Ghosts in the home: prison or paradise?

[slamjet]

We are also taught that there is a TON of work to do over there. So hanging around a house, barn, toilet because they are lonely, for thrills, just hanging around seems to be a humongous, eternal waste of time.

[tysonthehunter]

Slamjet thats exactly what i was thinking. What would we rather be doing, getting taught by apostles and prophets, or sit in a house all day

[Guest]

Slamjet thats exactly what i was thinking. What would we rather be doing, getting taught by apostles and prophets, or sit in a house all day

Who knows what one would rather be doing. Right now, I'm thinking, if I pass before my family, I'd be hanging around the house sharing all their experiences with them and spooking the new wanna-be-wife...

[slamjet]

Actually, I can think of some future boyfriends of my daughters...

[blackknight5k]

We are also taught that there is a TON of work to do over there. So hanging around a house, barn, toilet because they are lonely, for thrills, just hanging around seems to be a humongous, eternal waste of time.

And we're also taught that those who are "in" spirit prison don't have to convert in the spirit world, therefore there could be tons of those souls who are in the spirit world who don't believe the apostles, prophets, or the rest of us. It's not like there is a sign when you enter the spirit world that says "HEY GUYS MORMONS WERE RIGHT!"

I was actually talking to my wife about this today, I asked her as a former catholic what they believe happens after you die. Her response was "you go straight to heaven". So I said, well what would they think if instead they were just...well...here but not in the body. She said they would probably think they were in purgatory. So, put yourself in this person's shoes. You were a good Catholic, you did what you needed to do, why are you in purgatory? You don't think you'd be "gnashing your teeth"? Now this guy comes and says "hi I'm so and so and I want to tell you why we're here and not in heaven" - well you could either say "Ok tell me" or say "no, let me tell YOU why we are here - blah blah blah blah purgatory"

Bottom line is, why would we be missionaries in the afterlife if there was no one to convert?

[rayhale]

Some things to consider before the supernatural:

All those creaks you hear at night, are most likely your house adjusting to the heat or to the cold. This happens to electronics too, especially to the TV. These adjustments can shift the house just enough to cause books, or silverware, or really anything else, to fall down in the middle of the night. I know since it has happened in my house several times, waking me up scarring me half to death.

All those noises that could sound like words, have you considered recording the sound during a calm day? If not, consider it since the wind can make a lot of strange noises, especially if it is concentrated in small cracks, holes, and aided by trees, animals, or even humans. The wind can make most all vowel sounds.

Have you let anyone stay over night at your house that doesn’t know about the ghost? The power of suggestion is huge, don’t underestimate the power of the mind to create something that is not there. I know in suggesting that ‘it’s all in your mind’ sounds like I’m dismissing your experiences, but I’m not, if the human mind were compared to a computer, the human mind would receive millions, if not billions (trillions?) of bites of information each second, sometimes to save time, the mind uses short cuts, like I know how ‘like’ should be spelled, in a rush I might skim what I wrote here, and not notice ‘like’ spelled ‘lke’ since I’ve seen the word millions of times. My mind, since it was in a hurry, would assume the ‘i’ is there, and move on. Are you doing something similar with the ‘voices’? How many trained independent audio masters heard the recording, and came up with the same words?

[Lost_one]

My understnding was that if there are ghosts in my house, they are most likely the spirits of those who rejected Heavenly Fathers plan and are bad, although they can pretend to be something else like a dead family member or friend in order to fool us into doing bad things. I simply don't mess with stuff like that.

When I was a kid, there was an "old witch" who sat in the corner of the closet, in my uncles bedroom. My uncles had moved out years before and I was playing in the room. I went into the closet because I heard mumbling and saw her all squashed up into the corner. I called her the old witch because thats what she looked like. Sometimes she was ok to talk to, But mostly she would just swear at me and tell me to leave her alone. She never left the corner. I asked my gran about her and she said that she has been there for as long as she can remember. She only scared me once when she lunged at me and told me to leave her alone in her rather colourful way. I left her alone after that. When I got older I couldn't see her anymore.

[blackknight5k]

I have a bit of experience with spirits at my friend's house - he had one that would knock stuff off tables, pick up and drop stuff, move things, etc. Before you give the whole "maybe it was the wind" thing I have seen this with my own eyes and there is no way to explain it otherwise.

Anyway, this spirit followed him from home to home for a few years and it took a while to click that he was the one who was, for the lack of a better word, "haunted" and not the individual homes.

So, I go over to his house a few times until I realize that weird stuff wasn't happening anymore and I asked him about it. He said "oh, I figured out who it was and he left me alone".

