Do you believe in ghosts?

C.S.Lewis once wrote that he only knew one woman who had ever seen a ghost and she still didn’t believe in them.

I believe in them because I have had encounters with ghosts. I’ve never seen one myself, but in my priestly ministry I’ve come across numerous incidents of reported hauntings.

My little sister once reported seeing a mysterious little boy dressed in colonial garb….

This podcast from my Stories of the Unexpected channel recounts that story and two others and discusses what ghosts are and what we should do about them. Another episode from Stories of the Unexpected tells about a priest who could see dead people–and that’s another pretty amazing ghost story.

Stories of the Unexpected is one of my podcast channels reserved for Donor Subscribers. During the first few weeks of November I am conducting a membership drive on the blog. To help more people contribute to my work I’ve created a new level of Donor Subscriber just for those who are keen on the growing area of my work: podcasting. Most of my podcasts–like most of my blog posts–will be free of charge. They’ll be pushed out through BreadBox Media and I’ll be linking here.

However, there will be some channels like Stories of the Unexpected that are reserved for Donor Subscribers. Archived series like Triumphs and Tragedies- my 23 part series on church history– will also be available only here for Donor Subscribers. In addition to the exclusive podcast channels there will also be some episodes of the free channels which are reserved.

If you’re already a premium subscriber you have access to all podcasts too. If you’d like to help with this work and subscribe either at the full rate or at the new lower level for podcasts only go here.

So what about ghosts? There seem to be a couple of explanations for the phenomena people describe as ghosts. The first is that they are seeing a manifestation of a dead person. Their “soul body” has become visible to certain people who are still here in this physical realm. Often they remain visible because it would seem they have been interrupted in their journey to the afterlife or they have a message to give or a task they are trying to complete. The second category would seem to be what might be called a “slip in time” in which people witness a kind of video clip of a time in the past. The third possibility is demonic influence–an evil spirit imitates a dead person and appears in that form.

A good article about ghosts by my friend Paul Thigpen is here.

Finally, while ghosts are usually frightening they can do you no harm. My podcast and Paul’s article explain what to do about it.

Happy Halloween!