to play with.

And so-called celebrities?

Many claim similar encounters, and, due to lack of prayer, bad “luck” attendant to them.

Reports People: “In 2009, Brittany Murphy died in her Hollywood Hills home at the age of 32. Five months later, her husband, Simon Monjack, was also found dead on the property. Since then, mysteries continue to surround their shocking deaths — and their former home has become a key player in the confounding story. Murphy, whose life and sudden death will be explored in the new documentary, What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, airing on HBO Max Oct. 14, moved into the home in 2003, after purchasing it fully furnished from Britney Spears for $3.85 million, property records show.”

As for poor Britney — who, as the world knows, has recently had her own share of bizarre problems (prayer need) —  she didn’t like the place at all. Reports People, “Both Spears and Murphy reported that they thought there was something strange about the home — which is located on Rising Glen Road, atop the Sunset Strip — when they each lived there. Spears, who was dating Justin Timberlake when she lived in the house, apparently claimed to have had an otherworldly encounter that led her to leave the property and never come back.”

Strange places,

Strange time.

Not to be feared, such stuff, but to inspire Bible-reading and prayer — whether those prayers are for protection or to pray a poor soul into the Light.

[resources: The Spirits Around Us,]