Ghosts and the Bible

“Scrooge!”
moaned the ghost
of Jacob Marley.
“Jacob Marley!”
whispered an
incredulous
...and the Bible
 The Voorhies Castle
located between
Bement and Monticello
in Piatt County, IL, and
the site of alleged
ghostly activity.
 Just what does the
Bible have to say
about the existence of
ghosts?
Anything?
I was asked these
questions by a
member of the
church.
 And to be quite
honest, I did not
know how to answer
them.
 I mean, I had heard
some in the church say
that there are no such
things as ghosts, and
they would then quote
Hebrews 9:27 as their
proof.
So what I meant was
that I had never
studied the topic
myself to see if what I
had been told was
correct.
I will say this much, though, and that is that I have
heard from several preachers who tell me...

...they believe the Bible teaches that ghost and

spirit activity exists, and they have had
personal encounters with the paranormal.
 However, every last one of them has asked
that their identities remain confidential as
they feel they would be ostracized if their
beliefs became known publicly.

And that, dear friends, is both sad and frightening.

 Alleged ghost in
woods of Wales,
Great
So what doBritain
you think?
How would you
answer these
Whatquestions?
does the Bible
say about ghosts?
 Since Hebrews 9:27
seems to be the
verse used by many
to disprove the
existence of ghosts,
let’s begin our study
“And inasmuch as it is
appointed unto men
once to die, and after
this comes judgment;”
This says nothing one
way or the other about
the existence of ghosts.
 To claim that this verse
proves that ghosts do not
exist is to take it out of
context.
What it is teaching is that
we get no second chances
once we have passed
away.
The Crenshaw House,
also known as
Crenshaw Mansion or
Hickory Hill, is most
commonly known as
The Old Slave House.
Here is a picture of John and
Francine Crenshaw, original
builders and owners of the
Old Slave House.
At one point John became so
wealthy off of slave labor
that his tax burden alone
amounted to one-seventh of
the revenue for the entire
state budget.
John is holding a crutch
due to an injury he
received when he lost a
leg in 1848.
He lost the leg during a slave
uprising in reaction to a
merciless beating John was
giving to several female
slaves.
John’s cruelty supposedly
is the reason so many
spirits remain restless in
this house to this very
day.
Let’s take a look at
some other
passages to see if
they might shed
some further light
on this subject.
 Matthew 14:27

And when the disciples

saw Him walking on the
sea, they were troubled,
saying, “It is a ghost;”
and they cried out for
But straightway Jesus
spoke unto them,
saying, “Be of good
cheer; it is I; be not
afraid.”
Did anything we just
read strike a chord
with you?
 Did Jesus rebuke the
apostles for believing in
ghosts?
 Luke 24:36-39

And as they spoke these

things, He Himself stood
in the midst of them, and
said unto them, “Peace
be unto you.”
But they were terrified
and affrighted, and
supposed that they
beheld a spirit.
And He said unto them,
“Why are you troubled?
And wherefore do
questionings arise in
your heart?
“See My hands and My
feet, that it is I Myself:
handle Me, and see; for
a spirit has not flesh
and bones, as you
 It would seem that a
good argument could be
made that Jesus is
acknowledging the
existence of spirits when
He made these
statements.
 Once again, Jesus does
not rebuke the apostles
for their belief in spirits,
and in fact, He goes out
of His way to show
them that He was not
just a spirit.
Probably the most famous ghost picture of all time
is "The Brown Lady" taken in 1936 by
photographers Captain Provand and Indre Shira
while shooting for Country Life Magazine.

This photo purports to show a ghost descending a

staircase at England's historic Raynham Hall, which
is said to be haunted by Lady Dorothy Walpole,
who once lived at the Hall.
She is known as “The Brown Lady” due
to reports of the spirit being seen
wearing a brown brocade dress.
She officially died of smallpox, but
rumors have it that she was pushed
down the stairs by her husband after
learning of an affair.
 The following are
alleged authentic and
un-doctored
photographs of ghosts
caught on camera.
 The images of the
alleged apparitions
appeared after the film
was developed, their
presence unbeknownst
at the time they were
taken.
 A grieving girl figure
holding a rose is seen...

