Ghosts — Real or Not??

What is a ghost? The definition of the term "Ghost" is the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit — usually as a vague, shadowy, or evanescent form — wandering among or haunting the living.

Why is it hard for some to grasp and not believe that ghosts are real? For others they are very real, and they do not need convincing.

To me, a "Skeptic" is simply a person who hasn't had that personal experience yet — a personal encounter with the nonliving.

A 2009 CBS News poll found that more than one in five Americans say they have seen a ghost themselves, or felt themselves to be in the presence of one. Nearly half of all Americans say they believe in ghosts, or that the dead can return in certain places and situations.

Women are more likely to say they believe in ghosts than men: 56 percent of women believe, while 38 percent of men do. More than half of younger Americans aged 18 to 45 believe in ghosts; those over 45 are less likely.

Ghosts have been seen and reported since man could record it. Spirits and ghosts are even mentioned in the Bible. The word "Ghost" appears in the following passages: Isaiah 29:14; Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49; and Luke 24:37–39.

Luke 24:37–39 — They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

The disciples believed they were seeing a ghost rather than Jesus — one of my favorite passages to share.

Then there is the strange tale from rural West Virginia, in Greenbrier County — a story that is not only part of supernatural history, but of the history of the American judicial system as well. It remains a one-of-a-kind event: the only case in which the testimony of a ghost helped solve a crime and convict a murderer. If the legal system accepts and believes it, doesn't that suggest ghosts must be real? The State of West Virginia has even placed a historical marker in Greenbrier County to commemorate this remarkable event.

The use of mediums and psychics has often helped solve crimes. They are supposed to be able to make contact with the spirit world. If spirits and ghosts are not real, why would police and government agencies continue to pay for — or request — these medium and psychic services to contact spirits?

There are many reports of people saying they were saved by a ghost. An apparition would appear to warn them away from a certain location — and they would later discover that continuing on would have left them severely hurt or killed. Others have been contacted by an apparition with specific information about a person or item, only to later discover that the person described had passed away hours — or even years — prior.

I met a couple who shared one such experience with me. They were visiting a house they once owned — a home that had belonged to several generations of their family. They wanted to visit the family graves on the property and see what had changed. When they arrived, they noticed the grave markers were gone. A new house had been built next door and a large gravel driveway now ran between the two homes. They asked the new owner what had happened to the markers. She knew nothing of them — she had purchased the home only a few months prior and was told it had been a rental property.

The couple explained that three graves had once been on the property. The new owner paused, then asked: "Were they children?" She continued: "I'm not sure if you believe in ghosts — but just a few weeks ago, I was hanging clothes on the line outside when an older woman walked up and startled me. She asked, 'Have you seen my three children?' I told her no, but that I'd be happy to help look. I turned to clip a sheet to the line — and when I turned back, she was gone. There was no way she could have walked away that fast."

The couple asked what the woman looked like. She described her: about five feet four inches tall, wearing a vintage black dress with tiny wire-frame glasses, gray hair tied in a tight bun. The gentleman in the couple went pale — the description matched his grandmother exactly. She had lost three children to illness while living in that house, and those children were buried on the property.

When the couple returned, they brought a photograph of the grandmother — who had passed away more than twenty years earlier. The new owner confirmed immediately: it was the same woman. The couple then asked permission to probe the ground with a steel rod along the new driveway. It didn't take long. Just beneath the gravel, they struck hard rock — and found three headstones, each bearing a child's name. The prior owners had bulldozed them over during construction. The couple later moved the stones and the children's remains to a nearby cemetery to rest with other family members.

There are so many personal experiences like this worldwide — spirits asking for help, warning the living, or simply making their presence known. Those who claim to have seen a ghost come from every walk of life: rich and poor, educated and uneducated, young and old. They describe their experiences in vivid detail and retell them consistently over years without contradiction. If it were simply imagination, wouldn't the details shift over time? If ghosts aren't real, why have millions come forward saying they have seen or made contact with one?

For those of us who research and experience the paranormal, debating with skeptics can be frustrating. Perhaps it is not unlike what it must have been like for those who first believed the world was round. I have personally taken skeptics on investigations — and watched them leave as believers, or at the very least with a far more open mind.

[1] CBS News Poll, 2009. "Majority Believe in Ghosts."