Ghosthunting and Devil-Worship

[Michael J. Varhola]

Was recently speaking with the person in charge of a site I will be including in "Ghosthunting Maryland" and she said something very surprising to me. In short, she said she had the impression that many ghosthunters were also devil worshippers and that she had refused to let them conduct investigations for fear that they would burn the place down. Suffice it to say, this had never been my impression, and I was pretty stunned by this revelation.

I would be very interested in any feedback on this subject! And I am looking into setting up a survey to obtain some demographic information on religion among ghosthunters, as I would like to get a sense for how in breaks down (e.g., Christians, Agnostics/Atheists, Devil-Worshippers/Satanists, Wiccans/Pagans, Other).

[Kara]

I have never connected the two in my head before! Strange...

[Dave]

I just became a member on this site and this will be my first post but it caught my eye because its something that I often have to deal with both personally and as with a community of believers. I'm a Christian and knowing certain beliefs of a Christian its easy to see where people would go as to far to say that. First being a lot of old testament law prohibits any contact with mediums and or 'people who consult the dead' and theres the infamous 'Spare not a witch to live' verse.. in the new testament I've found little more then the superstition in ghosts as far as anything paranormal related in its relevant context but I'm still studying (my favorite biblical passage concerning paranormal activity that i found so far is in Job; Job 4:12-17 and Job 33:12-18). still you find people who tend to group things together as stereotype to keep it safe and just not deal with any of it, I've known people not even to keep a copy of the exorcist in their house because of Satan having a foothold. Also I think the issue of being a medium or having knowledge of the occult or life after death can be territorial depending on ones view of absolute truth and their beliefs, I've met people who claim to be pagan or nature worshipers that claim to be experts in the occult and paranormal but yet have little knowledge of what other religions view life after death. the biggest thing that still puzzles me and one thing i would love to discuss and learn more about is those mediums that blend religious understanding, I've seen one pray a Christian prayer and except aspects of reincarnation for example. in the end i only speak for myself, as far as my beliefs interact with ghost hunting i feel it being a calling, something im pulled to do. the point of biblical scripture when it talks about contacting spirits is one verse says why consult the dead in behalf of the living? My belief is that one who has my beliefs ones life should be centered in Christ and the point is that when you study the paranormal with these beliefs you walk a thin line of truth. I'm just starting out in this field but being as devout i am i'm tip toeing into things, for example i'm not sure if i would look for EVP out right yet or call things out yet, i chose to go to college for religion and philosophy partially so that i would have this background before i claimed to know anything. Because ghosts and the reality of them is one thing but personally before i know of ghosts i have a deeper faith that angels and demons exist. Demons and spirits of a malicious nature are unpredictable and lie, one of the names of Satan is said to be the prince of liars so its something i consider a duty to be sensitive to this, to know and appreciate what others believe but i have this as my backbone. i hope my post is relevant.

[Michael J. Varhola]

You make some very compelling points, Dave, and demonstrate even more than I would have thought that this issue is all far more complex than many people would think. I am familiar, for example, with the Old Testament passages you refer to regarding the witch of Endor, who was by all accounts a classic necromancer, and that would seem to constitute a Blblical injunction against interaction with ghosts. But what about ghosthunters who merely try to observe ghosts and don't try to interact with them in any way? There does not seem to be anything explicit in the Bible preventing that.

The issue of demons and devils -- what ghosthunters sometimes refer to as "non-hunman hauntings" -- is something else altogether. Whatever such beings might actually be, I think they are in a class completely apart from ghosts. And, Biblical injunctions aside, I would strongly recommend staying well away from such phenomena, which tend to be much more dangerous and intrusive than those usually investigated in the context of ghosthunting.

[Nikki]

I think this woman has seen too many 1970s/80s horror flicks.

I consider myself Agnostic. I am a novice ghosthunter. I am interested to see if this hobby will either challenge or confirm my religious/lack of religious beliefs. Personally, I do not believe in demons or Satan. However, at the risk of contradicting myself, I feel that anything is possible.

[Ken]

This sounds like a single case of nonsense. Its probably not worth the effort to explore. There are just crazies out there. in 20 years I never heard anything like it. Not to mention the fact that actual "satanists" don't actually commit arson as a rule. Satanism is mostly a philosophy not an excuse to wreak havoc.

[Jesse]

Sounds pretty cool :)
I know I don't worship Satan... would the Ouija Board Count?

[Bats]

My first post here also :
Christians are not allowed like Dave said to meddle in the affairs of the paranormal.
I was a Born Again Christian at one point and I know that it was a big thing with them,
they would preach that if you did, it was Satan attempting to stray you.
On that note I will tell you that am a Wiccan now, as ironic as that may be !
I am happier at this point in my life. Most ghost hunters I know are Wiccan or have
a mixture of believes. Wiccans do not believe in Satan or demons. Better for me
ghost hunting LOL

Maybe the lady you came in contact with has seen too many movies.

[Darin Hamel]

There is probably a correlation between the likelyhood of a site becoming haunted and it being one on the earths "special spiritual nexus points" which would attract pagans and some pagans can be mistaken for satanists if your not exposed to alternative belief systems that much. But I've also heard satanists go to haunted places to capture spirits (if thats possible) and spiritual energy.

[Alan]

I have to agree with Kara that the two have no connection.

[COPPIR]

WOW, that's a new one for me! I guess if you were uninformed you may reason that we are "summoning" spirits and thus doing some sort of satanic ritual, but that's still very surprising to me! I was raised Southern Baptist and was taught that trying to communicate with the dead and or dealing with psychics was evil. I have actually been seeing spirits since I was young and am now a professional medium, but I was told I was crazy and it was evil when I was young. And in reading the Bible, I found MANY contradictions, in one passage it will say that it's evil and in another it talks about someone having an experience. Mary had premonitions which is considered a psychic ability, and many times people rose from the dead... so lots of contradictions. One testament says God is a loving God, the other testament says he's a vengeful hateful God, which never sat right with me. I believe in God, angels, spirits, etc and if I HAD to label myself anything it would be Gnostic Christian or even more broadly, a spiritualist.