Does Religion Play a Part in Ghost Research?
By Dave Juliano (davejuliano@theshadowlands.net)
The answer is a resounding yes! Before you instinctively
stop reading what you think will be someone preaching to you, take a
moment to read on. I want to point out some things that may
not be obvious to all of you without pushing a certain faith at you.
Religion plays a roll in the actions and reactions of the witness, the
investigator and the spirit themselves. We all have our own
belief system that we subscribe to and that is the same for the
residents of a haunted home and, if the spirits are human, the spirits
too. Since each case is different and combinations
are endless I will just elaborate on a few instances here and hope that
you take away a new point of view on how religious views impact a
haunting.
Let me start with good example from a case I worked on in New York City
with John Zaffis. The resident was experiencing events that
made the case seem like something extremely dark and negative was the
source. This was not necessarily the case in this
instance. The woman, a practicing Catholic, was living in a
home that had been built on top of part of an old Jewish
cemetery. Her next door neighbor had unearthed some
old grave markers written in Hebrew in his backyard and they were dated
in the mid-1800s. She had consulted with her church and she
had hung up a crucifix, said certain prayers and blessed the house with
holy water. All of these things only made the
situation worse. Many people would jump to the conclusion that it
was something demonic and try to escalate the actions that were being
taken. That course of action would have probably had
no effect and made the situation worse for the resident.
The spirits that were in the home were most likely the residents of the
cemetery which now had houses on top of it. Let me clarify
that a bit. They were Jewish spirits who were buried in
consecrated ground and were awaiting the final judgment so they were
staying close to their physical bodies because they would be physically
resurrected at that time. These Jewish spirits now had a
Catholic household sitting on top of them and practicing those beliefs
on the spirit’s holy ground and body. I know that would
make me a pretty angry spirit. Instead of taking the
typical course of action, in this case we had to go outside our own
belief system and consider the spirit’s. We instructed the
resident to relocate a crucifix that was always being taken off the
wall. We also told her not to use the holy water
anymore. Instead of saying strictly Christian based
prayers, we gave her prayers of protection based on Michael the
Archangel. Michael is recognized as an archangel by
Christians and Jews alike so these powerful prayers were not going to
be inflammatory to the spirits. Short of tearing down the
home and re-consecrating the ground, this was the next best
solution. The negative activity stopped and while there was still
activity in the home, this approach had enabled the resident to coexist
with these spirits.
This is a more dramatic case than most and we had the benefit of lots
of background information but the main thing we did was to keep an open
mind and not force a solution onto a situation. We found a
solution based on the situation. There are no cookie cutter
solutions to helping people in haunted homes. When
investigators only approach a case with their belief system and refuse
to adapt to the residents and the spirit’s beliefs, there is
unnecessary friction caused.
Researchers should always ask and consider the beliefs of the residents
of a home. While you may firmly believe that only your
method will help, you have to be willing to bend and adapt to the
situation. In many cases in which the spirits are annoying
or negative, it requires the resident to continue doing certain things
after the researcher leaves in order to keep the spirits from returning
or continuing their negative activity. If you do something
that the residents don’t really believe in or is against their beliefs,
they will not continue to do what is necessary to keep the spirits away
and you’ll be back at the house right back where you
started. I am not saying betray your beliefs or forget them
all together. There may be certain cases where a researchers
beliefs clash with a resident and in those cases the residents are
better served by looking elsewhere for help. I have had people
criticize me for the actions taken in the case I mention above but I
did nothing to go against my beliefs. I am Christian and
even though I told them to say different prayers and geared the
solution to the Jewish spirits, I did not disregard my beliefs.
Jesus and the 12 apostles were all Jewish after all
. Successful researchers will work with any major
religion in order to help the living and the dead if that is what it
takes.
Let’s look at this from the spirit’s point of view. Many
people believe that when you die you go to heaven. So what does
the spirit, who in life fervently believed this, do when they find
themselves still here in a spirit form? They may have no
idea what to do and hang around this plane for awhile but this doesn’t
mean they are earth bound and can be sent on easily. Their whole
belief system has been challenged and it will take varying degrees of
time for them to adjust. Some religions believe that
they will go to sleep and be reawakened at a later time.
Are they surprised when they find themselves in spirit
form? I would be a little confused I think.
It’s easy to see how the living could easily mistake the intentions of
a spirit they find in their home. Contrary to popular
belief, not all haunted houses were sights of a murder or suicide.
Residents of haunted homes are often confused too. They
will see the spirit of a deceased relative and assume that this person
has some unfinished business and is earthbound in need of
rescue. It’s more likely that the relative is just stopping
by for a visit but it also could be that they had a different belief
system than their living relations. Many families are split
religion-wise today. For example, the spirit of dead Uncle
Al is seen by his niece when she moves into his old house.
She is afraid of him and wants him to go away. Uncle Al was
told he would go straight to heaven or hell. Since he isn’t in
either, he is going to wait things out in his home. He sees
his niece and tries to ask her for some answers but she is too afraid
because her belief system tells her that any spirits that appear are
from the devil. These are all real situations and
beliefs. It’s easy to see how inexperienced or closed
minded researchers could go into this case and make it worse by trying
to force in a third belief system.
As a researcher you beliefs are very important but you have to give
plenty of weight to the beliefs of the residents of the home and the
spirits if that can be determined. Many times the way to
come to a livable solution for a resident of a haunted home is to
customize a solution for that particular case and not force a pre-fab
solution onto it.