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Intelligent Hauntings

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Intelligent Hauntings

Posted on 01 February 2012 by Cathy

An intelligent haunting is like a person is trying to get you to notice them but you cannot see them. They activity occurs at different times of the day and has no discernible pattern of occurence. They can move about the environment freely and even move from one location to another. For whatever reason there are also intelligent hauntings that happen within a small area as if they are attached by an invisible chain to a spot. That spot can be attached to an object, person or place. The activity can be nice like the smell of your grandpa’s cologne or bad but for most of the living the activity is scary either way.

We believe a person after death may not pass into the light for various reasons which include free will. Perhaps they feel that they have unfinished business like telling a loved one of an injustice done to them. Maybe they don’t even realize they are no longer alive because a car accident happened and they died in an instant. Sometimes they cannot go into the light because they don’t want let go of the living. For others they may fear of the other side or judgment.

When a person dies they continue to have the same personality that they had while they were alive. Think of the movie “Ghost” where Sam was a really nice guy who obviously continued to be a nice guy. He was hanging around trying to warn Molly about the danger that she was in. If a person was mean while alive they will continue to be mean after death. Many people think of negative activity as if it were a demon but it can just be a bad person. Demonic activity has certain hallmark features that will differentiate it from a regular “run of the mill” haunting.

A good example of an intelligent haunting is the Bell Witch case in Adams, Tennessee which occurred from 1817 until 1821. The haunting began when John Bell had an encounter with a strange animal in a cornfield that looked like a dog and a rabbit which disappeared when he shot at it. The activity then started in earnest which included knocking, rapping noises, scratching sounds, blankets pulled from beds, people were scratched and hair pulling. John’s daughter Elizabeth got the brunt of much of the activity where she was slapped, pinched, bruised and stuck with pins. The activity was also witnessed by many people some of whom would come and camp out at on the property. The Bell Witch was so well known that General Andrew Jackson who would later become president came for a visit and had his own personal experiences.

Signs of an intelligent haunting. All of these events occur at different times of the day and have no discernible pattern of occurence.

  • Objects can disappear and then reappear in impossible places over some period of time
  • Unexplained cold/hot spots
  • Strange and unexplained sounds or voices
  • Furniture and small objects are moved
  • Objects or furniture sometimes can be thrown
  • Doors, windows and cabinets open, close or are slammed unlocked/locked
  • Lights, televisions, radios and faucets turn on and off on their own
  • Unexplained smells or the feeling of being touched
  • Strong sense of a presence including the feeling of being watched

If you have activity going on where you believe you have a haunting whether it is intelligent, residual or demonic in nature please feel free to contact the Society of The Haunted

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Residual Hauntings

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Residual Hauntings

Posted on 18 January 2012 by Cathy

A residual haunting is a playback of a past event in that same spot that when it occurs it happens at the same time of day and does not interact with you. The apparitions you see are not intelligent spirits but are recordings of the event which is usually of an emotional nature or is traumatic/violent. The recordings can be captured and imprinted on stone like slate and other materials like iron nails or quarts and many times have an underground water source. There is an unknown environmental condition that happens to record the event.

When the playback happens it is energy being dispersed which can make doors open or shut, you can hear noises or see a ghostly apparition repeating the event. We do not understand what the environmental factors are that will allow a playback to happen. Perhaps a heightened emotional state of a live person or high humidity and barometric pressure play a part but we don’t know. If we did understand we would be creating that condition over and over again not to mention studying it in-depth to understand it.

Many famous hauntings are really residual and not what we call intelligent. The most famous is the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall who was photographed by Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira while they were photographing the historic Raynham Hall for Country Life Magazine in the late afternoon of 19th September, 1936. This photo was the first known capture of a spirit. Lady Dorothy Walpole is the person thought to be the Brown Lady. She still walks the staircase looking for her 5 children. She was born in 1686 and “officially” died of smallpox in 1726.

Her tragic story is that her father refused consent for her to marry her first love Second Viscount Townshend. Dorothy was married off then began an affair with him. When her husband found out he ordered that she be kept locked in her apartments at Raynham Hall and for further punishment refused for the children to be around her. Unofficially she died of either a broken heart or a broken neck after being pushed down the grand staircase at the age of 40. Such tragedy!