He then proceeds to tell me about a friend he had a long time ago. See, my friend had cancer when he was in his 20's that was suppose to kill him. He made good friends with another guy who had cancer and was in the same situation. They made a pact together that if either one of them died that the person who died would do everything in their power to let the other person know if there was something beyond this life. As you've probably guessed, my friend's friend died of the cancer. Since his death my friend has been "haunted" by this spirit that would not leave him alone, and did everything in their power to let him know that there is something beyond this life. I can't remember exactly what the spirit did that finally "clicked" in his mind - it involved a game piece or card that they would play together all the time falling out of a book or off a bookshelf or something.

I have done some research tonight on the spirit world - we keep our opinions, personalities, and beliefs when we enter the spirit world. As I stated before, there is no sign when we enter the spirit world that says "THE MORMONS WERE RIGHT" - spirits who didn't accept the word in our life can still choose not to accept the word. I suggest listening to this Podcast from the church - Mormon Channel QA: Episode 26 - The Spirit World - it's very informative.

[mnn727]

Im not sure if doing an investigation is the same as Ouija Board,

I am, they both give evil a voice.

[grandshahi]

I think our interactions with people are more frightening than ghosts. I don't believe in ghosts, ouija boards, and the like. It is an interesting question to ask, but my answer is that we need to have faith in Jesus. That is hard enough for me sometimes. I think if it were that easy to record ghosts, then there wouldn't be a need for faith. It would be like finding Kolob with a telescope, finding the golden plates, or whatever. Faith is something that is dynamic and difficult to hold onto sometimes. Therefore, I don't think there is an easy route to understand the afterlife through modern technology.

[JudoMinja]

I used to live in a house that was "haunted". I don't remember everything that happened that let on this was the case, because I was only ten years old at the time. However, my father did bless the home and at least one spirit stayed after the blessing, so it must have been a good spirit. In fact, I'm certain it was a good spirit as I had a personal experience where it saved me.

The house had an entry-way where the stairs to the basement were seperate from the rest of the house. I was putting my roller-blades on at the top of the stairs, my back facing them. When I stood, my foot slipped out from under me and I would have fallen down the stairs. Only "something" touched my elbow and pushed me back up. When I shared this experience with my mom, she said something similar had happened to her when she slipped on the icy stairs just outside the entry-way.

Spirits can clearly interact with us, but we have to be extremely careful about inviting them into our homes and especially our thoughts. Sure there are good spirits like the one that "haunted" the house we were renting, but there are also plenty of bad spirits out there. Possessions are real or Jesus would not have "cast out devils" when He was on the earth. And Satan of course is working hard to bring us down.

Think about it. One-third of the hosts of heaven followed him. That means he could essentially have one spirit assigned to only two people to follow them around, get to know them intimately, and work on tempting them. Now add in the fact that we don't have all of our "two-thirds" on earth at the same time. How many people have been on earth before us? How many are there still to be born? I highly doubt the Sons of Perdition are sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for just their two "assigned" people to come to earth. They are all working and helping Satan in his efforts. So we all most certainly have more than one spirit trying to mislead and tempt us.

If we are personally confronted by a spirit, D&C has guidelines to help us know whether they are bad or good-

D&C 50:31 "Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God."

Also, if you actually see the spirit (I don't remember exactly where it says this) you can ask it to shake hands with you. If it is a spirit that has not received a body, it will either refuse to shake hands with you or attempt it and you will feel nothing. The ones that refuse to shake hands are good spirits and those that make the attempt are bad. This is because the bad spirits will attempt to deceive you- its just part of their nature. If it is a glorified spirit that has a resurected body, it will shake your hand and you will feel it. This, of course, would be a good spirit, because the Sons of Perdition do not get bodies.

[Blackmarch]

Hi I've been wondering and pondering something quite a while and i feel that i should ask on here. I have done "paranormal investigations" in my home and have actually gotten some recording of voices and such. I have never felt threated, or at least of what I can remember.

So on to my question, are these spirits that communicate through recordings from spirit prison or even evil spirits? Like I said, i don't feel in trouble, but I don't want something like that in my house. I'm thinking so because those in spirit paradise would be too busy to talk to someone with a recorder, they would just visit you upfront if allowed by Jesus Christ. So what are your thoughts?

no idea. My guts say not to trust doing the electonic recorder thing. IF there is a message that needs to be communicated then God can give them the power to do so, and to do so in a manner that is much more clearer than an ultra short disturbance of background noise.

If you don't feel threatened then I wouldn't worry about it.

[Backroads]

Are they all necessarily "bad" spirits?

I do believe spirits will cross over.

For example, my husband has a little brother who drowned as a toddler. Later on, the family had another son. When he was three, just getting conversational, they were looking through photos and this kid said "That boy used to come play with me".

