The History of Hauntings!

The historian, Tacitus documents an early haunting that occurred 2000 years ago. It happened to the philosopher, Athenodorus, who bought a house and discovered, one evening whilst at work, a ghost shaking chains at him. Dismissing the spectre to return to his work, the ghost eagerly beckoned the philosopher into the courtyard where he vanished. Marking the spot where the spectre stood, Athenodorus dug into the ground and discovered the corpse of a man in chains. The philosopher carefully separated the bones from the chains and conducted a dignified burial. The ghost was seen no more.

The story describes a typical ghost, a person who died with unfinished business and who cannot gain eternal rest until an act of restitution is supplied, in this case, release from the chains that we presume were placed unjustly. When the chains were removed and a proper burial was provided, justice and peace were restored.

In ancient times, many specialised angels were assigned the task of safely helping the dying to find their way into the regions of the spirit world. Many creatures are also said to perform this midwifery role. When people have been revived after clinical death, they frequently tell of a dog they had owned many years before which they see running towards them, tail wagging with delight, then running ahead and looking back to beckon the newly deceased forward on their transitionary journey. 

Ghosts and Hauntings

The Gilgamesh poem is 4,000 years old - the oldest story ever told. It contains the earliest written account about a ghost. It was written on an Assyrian clay tablet dating from around 650BCE. It was found in Nineveh during archeological excavations. It is inscribed with an appeal from a man who is possessed by a tyrannical ghost. The ancient Hindu scriptures, Atharva Veda, also detail demonic possession. We are familiar with the cases described in the New Testament where Jesus meets a possessed man on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and directly addresses the spirit by asking “What is your name?” and is told, “My name is Legion” (that is an entire invading and occupying Roman army). The man pleads with Jesus not to command the spirits to depart but Jesus saw a large herd of cows nearby and directed the demons out of the man and into the swine herd who charged to the cliff edge and threw themselves into the sea and were drowned.