Another example of a residual haunting is the Treasurer’s Grand House in York, England which dates from the 17th/18th centuries. This is the one example I use the most to explain what a residual haunting is to clients. The city has been there since 71 AD when the Roman Ninth Legion built a fortress with 6000 soldiers. The house stands within the area of the old Roman barracks. The Minster Treasures lived in this house until the Reformation. The last Treasurer was William Cliff in 1547 because there was no longer a need for a treasurer. The area of the house where you can see a residual haunting is in the cellar. There when the conditions are right Roman soldiers will march two by two through the wall into the opposite wall. These soldiers never interact with anyone but only march where you can see it and hear it. Apparently over the years the soldiers legs have gotten shorter where it looks like they are waking on their knees. I know you are wondering why they are on their knees! One day the cellar was excavated and the Roman road was found two feet beneath the floor.

The Tower of London’s ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn is another great example. Ann could not bear her husband Henry VIII a son. He became convinced their marriage was cursed. He had his eye on Jane Seymour who eventually became his wife and gave him a son (Edward VI – 1537-1553). In order to get rid of Ann she was falsely accused of treason, witchcraft, adultery and even incest with her brother. Five men who were accused of being with Ann eventually confessed under torture and were executed on Tower Hill on May 17th 1536. Anne Boleyn was executed two days later. This was a very emotional and violent series of events which have led to the residual haunting.

The guards known as the ‘Yeoman of the Guard’ have watched the towers since 1509. They have many stories of seeing the ghost of Ann. One guard reported watching Anne lead a courtly procession across the tower green and on towards Tower Hill where she had been executed. Another story is that of a group of guards who saw her appear so close that one of them was able to poke into the apparition before it faded right in front of them.

Sometimes a house will be remodeled but the activity of a residual haunting will remain the same. The spirit will now walk through what was a door but is now a wall. They will climb stairs that were once there but have since long been gone due to something like a fire. This activity continues to occur under the right conditions and usually the same time of day each time it is noticed. If they ever demolish the Raynham Hall staircase I am sure under the right conditions people will continue to see the brown lady only this time she would be floating down on what would have been the stairs.

I hope you now have a better understanding of what a residual haunting is and know that there is no reason for anyone to be afraid off residual activity. It is an amazing event where we can witness the past just like watching a movie!

If you have activity going on where you believe you have a haunting whether it is intelligent, residual or demonic in nature please feel free to contact the Society of The Haunted

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Audible Voices

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Audible Voices

Posted on 16 January 2012 by Cathy

I love it when our group goes to a location and get an audible voice during an investigation. An audible voice is one where you can hear it live with no help from equipment. Sometimes it is weak where maybe only one person can hear it and then it can be verified by listening to the audio recorders. I especially love it when the voices are really loud! The weekend before last the Society of the Haunted was at a location in Tulsa Oklahoma and got a very loud audible voice. We were all separated throughout the house when it happened. It sounds like the man is saying “wild sh*t, nothing but wow or wild” and most of us heard it. You can hear me saying “what was that” immediately after we heard it.

All of us then got busy rewinding the recorders to listen. I was sitting at the top of the staircase, Ken was downstairs in the front room at the bottom of the staircase and the homeowners were in the living room right off the foyer. All of us caught the voice on the recorders. We think the entity was in the foyer where Ken was probably the closest. A few of our members thought perhaps it was residual because of how mechanical sounding that it was and that it sounded almost like it broke through a barrier of some sort. I have not gone through all of the collected evidence yet to give my full opinion yet. It was really cool to be there and hear the man or whoever it was first hand! It is also rare to get really loud audible voice so we felt blessed.

An audible voice is not an EVP even if you catch it on your recorders. EVP stands for electronic voice phenomenon and cannot be heard audibly. You can only hear it through audio playback. So I bet you are wondering what an audible voice really is. It is an audible manifestation which you hear similar to an apparition which is visible. I believe the EVPs captured moments before the audible voice were building up to the manifestation that occurred. I need to review more of our video footage to see if any camera angle caught a physical presence as well.

Now let me share this audio with you. When we played back the audible voice we also caught a few EVPs right before the audible voice. Here is the first one which is a laugh

laugh

The next EVP that was caught sounds like a child with an English accent saying daddy

daddy

This is the audible voice wich sounds like it is saying wild sh*t nothing but wow (or maybe wild)

wild sh*t nothing but wow (or maybe wild)

Here is the full audio clip so you can hear the sequence

Ken’s device-cut-laugh to what was that

We are scheduled to go back to the property in March to see if what else we can find. Watch our website for more audio from this investigation

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Visions of Ben Breedlove

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Visions of Ben Breedlove

Posted on 02 January 2012 by Cathy

There was a young man who was loved so much that more than 1,500 people attended his memorial service. 19-year-old Ben Breedlove died Christmas night from a heart attack although he had previously cheated death three times. During the times he cheated death he had some visions On Dec 19th he posted a two-part video on YouTube telling his story about living with his heart condition which is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

In the videos Ben holds up cards which tell his story. The first time he cheated death was when he was 4 and described an experience he had in the hospital as he was being wheeled on a stretcher. “There was this big bright light above me … I couldn’t make out what it was because it was so bright. I told my mom, ‘Look at the bright light’ and pointed up. She said she didn’t see anything,” Breedlove wrote. “There were no lights on in this hall. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. And I couldn’t help but smile. I had no worries at all, like nothing else in the world mattered.”

