For my next bit of cryptid-posting, I was gonna handle bigfoot, but my friends told me I should do one on ghosts and plus I have some family really interested in the topic, so I thought I'd try to handle the topic of why I think ghosts are actually demons, and this one will probably be much shorter with a lot more bible involved. The thing about ghosts as opposed to aliens is that the former is an inherently spiritual perspective of the world, not a naturalistic one. Because of this, the bible itself has more to say directly on the subject and I don't have to prove from as many eyewitness testimonies, like I do with aliens, though I still plan on doing a little bit of that.
The first thing I'd like to analyze is those scriptural passages which discuss what the afterlife is like is like from the Christian perspective, as well as the timeframe between death and the afterlife. Hebrews 9:27 says, "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," and while it is true that it doesn't necessarily exclude an intermediary period, it does at least imply or expect the lacking with "after that," with an immediately being implied. Similar can be said for Ecclesiastes 7:4: "and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." This correlation between the two does seem to imply the impossibility of spiritual hauntings, for there is no spirit to inhabit this realm if it returns to the Lord. The next text is Job 14:12, which goes as follows: "so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep." This passage does seem to exclude the idea that spirits can communicate with the living post-death. The final nail in the coffin (pun intended!) is Psalm 146:4: "When [man's] breath [spirit] departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish." Hebrew poetry, as opposed to more modern (good) poetry, doesn't rhyme, rather it follows a repetition of concepts (hence why Genesis follows a repetitive structure, because it was a bardic tale of the the origin of mankind and salvation). The same is true here: the timeframe for man's spirit's departure to death is that of his plan's foiling.
To take a broader view of the topic, what is being confessed by the idea of ghosts haunting places with "unfinished business" or as a torment for their crimes? Honestly, it sounds a great deal like the realm of purgatory, in which the spirits of the dead must roast off their fatty sins in the fire so that they can enter paradise. The modern conceptions of ghosts is a kind of psychologized (notice where so many of the "most haunted places are, mental hospitals) purgation in which a person must release their traumas in order for their spirits to "move on." Such a confession is not only a twisting of Roman Catholic doctrine, but it is also not the Christian perspective on the world.
"Ackchually," I hear your keyboard clicking, "Samuel was a ghost in 1 Samuel 28, dummy, so ghosts are in the bible." Well, there are quite a few problems with that perspective, namely that it ignores the actual context of the passage. Firstly, the only reason's Samuel's spectre was seen is because it was summoned by witchraft, and thus, it's presence is certainly not the natural result of any death. Second, it's debatable as to whether it was actually Samuel's spirit or a demon trying to pain king Saul. I have heard it argued that the spirit can't actually be Samuel because the message preached was one of despair rather than repentance and that the author hints this when he mentions that the witch called the spirit an "elohim," which the ESV translates as "god." In this case, such a pagan would definitely interpret such a demon as a god. However, this case is not foolproof as what Samuel said was obviously true and isn't too far off from what many other prophets said, or even much better compared to Jonah, and the people, in some cases, still repented. However, the nature of this event as a one-off as well as a harshly condemned one shows that it really doesn't help the case. I must mention, the scriptures also speak profusely of the prohibition to communicate with the dead (Lev. 19:31, 20:6,27, Deut. 18:9-12, Is. 8:19, etc.), and we are also warned to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if the are from God" and warned of the fact that "the devil disguises himself as an angel of light" (1 John 4:1, 2 Corinthians 11:14).
Now, in my opinion, there is one exception to this rule: the Nephilim. The book of Enoch, which I will remind you is not scripture, writes, "But now the giants who were begotten by the spirits and flesh, they will call them evil spirits on the earth, for their dwelling will be on the earth. The spirits that have gone forth from the body of their flesh are evil spirits, for from humans they came into being, and from the holy watchers was the origin of their creation. Evil spirits they will be on the earth, and evil spirits they will be called. The spirits of heaven, in heaven is their dwelling, but the spirits begotten on the earth, on earth is their dwelling." (15:8-10) In this, we are told that the evil spirits which some men see on the earth are actually the spirits of particularly evil Nephilim. This, however, is not your average haunting. Rather, it is the spirit of a demonized king, which, for all intents and purposes, would for all intents and purposes act like your average run-of-the-mill demon (a phrase I never thought I'd write). This may be accurate or it may not, since the book is obviously not written by the actual prophet or Moses. For one thing, it makes the exorcism of Christ much more thematically interesting. As Christ is casting out the hordes of hell, he is also fulfilling the spiritual conquest of Israel, so that those same kings which Moses, Joshua, and David conquered were ultimately banished back into hell by the King of Kings. Even if this were true, which I do tentatively believe, this leaves room for very limited "hauntings." For one thing, when Christ banished the demons back to hell, I would imagine they were unable to return, so you will likely never meet one of those spirits. As far as other pagan giants, those I guess are fair game, which I guess does validate the hauntings of "ancient Indian burial grounds" and possibly those particularly horrifying inmates or patients at mental hospitals. However, it is unlikely that you will ever actually meet your grandpa's spirit or your ghost cat, as your grandpa was (hopefully) not one-third demon and cat's don't have those kinds of souls.
O Lord, keep us with a right understanding of the true faith so that we would be protected from demonic deceptions, and see our souls safely home to be with you in heaven for eternity. Amen.
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