Are the ghosts actually the souls from purgatory?

[shanishani7]

As some people have/ can see the ghosts or spirits, are the ghosts actually the Souls from Purgatory?

how come people said the ghosts wear the old clothes? some people said they are just white and blur objects?

I have read from some books that some souls from purgatory are allowed by God to come back to earth to meet their relatives asking for the prayers. In what conditions will God allow them to back to earth?

If the ghosts or spirits are not souls from purgatory, then what are they? just evil spirits?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

I think some ghosts may be doing their Purgatory. I don’t have an explanation for all ghosts, or even what they are.

My opinion largely depends on a single event.

Way back in my Presbyterian days, my prophetic old (Methodist trained) pastor said to me "I think you’ll be doing a cleaning job for a short time. You won’t like it much, and you won’t be doing it for long, but I think the Lord will just want you to hear about a ghost." (Emphasis mine).

At the time i knew how accurate he was with his predictions, but I still thought that one was over the top. Basically I just ignored it. Now he died himself in 1992, probably made that comment circa 1990 or 1991, and certainly had no effect on the outcome.

Fast forward to 2006, I did a cleaning job for a short time (about four months), didn’t like it much, and “heard about a ghost”. The “ghost” was due to a former manager who committed suicide in a store I was cleaning way back in the 1960’s.

This “ghost” story also involved Catholic Answers Forums via an Australian priest whose bio was on the forum, the priest himself, and has followed me around since 2006.

I can’t be bothered telling the whole story all over again, but I personally think the “ghost” was the manager doing his Purgatory in the old store where he committed suicide. The priest said a mass for him circa 2010 (name uknown), and I’ve never been game to go back to the old store and see if he is still hanging around.

Strange things used to happen - the young bloke who was intially showing me the cleaning run didn’t like being in that store at night - he said one night ALL the stock on one complete row of shelves just jumped up and landed on the floor. At other times he could push a very heavy buffer with his little finger - something was pushing it with him (maybe the ghost was amusing himself scaring the young bloke).

The shop staff who worked there were quite sure the ghost was “alive and well”.

I wonder about the ghost ridden USS Arizona in Pearl Harbour. What you have there would be a large number of young men, killed in comabt on a Sunday without any real chance to prepare for it. What happened to them spiritually?

The following item may have a reality behind it, whereas most people would probably just dismiss it as imaginative interpretation of a photo. I certainly didn’t give ghosts much thought, until the old pastor’s prediction came to pass (and it took 15 years to even start).

mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/10/the-ghost-face-of-the-uss-arizona/

 

[Crusaderbear]

If you believe in ghosts, you will find a way to see them, if you don’t, then its odd reflections, cold spots, and settling buildings. I’m very solidly in category 2…tho ghost stories are entertaining.

I’ve been to the Arizona memorial, at low tide the structure is not that far under the surface, there is a lot of oil still bubbling out of the ship, if the sun angle is right, and you use a polarizing filter, you can see quite a bit of detail and some interesting reflections.

 

[Kurisu35712]

I think some ghosts could certainly be souls from purgatory, probably ones with no one to pray for them, asking for prayers. Many Saints have written accounts of their encountering souls visiting them to ask for prayers or for a mass to be said for them. That said, I don’t think all or even most alleged ghost sightings are. Personally, I consider most to be hallucinations or optical delusions brought about by paranoia, imagination, sleep, etc. especially those associated with old plantations for example, or other such old locations. Some could possibly be demonic in origin, though I’d imagine that’s quite rare as well.

There are different kinds of ghosts. A soul from purgatory would, by all accounts, do something to actively indicate that it is there to request prayers, if accounts by Saints are to be believed. Most pop culture ghosts, on the other hand, are often described as static, or repeating the same action/motion on a loop. I don’t consider these to be ghosts at all, so much as some kind of weird quantum recording, if that’s even physically possible.

 

[Billy_Buescher]

Would you think that the two men who appeared to Jesus and the three apostles were ghost?

(Mat 17:3 ESV) And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

How about when Mary appeared to the girls at Fatima?

 

[Lily_Bernans]

Is it possible God could have sent some people back to earth to make reparation? Yes. Is any house, ship, etc. haunted? No.

 

[Bookcat]

They could be. Or they can be demons. Or they could in some cases be something else we do not understand.

 

[dividus]

St (Padre) Pio had several visions of souls in Purgatory:

padrepio.catholicwebservices.com/ENGLISH/App.htm

 

[GEddie]

Our eyes are designed to see human faces and forms. This works too well, so that we see such when no human being is there at all. This results in what we call ghosts.

IMNAAHO.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Bookcat]

Our eyes are designed to see human faces and forms. This works too well, so that we see such when no human being is there at all. This results in what we call ghosts.

IMNAAHO.

ICXC NIKA

In some cases…yes. In other cases…no.

 

[GEddie]

In some cases…yes. In other cases…no.