He wrote “I cannot even begin to describe the peace, how peaceful it was,” and “I will NEVER forget that feeling or that day.” He underwent surgery May 3, 2009, to insert a pacemaker and the second time Breedlove cheated death, he said, was in the summer of 2011. He went to the hospital for tonsil surgery and ended up going into cardiac arrest. “It was a miracle that they brought me back,” Breedlove wrote. “I was scared to die, but am SO glad I didn’t.”

His third brush with death was the one earlier this month when he passed out at school and awoke surrounded by EMS medics preparing to use shock pads to revive him. “I really thought to myself, this is it. I’m dying,” Breedlove wrote. He recalled a dream or vision where he was in a silent, white room with no walls and he felt “that same peaceful feeling I had when I was 4.”

You can join the Ben Breedlove community on facebook 

Part 1

Part 2

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Ghost of Christmas Past

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Ghost of Christmas Past

Posted on 29 December 2011 by Cathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An image appeared in a flip cell phone video taken this past Christmas. Twin boys were filming their Christmas tree when they noticed the image of what appeared to be a woman sweeping on their phone. They said they couldn’t see the woman with their naked eye but only through the phone. The family does not want to reveal their location at this time because their privacy is important. They decided that they wanted to share the video of what they are calling the Ghost of Christmas Past. They believe the boys maternal great-grandmother was paying a visit.

Perhaps this was their great-grandmother trying to get everything clean in time for Christmas. The image could also possibly be explained by what we call matrixing from the christmas lights. When my group has a possible explanation for something we catch on video or in a photograph we do not claim it as evidence of the paranormal even if it could be. I personally would love to believe that their great-grandmother was visiting the family. The video camera is moving the whole time which could account for the type of movement you can see in the video below. I wish the boys would have had the camera on a tripod because it would make this event lean more towards it being paranormal.

Matrxing is what paranormal investigators call the light bouncing or reflecting in a photo or video. People can take the patterns caused by this effect and make shapes which they then identify as something they recognize. You can find these shapes in random places like the clouds or dots on a wall. Recognition of the shapes is known as pareidolia which is the ability of the brain to create a familiar image or sound from a pattern. You can read more about pareidolia which is a type of apophenia by following this link. You can also watch the video below to see what you think.

 

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Hero the Puppy

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Hero the Puppy

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Cathy

Justin Rollins decided to become a soldier when he was inspired by Sept. 11. His family said he was traumatized enough that he made up his mind to serve our country. He wanted to become an Army Ranger “He came home and he came running up the stairs, “Airborne! Ranger, baby! Infantry!” His friend said he can’t remember him showing fear ever

Justin’s life was cut short after being stationed in Samara, Iraq. He tragically passed away from an IED explosion. Before he died they found puppies living in a bad place in Iraq. His buddies took photos of him playing with the puppies. After he died his family was able to see these pictures. A campaign then began to get one of the puppies he was playing with for his family. The story made headlines and actually went national. It was called ‘Operation Hero’ which turned into an issue even for politicians. The puppy was able to be brought over!

“20/20” went to the home to do a story on the dog and was able to capture something some call a miracle. Others are skeptical thinking it is what is called a lens flare which is the light flashing off the camera. The beautiful thing is that it brought peace to the family. It was a sunbeam shining down on the dog they named Hero in Justin’s backyard. The family took it as a sign that he is with them. One of the family members said “I truly, truly believe I’ll see him again, because he sent us a sign so many times that, that he’s OK things that are too astronomical to not believe,”

This is what the ABC reporter, Kimberly Launier, had to say about the event.

Sometimes when Rhonda hugged Hero she would softly pet her face and coo, “Justin, are you in there?” It was Rhonda’s gentle way of remembering their son and his last living connection to Hero. At one point, Hero wandered off and took a stroll in the backyard. All of a sudden, the clouds broke and a light began to solidify in a beam directly down on Hero — a kind of vertical halo.