[tysonthehunter]

it really is hard to know, i guess that it may not be the smartest thing to do. Satan does have power to fool us into thinking their good, but in reality they are tempting and pushing us like no other and we may not even realize it.

[estradling75]

Are they all necessarily "bad" spirits?

I do believe spirits will cross over.

No they are not all necessarily bad. However there are plenty of bad ones out there. The righteous ones will be working things the Lord's way, all the others will be doing things their own way..

So a living person can choose to open themselves up to 'whatever' but they take the risk in doing so.

The Lord has given counsel on how we should be handling it, and like usual it is the best way.

[Bini]

So do I!

Loch Ness, Highland, United Kingdom - Google Maps

Been to Loch Ness. Never saw Nessie though. Bummer.

[Madriglace]

I have seen spirits all my life ... I don't believe in ghosts ... no big deal for me but then I got used to it ... the first time I remember seeing someone my grandmother was visiting and sleeping in my bed and I was on a pad on the floor ... she sat bolt upright in bed and said "Byrd is that you?" ... when I looked there was my great aunt (grandma's younger sister who had passed many year before) standing at the foot of the bed ... like any self respecting 10 year old I covered up my head!

I have always felt that the veil was very thin at times and I was catching glimpses of the goings on on the other side. I had a young woman in Civil War period dress sit by my bed when we lived in Georgia ... she never talked just sat for awhile and left. As child I had an imaginary friend .. as I have grown older I think these are also from the other side of the veil ... my adopted niece had a whole family she played with.

People have always thought I was nuts until I visted a friend in San Antonio one weekend and we stayed at her folks home to house sit for her mother (I think I was in my late 20s at the time). During the night I was being bothered by a man in miner dress moving the bed around ... I finally got tired of it and yelled at him to quit moving the bed and go bother somone else ... my friend and her husband came running in to find out what was wrong and I related the story ... they thought I was totally out of my mind ... later she related the story to her mom who told her that yes there was a man in the house that liked to move furniture ... he had move the baby grand across the living room several times.

I have never had a problem with evil spirits but I feel that for an evil spirit to bother you, you have to leave your self open which invites it to come in. The spirits that I see are peaceful and a few times have been family ... I have seen my youngest brother who died at 4 days old, he appeared as a young man but I knew who it was. I have also seen an uncle who died falling off of a roof ... he came to tell me he was fine and happy and that he knew the truth ... too cool.

All the Quiji (sp) boards and stuff is nothing to be messed with. That just invites the wrong kind of presence to attach itself to you and push all the buttons to scare you to death.

[MaMeeshkaMow]

My Mom told me a story of when one night when my parents lived in Arizona, along with my older brother, she had a visit from evil spirits. She was putting my older brother to bed and he started to cry like crazy, but differently than hunger needs, change diapers needs....She then felt that horrible cold chill down the spine and soon after, the walls were banging with knocking sounds. All around the walls. It got even freakier when the roof started to have knocking sounds on it and then underneath from below. All around knocking. After about 5 minutes of this constant evil presence, my Dad came home from work and came in (has priesthood) and it all went away.

The house was blessed and nothing happened after but it was a chill reminder that evil spirits can haunt in this realm of reality. If you think about the third of heaven being cast down to be demons, the possibilities of evil haunting is high. Now it's interesting we don't talk a lot about guardian angels in the church but we know they are there. Perhaps we don't have many of these evil experiences because these guardians might be hard at work fending them off. I'm guessing one guardian angel can handle many demons at once because of how much stronger the power of God is compared to the influence of the Devil. It's power versus influence I think.

I'm guessing we were guardian angels to people before we were born. Perhaps that is an assignment to see what earthly life would be like. Perhaps because of these guardian angel experiences, we are foreordained to be able to battle evil in mortality....

[HEthePrimate]

I don't know about your home, but if ghosts are in my home, they're in paradise!

When I was a kid, one of my friends asked me if I believed in ghosts. I thought for a minute about my LDS beliefs in spirits and the afterlife, and said "Yes!" We do talk frequently about the Holy Ghost, after all! I don't know if they normally go around moaning and rattling chains, and that sort of thing, though. But who knows?!

[Jennarator]

This is an interesting thread. I love reading about real ghost stories. Some might be true (I ahve seen my grandpa, after he died.) and others mgiht be exaggerated.

But my opinion is sililar to one that has already been stated. If the Lord wanted us to receive a message, then the Holy Ghost or other spirit would make it pretty clear. He would use the still small voice and talk to our hearts or he would be more direct. But it seems like a convoluted recording of sounds would not be the way we would be sent a message from Heaven.

[jlf9999]

Hi I've been wondering and pondering something quite a while and i feel that i should ask on here. I have done "paranormal investigations" in my home and have actually gotten some recording of voices and such. I have never felt threated, or at least of what I can remember.