I don’t accept at all that dead human beings become ghosts. More than anecdotes would be needed to convince me of that.

 

[Bookcat]

I don’t accept at all that dead human beings become ghosts. More than anecdotes would be needed to convince me of that.

Ghost means “spirit”…so can thus refer to a soul of the person.

So yes EVERY dead human person (well aside from Our Lady…or others God may have taken body and soul…) currently is living as a “ghost”. That is their soul is in the state of heaven, being purified, or in hell. They do not currently have a body.

Saints have met known the appearances of such souls. Men over centuries have had experiences with “ghosts”. And more importantly Sacred Scriptures refers to such.

Exorcists discuss the matter as well.

As to a particular event - it can be yes the soul of person- such as one being purified…or even one in hell or it can be a demon. Or it can be something else - either some phenomena we do not yet know of or it can be as you noted “a trick of the eye”.

 

[Memaw]

I think some ghosts could certainly be souls from purgatory, probably ones with no one to pray for them, asking for prayers. Many Saints have written accounts of their encountering souls visiting them to ask for prayers or for a mass to be said for them. That said, I don’t think all or even most alleged ghost sightings are. Personally, I consider most to be hallucinations or optical delusions brought about by paranoia, imagination, sleep, etc. especially those associated with old plantations for example, or other such old locations. Some could possibly be demonic in origin, though I’d imagine that’s quite rare as well.

There are different kinds of ghosts. A soul from purgatory would, by all accounts, do something to actively indicate that it is there to request prayers, if accounts by Saints are to be believed. Most pop culture ghosts, on the other hand, are often described as static, or repeating the same action/motion on a loop. I don’t consider these to be ghosts at all, so much as some kind of weird quantum recording, if that’s even physically possible.

A soul from Purgatory would let known the need for prayers. Wouldn’t be up to tricks, noises etc. Where this other stuff comes from, your guess as good as mine but I am not interested in finding out. Seems the farther we get from God the more you hear about this sort of thing. Instead of becoming more interested in learning about God and our Eternal destiny, we fall for the entertaining stuff. God Bless, Memaw

 

[Kurisu35712]

A soul from Purgatory would let known the need for prayers. Wouldn’t be up to tricks, noises etc. Where this other stuff comes from, your guess as good as mine but I am not interested in finding out. Seems the farther we get from God the more you hear about this sort of thing. Instead of becoming more interested in learning about God and our Eternal destiny, we fall for the entertaining stuff. God Bless, Memaw

Very true. Also, I doubt a soul would be sent to ask someone who isn’t very close to the Church to ask for prayers, if only because they wouldn’t be as likely to see the situation as a soul seeking prayers, whereas a person who frequently prays for the souls in purgatory would.

 

[Beryllos]

Don’t believe those TV shows and YouTube videos about ghosts. Most are unconvincing, and I suspect most are fake. They can be entertaining if you’re into that. I’m not.

 

[pianistclare]

A soul from Purgatory would let known the need for prayers. Wouldn’t be up to tricks, noises etc. Where this other stuff comes from, your guess as good as mine but I am not interested in finding out. Seems the farther we get from God the more you hear about this sort of thing. Instead of becoming more interested in learning about God and our Eternal destiny, we fall for the entertaining stuff. God Bless, Memaw

Exactly.

 

[mikekle]

Would you think that the two men who appeared to Jesus and the three apostles were ghost?

(Mat 17:3 ESV) And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

How about when Mary appeared to the girls at Fatima?

Ive always thought it interesting, even in OT times, people had a word for ‘ghost’, so they were likely seeing the same things people do today…what they truly are is another question though.

Somehow I dont think their explanation is as easy as saying they are a previous persons soul in purgatory, I think ‘what’ they are is probably much more complicated, and we may not even be able to comprehend what they really are.

 

[Sarcelle]

A soul from Purgatory would let known the need for prayers. Wouldn’t be up to tricks, noises etc. Where this other stuff comes from, your guess as good as mine but I am not interested in finding out. Seems the farther we get from God the more you hear about this sort of thing. Instead of becoming more interested in learning about God and our Eternal destiny, we fall for the entertaining stuff. God Bless, Memaw

Right.

The only ghost I am interested in is the Holy Ghost. God is a lot more interesting and fascinating than any old ghost. My goal in life is to learn all about God.

 

[GEddie]

Ive always thought it interesting, even in OT times, people had a word for ‘ghost’, so they were likely seeing the same things people do today…what they truly are is another question though.

Somehow I dont think their explanation is as easy as saying they are a previous persons soul in purgatory, I think ‘what’ they are is probably much more complicated, and we may not even be able to comprehend what they really are.

A ghost, if indeed a former human being, is less complicated than a breathing human being, because of losing the body, and so far less interesting.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Memaw]

Right.

The only ghost I am interested in is the Holy Ghost. God is a lot more interesting and fascinating than any old ghost. My goal in life is to learn all about God.

AMEN, I love HIS Mysteries. God Bless, Memaw