You can go watch the video of the story here at ABC
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Cunningham Run

Cunningham Run

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Cathy

On August 31,1785 a horrible attack happened to my family where some people feel it left an imprint worthy enough to be investigated for paranormal activity. Polly Gear with Mountaineer Paranormal has investigated the property. One night she was able to capture an EVP after talking about the attack. She says “in this EVP, we are sitting on the spot where the cabin had been located, I am talking with my friend’s little boy about the Indians. The little boy was saying, “It would be a wicked fight between the Indians and white people,” and I agreed with him. Listen to the very end. You can clearly hear a raspy voice say, “white people.”

Here is the EVP whitepeople

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the story of what happened.

Edward Cunningham my 6th great grandfather and his brother Thomas had settled their families onto a farm in what is known today as Cunningham Run in West Virginia. Edward and his brother lived in separate cabins which were almost adjoining with their families. Thomas and Phoebe had four children: Henry, Lydia, Walter and Thomas.

Six Indians came up to the property while Thomas was away on a trading trip to Pittsburgh and one entered his house while they were eating dinner at the table. Edward Cunningham had seen him enter his brother’s house then seized his gun and they all began firing at each other. The Indian in Thomas house was engaged in cutting a hole in the wall to escape out of the line of fire from Edward. After he made a hole big enough to escape he tomahawked Walter the two year old. He then motioned for Phoebe to follow him through the hole. Phoebe was forced to follow him with one infant in her arms and two other children clinging to her. When all were out he scalped the murdered boy and set fire to the house. They were watching Edwards door waiting for them to run out when the flame from the one roof jumped to his roof. Edward was able to extinguish the fire even though the he was being shot at the whole time.

Henry who was age 4 was the oldest son and Lydia who was three were then killed and scalped in the yard. After the hatchet sunk they took Lydia by the arms and legs and slinging her repeatedly against a tree until she stopped breathing. Phoebe and the infant were taken to a cave on Little Indian Run for the night. The infant was killed soon after and Phoebe was taken into captivity.

When the attackers withdrew in the evening Edward went with his family into the woods to hide. The next day they went to the nearest house where they gave the alarm about what happened to them. A company of men went in pursuit of the Indians. They found both houses burned to the ground. They buried the children and went off in pursuit of Phoebe but no traces of them could be discovered so the men returned to their homes.

Phoebe was held in captivity for over three years and was released in 1788 after a man named Simon Girty paid her ransom. Thomas and Phoebe were reunited but did not return to their farm on Cunningham Run where the Indian attack had occurred. They established a home south of Clarksburg and were blessed to have seven more children: Rachel, John, Sara Leah, Phoebe, Barbara, Benjamin, Eva.

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One Recipe Book

One Recipe Book

Posted on 02 December 2011 by Cathy

Do you want to know something paranormal (beyond the range of normal) about me?

Confession…

I probably have at the very least 500 recipe books and I bet I am most likely not anywhere close to the real number that I have. I know I have a compulsion to acquire them haha. I have a few that are more personal because they are scribble done by me while talking to family or researching recipes. One of these personal books is old and is filled with wonderful family memories.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my first recipe book. I spent hours sitting with family picking their brains writing down recipes. I am so happy that I was able to do this now! Several of the people who helped me fill the book up are no longer alive. I wrote down word for word what they wanted me to do to recreate the recipe. I remember sitting at the table with my Great Grandmother as she would talk to me about food on the farm and other stories. I have decided share those stories with you along with those recipes through my blog.

Haunted Chef doesn’t just mean paranormal cooking. To be haunted is to have compulsive concern with something. It can be memories that come up that are negative like post traumatic stress disorder. It can also be pleasant memories that make you smile. The word haunted is not something that always means something negative. Actual hauntings can sometimes bring peace to people who are grieving the loss of someone.

I feel blessed that I am able to share these recipes with my family and pass the information on down the line. I also feel that sharing these recipes with you is giving you an opportunity to sit at our table as extended family members. Did you know that the farthest apart anyone can be related is 40th cousin! Mathematical and genealogical studies show that the most recent common ancestor of every person alive today was someone in Europe about 600 years ago. I will go more into that in another post


 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is a great example of being haunted by a pleasant memory. I picked up my recipe book to transcribe a recipe for you and wham there is something jogging a memory. See the snoopy sticker sticking out from behind the pages? I loved snoopy! That is why I bought a set of stickers and put them everywhere. I also had a stuffed snoopy that I slept with every night as a child. Here is a major confession for you…..I only stopped sleeping with it when I got married…. haha!!! It would have been too embarrassing to continue so I stopped. Don’t hold that against me because I know you too had a childhood something like a blanket, pillow or stuffed something 🙂 Did I make you remember something??

Hoping to haunt your table with pleasant memories!

