Catholic Ghosts

The Brown Lady: A distinguished English upper class country house ghost.

Interesting article here that outlines the Catholic position on ghosts. It turns out that it is perfectly orthodox for a Catholic to believe in ghosts—the apostles believed in ghosts, Shakespeare believed in ghosts, and so did Thomas Aquinas.

Makes sense to me. All cultures believe in ghosts, which makes it improbable that they are not real. Souls in purgatory may be given the power to communicate with the living in order to alert then to their plight. This only makes sense, since the living can help them through their prayer. Souls in heaven, too, must be free to communicate with the living as part of their blessed state. Surely this goes without saying. Heaven would not be heaven if we were separated from those we love, would it?

The Ghost of Lord Combermere.

Even souls in hell may be made visible to the living by God in order to serve as a warning.

And in addition to the souls of the dead, there are also demons about, of course. They too might appear as “ghosts.” Poltergeists, for example, seem more like demons than the souls of the dead.