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.