Cathy
The Haunted Chef

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Rude People

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Rude People

Posted on 23 November 2011 by Cathy

Yesterday I went into Kroger to get a roast and forgot to bring my card with me. I have had it since they started doing the Kroger plus cards. I do not even remember the telephone number I had at that time so they cannot look it up when I forget it. I decided to go ahead and just get the roast because I needed to start dinner. On my way out I saw the customer service desk and thought maybe I could get a new card with my correct number. I went over and was going to go to one window when I noticed it was closed so I turned to go to the other window. There was a woman with kids that looked like she was waiting in line. So I waited behind her for a bit until she moved to let me by. I started to go by her and out of the corner of my eye I noticed another woman that looked like she was going go between all of us even though I was moving to the desk. I heard her say Wow. For whatever reason all the hair on my body stood up for a minute as I realized she meant that wow for me like I was being rude. She was going to cut in line but I was being rude. I was so upset by her wow that I made a rash decision to turn around and leave letting her go ahead to the desk. As I turned around to go past her she almost yelled at me well excuse you. OMG! I couldn’t believe it.

I kept going towards the car and thought about putting my roast in the car and then going back to confront her but changed my mind. I would have told her that I was waiting in line for a bit and asked her why she said wow to me for moving forward. I would have told her it bothered me so much that I decided to let her have the turn she thought she deserved. I would have told her how rude it was to speak to me that way. She didn’t know who I was or know anything about me. She didn’t know what kind of a day I had.

First of all let me say that I believe in the golden rule which is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I didn’t go and speak my mind because I was also turning the other cheek. Confronting her could have causesd a horrible scene instead of making her have an aha moment where perhaps she would think before she speaks mean to someone.

Imagine if you will that you go into a restauraunt to eat and the waitress is sloppy, horrible and you just do not have any satisfaction with her. Do you confront her by making sarcastic remarks? Do you get up to go tell the manager? Well, asking the manager for help would be better than muttering ugly things to someone you don’t know, right? Imagine that the waitress is someone who is usually spotless, fast and efficient but this day is different. You wouldn’t know this information because you never met her before. This day she was told her father died whom she never met. It is a sore sot and she came to work because she had no choice but to go in or loose her job. Her emotions are so all over the place that she is even suicidal. Here you are upset with her and not knowing this information. Your bit of sarcasm to her and those unkind words are enough for her to take off her apron and run from the building. It is enough for her to end her life that day. Would you want that responsibility? You being the last straw tha broke the camels back causing her death?

These are things that run through my head that make me be nice to people even when they are mean. How do I know what they have going through their head to make them be mean in that moment? I don’t! So I just let things slide and turn the other cheek and walk away. I would like it if that woman came and read my blog though. Maybe she would know I am not a rude person at all and how offended that I was. Perhaps reading this would be enough for her to bite her tongue in the future?

Proverbs 15:4

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Matthew 12:36-37

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James 3:8

But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

Proverbs 12:18

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

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The Bible and Ghosts

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The Bible and Ghosts

Posted on 12 November 2011 by Cathy

The Bible shows us that there was always a belief in ghosts. Some people think that ghosts are contrary to Christianity. I have even heard people say it is impossible for there to be ghosts because after we die we are judged. They quote Hebrews 9:27 which states “And in as much as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” I would like to point out that he does not say how long after death this will be. If you read Acts 1:7 it states “He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

As a being created by God we are given the gift of free will that may also continue after we die. The choice to go into the light and be judged or to wander may be a God gift given as well. We learn in 1 Tim 2: 3, 4 that God desires all men to be saved. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” How does anyone know for certain that through death and before judgment God has no other plans for any particular soul?

Old Testament

Saul had a medium conjure up the ghost of Samuel
I Samuel 28:15,
And Samuel saith to Saul, Why hast thou troubled me, to bring me up?

Job encounters a ghost
Job 4:14-17
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

New Testament

The disciples believed Jesus was a ghost. Jesus does not say they do not exist
Matthew 14:25-27
Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.

Saints manifested after the resurrection
Matthew 27:52-53
The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Jesus manifested from the invisible to the visible in the same way as an apparition and they didn’t recognise him
Mark 16:12
…to two of them, as they are going into a field, walking, he was manifested in another form.

Saints manifested as well as Jesus spoke with the dead
Mark 9:4,
and there appeared to them, Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus

The disciples believed Jesus was a ghost and he said he was not like a ghost. Again they are not told they do not exist
Luke 24:39
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

We must test the spirits
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God..

We do not die
1 Corinthians 15:51
Behold, I will tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep but we shall be changed.

After we die we are still open to the word of God
1 Peter 3 19
in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison

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