HAUNTED SPACES & HOLY PLACES

Tis the season for haunts and haunting. And with over 1200 professionally run haunted attractions, 300 spooked-out theme parks, and over 3,000 charity-run spook shows, it's safe to say that we love being scared. But our love of scaring and being scared isn't a new phenomenon. Heck, it dates back to the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Never underestimate the power and value of a good scare ( and we will spend billions of dollars this spooky season getting our fill of things that go bump in the night to prove it).

But some of us don't have to pay to get spooked. Some get the high honor of calling their home haunted. 24% of Americans believe they have lived somewhere that's haunted, and the rest of us have spent our own fair share of scoping out the genuinely terrifying sites of our country's oldest cities, sites of terrible deeds, and abodes of humanity's worst. Something seems to happen to a place when it's filled with foul and dark deeds. It's as if evil leaves a stain that never goes away, and in some cases, the spirits of the victims, the fallen, and the villains move in permanently to ensure no one forgets the odious past.

Savannah, New Orleans, Charleston, Chicago, St. Augustine, Portland, Gettysburg, Washington D.C. … can you call yourself a major city if someone isn't showcasing your sinister side to tourists to make a buck?

But what actually makes a place haunted? What's the criteria? And can anything be done about that door that seems to eerily open up on its own?

According to experts, a place is most likely to be haunted if someone meets their end in a violent or tragic way. So, the spirit(s) of the deceased linger in that place, and you've got yourself a recipe for next season's Halloween blockbuster hit.

But, spirits don't linger. If you're a Jesus follower, the scriptures are rather clear about that. And nearly every investigation into supposed hauntings has turned up a scientific and plausible explanation (and often, the supposed atrocity that deems the place haunted is a gross exaggeration or complete fabrication).

So, why do we still call places haunted? Why do old sanatoriums, hospitals, prisons, and houses give us the creeps? What gives these dark places their power? The same thing that makes a place holy: YOU.

Something happens in your mind when you walk into a place and are told about the marvelous or horrendous deeds that were done. When you're told that a place is haunted, every creak and bump becomes a spectre. When you're told that a place is holy, every beam of light becomes divine.

The book of Genesis tells the story of God creating the cosmos with HIS words, and it's in the image of this wordsmith that we are made. Is it any wonder that with our words and stories, we can deem a space haunted or a place holy?

The stories we tell are powerful, not just during Halloween but every day. And, while everyone enjoys a good scare, darkness cannot look at an inch of the Maker's dirt and declare, "mine."

Every plot of earth, home, building, or city that has woven into its history foul deeds is an opportunity for God's people to wade into the messiness and complexity of our human brokenness and sing the Maker's favorite song: A song of redemption.

It is you and I that make haunted spaces and holy places. Go and make every place holy.