So on to my question, are these spirits that communicate through recordings from spirit prison or even evil spirits? Like I said, i don't feel in trouble, but I don't want something like that in my house. I'm thinking so because those in spirit paradise would be too busy to talk to someone with a recorder, they would just visit you upfront if allowed by Jesus Christ. So what are your thoughts?

Do not invite the presence of any spirit in your life. They have a habit of not going away. You don't know what you are getting into or who will be your next visitor. And, by the way, they are in spirit prison and seek to deceive. Any sort of divination or witchcraft or taro cards, Ouija board or occult type activity is inviting such connections.

Edited April 15, 2011 by jlf9999

[Backroads]

This is an interesting thread. I love reading about real ghost stories. Some might be true (I ahve seen my grandpa, after he died.) and others mgiht be exaggerated.

But my opinion is sililar to one that has already been stated. If the Lord wanted us to receive a message, then the Holy Ghost or other spirit would make it pretty clear. He would use the still small voice and talk to our hearts or he would be more direct. But it seems like a convoluted recording of sounds would not be the way we would be sent a message from Heaven.

I truly do love all things supernatural. But I would truly hate to be in the position where I had to do the D&C test of if it's from God or the devil.

[Kerri]

This can probably be attributed to Pareidolia, which is the brain trying to make sense of random patterns. So we hear voices in the white noise. Check out Brian Dunning's podcast, episode 105: When People Talk Backwards

K :)

[jayanna]

Okay, so I have been bothered by spirits. I thought it was all crazy, too. I like empirical evidence, thank you very much. But, when I was a single mom I had an evil spirit in my home. He was messing things up for me, and I kept telling myself it was my imagination, that I was imagining a male spirit in my home loitering and causing problems in general. Until one night out of a dead sleep, my daughter who was three started screaming, and I ran into her room. She was kicking her feet and screaming, "He's hurting my feet momma!" and she was crying. Let me tell you that kid has a very high pain tolerance, so the fact that her feet were hurting was not the cry for attention that kids use for little bumps, etc.

I tried standing at the end of the bed, I turned on the light, I rubbed her feet and it would stop, but as soon as I let go and moved, it would start again. I sat on her feet even. She calmed down a bit. I moved her and my other little girl to my bed. I thought it would stop then, but a night or two later it started again, even with me right there with her. She was alseep at first, and she pulled her leg up suddenly and then she woke up in a panic. I asked her where "He" was and she pointed right in front of us. She said, "He's RIGHT THERE, momma, LOOK at him!" but I couldn't see a thing.

I asked the ward mission leader to come to my house and bless it. It stopped.

I asked my hubby just the other night if he was able to cast out evil spirits, he didn't even stop to think about it, he just said, "yes, why?" He was kinda thinking I was putting in a request or something. I just wanted to know out of curiosity's sake. I thought how to do blessings and all that was covered in priesthood class or something. ?

[jlf9999]

Okay, so I have been bothered by spirits. I thought it was all crazy, too. I like empirical evidence, thank you very much. But, when I was a single mom I had an evil spirit in my home. He was messing things up for me, and I kept telling myself it was my imagination, that I was imagining a male spirit in my home loitering and causing problems in general. Until one night out of a dead sleep, my daughter who was three started screaming, and I ran into her room. She was kicking her feet and screaming, "He's hurting my feet momma!" and she was crying. Let me tell you that kid has a very high pain tolerance, so the fact that her feet were hurting was not the cry for attention that kids use for little bumps, etc.

I tried standing at the end of the bed, I turned on the light, I rubbed her feet and it would stop, but as soon as I let go and moved, it would start again. I sat on her feet even. She calmed down a bit. I moved her and my other little girl to my bed. I thought it would stop then, but a night or two later it started again, even with me right there with her. She was alseep at first, and she pulled her leg up suddenly and then she woke up in a panic. I asked her where "He" was and she pointed right in front of us. She said, "He's RIGHT THERE, momma, LOOK at him!" but I couldn't see a thing.

I asked the ward mission leader to come to my house and bless it. It stopped.

I asked my hubby just the other night if he was able to cast out evil spirits, he didn't even stop to think about it, he just said, "yes, why?" He was kinda thinking I was putting in a request or something. I just wanted to know out of curiosity's sake. I thought how to do blessings and all that was covered in priesthood class or something. ?

In theory yes, a priesthood holder can get rid of such visitors. However, Joseph Smith commented that it could require an extra ordinary amount of effort and preparation by priesthood holders of extraordinary humility. I think he was referring to someone at the GA level or maybe a Mission president or area authority level man.

Edited April 17, 2011 by jlf9999