Old Houses and Ghosts

March 24, 1965

Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. It's finally getting to be spring in Hollyhill. And boy, are we all ready for it! The March flowers are blooming on the hill on Mr. Crutcher's farm next door. He says there used to be a house there, but it got torn down and the pieces carried off to build a new house in a new place. Gosh, if there had been ghosts in that old house, wonder if they went with the planks, beams, windows and doors to the new place. 

Oh, I know some people say there aren't ghosts, and I can't say that I've ever seen any. Of course, there's the Holy Ghost. You can't actually see Him either, but you can feel Him inside you. That's not like the ghosts that might have haunted that old house on Mr. Crutcher's farm. They'd be different. Maybe left over spirits from people who used to live there. Who knows? Maybe something bad happened there. Somebody could have been murdered or died after a terrible accident. Maybe falling off a cliff or something. 

Dad says people don't hang around down here after they die. They go on to be with Jesus. Or not. But their spirits don't linger down here haunting people. I believe Dad, but I've heard plenty of stories of ghosts too. Haven't you? People who see ghosts. 

Tabitha, that's my sister, she said she met a woman out in California who said she saw ghosts all the time. That she not only saw them, she could talk to them. The woman told Tabitha that sometimes the people couldn't go on to their heavenly rewards because they felt they had unfinished business here on earth. This woman claimed to help them take care of whatever was keeping them from going on. One of them, she said, just wanted to make sure her family had the right recipe for Thanksgiving dressing. 

I told Tabitha that was crazy, but we both agreed that crazy things sometimes happen. So who knows? 

Even the disciples weren't so sure there weren't ghosts. In Matthew, it says they thought Jesus was a ghost when they saw him walking across the water that night when their boat was being tossed around on the sea by the winds. It wasn't until He spoke to them and told them not be afraid that they knew who He was. Dad preaches on that sometimes. About how Peter was walking out on the water to Jesus and didn't sink until he took his eyes off Jesus. Dad says we can keep from sinking in life if we keep looking to Jesus instead of letting the winds and storms knock us off course. 

So I don't know if there are ghosts or not. I just know I haven't ever seen one. I haven't seen Jesus either, but I know He lives in my heart. So I don't have to be afraid when I'm back there picking a bouquet of those March flowers on Mr. Crutcher's farm where those ghosts might still be. 

Have you ever seen a ghost or heard anybody else say they have? 

Mrs. Williams at church says she saw her husband after he died in a tractor accident some years ago. She thinks he came by the house to tell her goodbye. I asked her if she was afraid and she said why would she be afraid of her own husband. She was just very sad because she knew he was heading up to heaven and she'd have to wait until the Lord called her home before she'd see him again.