...standing in front of her

grave in this picture:
 Taken in 1919, this alleged ghost photo of a
Royal Air Force squadron from WWI has an
extra spectral face in the picture.
 It is believed to be Freddy Jackson, an air
mechanic who had been accidentally killed by
an airplane propeller two days before the
picture was taken.
His funeral took place on the day the
photograph was taken.
 Members of his air squadron recognized his face
with ease and believed he must have showed up for
the picture, unaware he had passed away.
Freddy's ghostly apparition appears behind the
airman in the top row, fourth from the left.
 A figure of an
alleged ghost of a
woman hovers in
a cemetery.
 One of the creepiest
photographs of a ghost,
(and one of my personal
favorites), is of an alleged
specter of a young girl
carrying a doll in the
hospital where she
 Although skeptics
doubt the photo’s
authenticity, it has
not been disproved
definitively.
Here it is:
 The following passage
from the book of Job
describes an encounter
with a ghost that is as
spooky as any Gothic
novel or Edgar Allen Poe
story ever penned could
 Now a thing was
secretly brought to
me, and my ear
received a whisper
thereof.
In thoughts from the
visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls
on men,
Fear came upon me,
and trembling, which
made all my bones to
shake.
 Then a spirit
passed before my
face; the hair of my
flesh stood up.
It stood still, but I
could not discern
the appearance
thereof;
A form was before my
eyes: There was
silence, and I heard a
voice, saying,
“Shall mortal man be
more just than God?
“Shall a man be more
pure than his Maker?”
Job 4:12-17
This picture was taken
in 1959 by Mrs. Mabel
Chinnery.
Apparently, no one
was in the backseat
when the picture
was taken.
 Mrs. Chinnery
recognized the person
in the backseat as her
dead mother whose
grave she just
 She staked her
reputation on the
authenticity of the
photograph.
 Some believe that the writer of Hebrews,
(probably the apostle Paul), mentions the
fact of spirits being all around us in
Hebrews 12:1, when he wrote,
"Therefore, we also having so great a
cloud of witnesses set around us…."
 In all fairness, however, this may just be a
literary device used to describe in somewhat
poetical terms all those men and women of
great faith mentioned in the previous
chapter, the Hall of Faith.
 However, even if the writer is referencing
those just mentioned in the 11th chapter
there is nothing contextually that would
prevent the verse we just read from alluding
to the existence of ghosts.
 This picture was taken by Tony O'Rahilly in
1995, as Wem Town Hall, Shropshire,
England, burned down. The girl in the doorway
was not seen at the time the photo
was taken.
When examined by photographic expert Dr.
Vernon Harrison, former
president of the Royal Photographic Society
the photo was deemed genuine, in that
it was not tampered with.
In 1977 there was another fire in this place,
started accidentally by a young girl by the
name of Jane Churm.
Is this her ghost?
Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from
White Rock, British Columbia, took this now-
famous photograph in 1966.
 He intended merely to photograph the
elegant spiral staircase (known as the "Tulip
Staircase") in the Queen’s House section of
the National Maritime Museum in
Greenwich, England.
 Upon development, however, the photo
revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs,
seeming to hold the railing with both hands.
Experts, including some from Kodak, who
examined the original negative concluded
that it had not been tampered with.
It's been said that unexplained figures have
been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the
staircase, and the inexplicable sound of
footsteps have also been heard.
 In my opinion, to claim
the Bible denies the
existence or possibility
of ghosts does not hold
up under scrutiny, for
undeniably we have
examples of the dead
appearing to the living.
We have already looked
at a passage from the
book of Job, but what
about the Mount of
Transfiguration?
What about Samuel and
the Witch of Endor?
 Elijah was taken
away from Elisha in
a fiery chariot, but
Moses died just
before the children
of Israel entered the
Promised Land.
 And yet, the figure of
Moses appeared with
Jesus and Elijah before
the eyes of Peter,
James and John
(Matthew 17:1-3).
 Moses could not have
been in a glorified,
resurrected body,
because Jesus had not yet
been crucified, and He is
said to be the firstborn of
the resurrection (Romans
8:29; Colossians 1:15).
Referring to Jesus
Christ, Paul wrote,
 “And He is the head
of the body, the
church: Who is the
beginning, the
firstborn from the
dead; that in all
things He might have
the preeminence.”
 Now I can see Peter,
James and John in this
picture; I can see Jesus,
Moses and Elijah; now
where did this extra
person
Who come
is he from? to
supposed
be?
 This photo was shot at
Boothill Cemetery in
Tombstone, Arizona by Terry
Clanton, cousin of the
legendary Clanton Gang who
shot it out at the OK Corral
with the Earps and Doc
Holliday.
 Clanton, also the
webmaster of
TombstoneArizona.com,
says, "This is the photo
that changed my opinion
about ghost photos."
He insists no one was in the
background when the
picture was shot.
Let’s take a look at Saul,
Samuel and the Witch of
Endor.
And when the woman saw Samuel, she
cried with a loud voice; and the woman
spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you
deceived me? For you are Saul.”
And the king said unto her, “Be not afraid: for
what do you see?” And the woman said unto
Saul, “I see a spirit coming up out of the
Earth.”
1 Samuel 28:12-14

