Are Ghosts Real?

Westchester County is a very old and storied part of New York State. It' s earliest inhabitants were the Lenape followed by the Dutch, and then the British. Westchester was home for a time to General George Washington when he established a military headquarters in the War of Independence against the British in White Plains, New York. Furthermore, due to the counties' close proximity to New York City, Westchester County also figured prominently in the history of New York and by extension the history of the whole United States.

Many homes still exist in the region which tell the story of New York life in all its' historic context. There is the restored early Dutch settlement at Philipsburg Manor. The modest home of revolutionary war firebrand, Thomas Paine and the home of author Washington Irving, whose most famous writings include The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Over the years, I have enjoyed visiting many of the historic homes of the Hudson River Valley.

One of them, the Armour-Stiner house has only recently been open for public tours. I was very keen to view this mid-nineteenth Century home which was built in the shape of an octagon. It's unusual shape was influenced by the writer Orson Squire Fowler whose book extolled the virtue of building octagonal structures. His philosophical point of view effected a mini fad of sorts which resulted in thousands of octagonal buildings being constructed in the United States and Canada. Today, only eighty such structures are left in the U.S. After forty years of exhaustive research and labor the Amour-Stiner house has been faithfully restored to its' former glory. When I heard that it had finally become opened to the public, I signed up for a curated tour.

I knew I was in for a spiritual bumpy ride as soon as I began my tour. It was then that the docent informed us that the Armour-Stiner building was based upon the design of Donato Bramante's Roman Temple (1502). She showed us photos of the two buildings side-by-side and the resemblance was astounding. The Roman Temple was built for good she said, while this building not so much! It was built for pleasure. I don't know what anyone else on the tour thought about that statement but I was shocked and intrigued at the same time. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't sure the Roman temples were built for good either. Didn't some questionable practices occur in them? What did she mean by her statement? Heaven only knows that I was about to find out!

I forgot my initial thoughts as we started to delve into the history and renovation of this amazing house. Many interesting people have lived in the home. One of them, Joseph Stiner was a very successful retail tea merchant. At one time he had seventy-six tea /coffee establishments in Brooklyn and Manhattan. He might have been the first person to start a chain store. The current owner is from a family of architects who took an interest in bringing this home back to its original state. This involved analyzing paint chips and doing historical research to ensure an accurate presentation. The furniture and lighting fixtures were all original to the house having somehow miraculously been kept in storage all these years. He did a great job because I felt like I was back in 1872.

But, there is one thing that I forgot. Whenever you have old homes or buildings there are almost always ghost stories associated with them. This home was no different. When we got to the third floor of the structure, we found ourselves in a room with a crystal ball smack dab in the middle of it. When I had to go to the bathroom later, I also noted that there was a Quiji board in the basement.

In the third floor room the docent reminded us that when this house was built seances were all the rage. The United States had just been through a devastating civil war. Many people lost loved ones and in the search for answers some sought to contact those they lost so suddenly through occult practices.

The paranormal did not stop there. The docent also told us the story of a young couple who married despite parental disapproval only to loose their life shortly afterwards in a steamboat accident. It is said that the young wife manifests herself in that third floor room to this day. For the second time on this tour I wondered what people thought of that comment.

Do the dead come back as ghosts? Can they communicate with us through a person, a crystal ball or by other means? Did anything happen at the Armour-Stiner home, or is it all just an entertaining tour story? Can viewing the events manifested at this home through the lens of Christianity shed some light on the topic?

First, I would like to note that many reliable witnesses have reported unusual occurances in this house. Therefore, I do think something happened. But, was it a ghost or something else? The Bible describes both a physical and a spiritual realm of existence. When God prepared the Jewish people to enter the land of Canaan, which He had given them, there was one very ugly fact facing them.  Deuteronomy 18:9-11- When you enter the land (Canaan) the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft or cast spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

God informed them that the place they were going was a ceaspool of evil. He warned them not to get caught up in the evil goings-on or to emulate that behavior. The more I see of life, the more I see God's immense wisdom. We all reach our own land of Canaan and it is critically important to access the situation before we get into trouble. When we face a challenge we should start by deciding to follow God in whatever struggle that we are facing. Luckily, we don't have to face anything alone. We have God, the Bible and one another. From age to age the occult beckons and calls people towards its' practice.

This was true in biblical times as we can see from the above scripture passage, it was true in the mid-nineteenth century as we can see from the historical record, and it is true now. To continue, some of the practices in the Armour-Stiner house are the exact practices God cautions against in Deuteronomy 18. That was a no-no. Next, were the manifestations in the house that of the womens' ghost? For that answer, I would like to reflect upon the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man which Jesus told in Luke 16.

Going to Luke 16:26 we learn that no matter how much the rich man wants to come back to the earth after his death that he can not.  Between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us. Jesus pretty much set the record straight on ghosts, they do not exist! So, if it is not a ghost, what is really happening in a ghostly manifestation? While ghosts are not real, the work of the devil is.

Satan has the power to lie to people when they are in a vulnerable state and convince them they they are talking to a dearly departed loved one. What an awful thing to do to one dealing with grief and in need of real comfort.  But, that's just who Satan is, and that is why God told us not to have anything to do with practices that can summon him.

Speaking of practices that summon him, remember that Quiji board that I saw in the basement? Well, that and the crystal ball are part of the origins of many ghostly happenstances. That is why God is so adamant about telling us not to do these things. The good news is that God empowers the believer not to be afraid of such things. They have no power to hurt a spirit-filled believer in God. Satan is a defeated foe whose days are numbered. So remember, ghosts are not real!