Do You Believe In Ghosts?

By Kendra Bobowick

A draft whispers across the windowsill to douse a candle.

Sleet ticks against the window and ashes in the fireplace send a damp scent into the room. Something crashes onto the floor upstairs. Is it a horror plot or an ordinary storm?

The imagination teeters in both directions as October 31 approaches and darkness seeps into town in time for dinner. Soon the department store shelves will empty of tall black hats, lank gray wigs, and disfigured grimaces that shape children’s trick-or-treat masks. Looking back to cauldrons stirred long ago is a tale leading into what today’s goblins and haunts know as Halloween.

The last day of October was All Hallows’ Eve, which slipped into the morning hours of All Saints’ Day on November 1. “The spirits that departed in the year weren’t dispatched until the service on All Saints’ Day,” said Christ The King Lutheran Church Pastor Gregory Wismar.

As he explained it, “Word got out.” Inventing one example, he said, “Uncle Max and Aunt Minnie fell in the well in July and their spirits were not moved on…” Had the spirits lingered since the fall? Pastor Wismar continued his story. “They had their last chance on All Hallows’ Eve to get back…”

Mischief wound its way into the tale. “Kids in the village took advantage of the concept,” Pastor Wismar said. Could ghosts and goblins be bribed, rather than unfortunate things happening to people on All Hallows’ Eve? If not, the spirits use the evening to find earthly resolutions, idle hands crafted a night of mischief.

“In today’s world…if old Mrs Snodgrass yelled at kids during the year, what would happen to her on Halloween?” Pastor Wismar wondered. Her house would likely be streaked with egg yolk by morning. Although his story explains the empty egg cartons and shells scattered on the street, or doorbells ringing after dark, the questions of ghosts remains.

Ghosts? “Our belief is that one’s eternal situation happens immediately upon death,” said Pastor Wismar. Uncle Max and Aunt Minnie would not linger. “Eternal welfare is at death, nothing is intermediate,” he said. Vengeful spirits? “No.” Thinking back to the idea of a last night of mischief, he said, “Max and Minnie are not out to ring your doorbell.”

The dead are not among us, he said. “At death, time disappears. There are no ghosts, [the spirit’s] situation just shifts from one world into eternity. You’re in a different place.” His belief in God assures him, “There are good things to come,” but we are able to see only a glimmer.

Mortal troubles are not ghosts, when considered from Grace Christian Fellowship’s Senior Pastor Barry Fredericks point of view or from the perspective of Father Bob Weiss of St Rose of Lima Church. The two men share a stark vision of problems that human beings experience when they stray from the influence and love of God.

Free will unhinged Lucifer, who was once an angel. “He was beautiful, God created him magnificently and the free will went to his head,” Pastor Fredericks said. Lucifer launched a rebellion. “One third of the angels rebelled, and God cast them to earth with Lucifer.” Ever since, Lucifer has dressed for revenge. Pastor Fredericks explained, “You can’t beat God; he tried once before.”

When men and women took their place on earth, they took priority over Lucifer, said Pastor Fredericks. With God out of reach, Lucifer reached for man. “He hurts man to hurt God.”

Ghosts are not part of the pastor’s beliefs, but he does believe the body and spirit are real and susceptible to harm; behind everyday life is a spiritual world with both the Lord and Lucifer’s influences waiting. Pastor Fredericks offered a warning, “Séances and conjuring spirits, that’s a lie, if we could see the spiritual realm, we would see the good angels and the ones who fell. They are deceivers.”

Ghosts? “There are no ghosts, but there are deceitful spirits.” He believes in the spiritual realm, where both good and bad forces are waiting. “The thing is, your spirit has access to it.” Both worship and mischief can make the connections. “When people call out to the spirit realm, because it’s real it will oblige.” The devil will tempt you, warned Pastor Fredericks.

Aside from the Holy Ghost, Father Weiss said, “There are no ghosts per se.” But spirits, as Pastor Fredericks described, are also part of Father Weiss’s beliefs. Exorcisms are meant to drive the devil’s influence from a body, he noted. “You’re praying that Satan will leave and restore the person to physical health.”

Beyond Lucifer’s meddling, ghosts and the spiritual world come into play when a person believes a loved one who has died is suddenly with them. “The spirit of a person remains on like a legacy you leave behind,” said Father Weiss. “The energy you created as a person is still in the world. I feel the energy, some essence, is always with us.” This sense we may have of a lost spouse or parent is not a ghost, however. “I think we stay in contact through spiritual energy, we don’t just take [a lost loved one] out of our life.” Also like Pastor Fredericks, he said séances do not prompt the appearance of ghosts, but simply conger the devil.

“These things are powerful and can overtake us if we make ourselves susceptible,” he said. Ouija boards, for example, are not playthings. “What starts as a game could become harmful,” he said.

As Halloween approaches, the costumes will include fangs, dark capes, white face paint, and devils’ forks. Billowing sheets with holes cut out for the eyes will also scurry down the street with a child’s shoes carrying it along. Ghosts, however, are not part of Father Weiss’s faith. “Basically, the church does not believe in ghosts, but spirits, whether an angel or someone predeceased — it still affects us.”

What are the sounds we hear at night? Are rustling leaves only caused by the wind? Uncle Max and Aunt Minnie are not at fault, but our own free will may be to blame.