Can we believe in non-communicative ghosts?

[Tabby]

By this I’m referring to ghosts who do not interact with those who see them. In some cases, a mother keeps wailing over her lost child, a group of poker players keep playing cards, a widow walks on a high terrace of a house, a Civil War battle rages on – all without any sign that the viewers of these phenomenon are “noticed” by the ghosts.

I ask this because some Catholics have suggested that perhaps some ghosts are giving a form of private revelation, or are working out their purgatory, or in some way need to contact us (and God allows it for some reason). But then how do we explain non-communicating ghosts or other “spooky” phenomena like inexplicable chills, creaking doors, or animal ghosts?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Please understand that this is pious speculation only, but I like to think that such phenomena are indications of the reality of the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross during the Mass. Let me explain.

During the Mass, Catholics understand that the priest’s offering of the Mass is a sacramental re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. The historical event of Calvary is “breaking through” time and space and made present to us in the here and now. We are, in a sense, standing at the foot of Calvary and witnessing the Crucifixion. (It is worth noting that the Jewish Passover also has this mystical sense to its celebration. Even today during the celebration of the Passover seder, modern Jews are not merely remembering when their ancestors were freed from slavery; they too are being “freed from Egypt” and are participants in the original Exodus thousands of years ago.)

To get back to your question, perhaps these “non-communicative” ghosts are not really dead human beings still doing these things they once did long ago. Perhaps in some way, the human actions at one point in history are still “made present” in the here and now. Perhaps we are observing what might be called the “human fingerprints” on history. If so, then these “re-presentations” of past events – and many such reported events often are highly-traumatic events in which great human suffering has occurred – might support in some small way the reality of what happens in the Mass. If so, that could be reason enough for God to allow such events to occur.