"What does he look like?" asked Saul. And she

replied, "It is an old man who is rising, clothed
in a mantle." Saul knew that it was Samuel, and
so he bowed his face to the ground in homage.
 Those who say there are no such things as
ghosts have to make the following
assumptions about this passage:

1. They assume that God just allowed this to take

place in this particular case, yet there is nothing in
the context that bears this out.
 2. They assume that the Witch shrieks
because she has never seen a spirit before,
even though the context does not bear this out.
 All we know is that she cried out with a loud
voice when she saw the ghost of Samuel. For all
we know this is what she did every time she
called up an apparition. We just do not know
based upon scripture, so we can not make a
doctrine based upon assumptions.
Many people also claim the passages in the Old
Testament that forbid the people from going to
those with a familiar spirit, which is what the
Witch of Endor was, as meaning there are no
such things as ghosts. But that is reading more
into the passage than is written.
God forbid the people from going to those who
had a familiar spirit because these people were
practictioners of idolatry.

It was part of their religion, and they were the

priests or priestesses of that religion.
 A good “rule of thumb” to recognize when a
prohibition is being made due to the practice of
idolatry is when at the conclusion you read, “I
am the Lord,” or “I am your God,” or “I am
Jehovah your God.”
Here is a picture of the Nicholson
Mansion being moved in
Indianapolis, IN. In the top
window, a little girl can be seen
staring out at the workers.
They are sure there was no little girl
in the home on that day.
This photo was taken at King Henry VIII's palace
by a security camera in December of 2003.

The palace staff was completely puzzled by this

robed figure.
 “And Jesus cried again with a loud voice,
and yielded up His spirit.

“And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in

two from the top to the bottom; and the Earth
did quake; and the rocks were rent;
Matthew 27:50-53

“and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of

the saints that had fallen asleep were raised;

“and coming forth out of the tombs after His

resurrection they entered into the holy city and
appeared unto many.”
It is my belief that these were ghosts that
appeared in Jerusalem after Jesus died
because of the following reasons.

The word translated “raised” in verse 52

in reference to these individuals, although
closely related to the word translated
“resurrected” in reference to Jesus in
verse 53, is not the same word, and it does
not have the same meaning.
 It is never used in reference to a bodily
resurrection, but it means to waken or
rouse from death.

Additionally, we are told that the bodily

resurrection will not occur until Jesus
returns to gather His Bride to take it with
Him to Heaven (Ephesians 5:27).
John tells us that when we are gathered
together with Christ, it is then that we
shall have glorified, resurrected bodies,
as He is glorified.
“Beloved, now are we children of God,
and it is not yet made manifest what we
shall be. We know that, if He shall be
manifested, we shall be like Him; for we
shall see Him even as He is” (1 John 3:2).
 The bodily resurrection has not yet happened
because Jesus has not yet returned, so I have to
conclude that these saints that appeared in
Jerusalem after the resurrection of Christ to
many people did so as apparitions.
This could also explain why the apostles thought
that Jesus was a ghost in Luke 24:37.
I would have to conclude that the Bible seems
to support at least the possibility of the
existence of ghosts.