Whispers from Beyond: Medieval Ghosts and Their Messages About the Afterlife

By Peter Konieczny

Imagine encountering a ghost in the dark of night – not to frighten you, but to share secrets of the afterlife. For people in the Middle Ages, these supernatural encounters offered eerie glimpses into what awaited beyond death. Medieval ghosts were often seen as messengers from purgatory or even deceptive spirits, and through them, people believed they could learn more about the mysterious journey of the soul.

Ghosts in Medieval Theology

In his article “Ghosts and Ghostbusters in the Middle Ages”, Robert Swanson of the University of Birmingham examined how medieval people thought of ghosts and recorded instances of communication with them. His research revealed a wide range of opinions in the Middle Ages about what ghosts were and the roles they played.

Medieval theologians usually said little about ghosts. Thomas Aquinas, for instance, accepted their existence but did not speculate on their nature. Others believed that some, or all, ghosts might be evil demons trying to trick the faithful. The 15th-century writer James of Clusa, for example, wrote that true ghosts could only appear to Christians, while those seen by Jews and other non-Christians must have been demonic in nature.

Swanson explains:

Care was certainly needed when dealing with ghosts which might be deceits. Evil spirits claimed to be the Christian dead, so all had to be tested, and could be found wanting. In 1458 one seemingly benign ghost was unable to recite a prayer when tested, thereby revealing itself as a diabolic spirit. In the the thirteenth century Jacques de Vitry reported a more dangerous case, of a young Catholic woman tempted into Catharism by what looked like the ghost of her dead mother in glory, ascribing her state to her adherence to Cathar belief. The apparition was a demonic fraud: when the woman sought advice from Catholic priests, their masses and prayers compelled the devil to bring back the real mother, bewailing her fate and urging her daughter to remain a true Catholic.

Ghosts from Purgatory: Seeking Help from the Living

There are a few stories from the Middle Ages where church officials determined that a ghost was that of a Christian soul, and it was in purgatory. These ghosts often appeared to request masses or good deeds to be performed on their behalf, which could shorten their stay in purgatory and allow them to enter heaven. For priests and other individuals, these interactions provided opportunities to learn more about the afterlife.

Gervase of Tilbury, for example, reports how a young man who died in the French town of Beaucaire in July 1211 appeared to his female cousin and a priest. Church officials, including Gervase, came to Beaucaire to communicate with the ghost through the priest. Swanson writes:

The ghost says that he dwells in the air among spirits, experiencing purifying fires. His state is directly affected by events on earth: his clothing changes to resemble his earthly garments when they are distributed to the poor; and he must wear a girdle of fire until a borrowed belt is returned to its rightful owner.

All souls which will be saved enter purgatory, other than saints, who go to heaven. Purgatory is a place of days and nights where souls are cleansed in agony, tinged with joy. The souls there receive some respite at weekends, and when masses are celebrated or other deeds done on their behalf. Each soul has a guardian angel – all called ‘Michael’ to the name the office rather than an individual – and the souls join in commemoration of St. Michael’s Day by praising their personal angels.

The sufferings of the damned are visible from purgatory, but they are not yet in hell. That subterranean pit will remain empty until after the Day of Judgement – until then the damned suffer aerial torments while anticipating the fullness of their damnation. The just are meanwhile in the bosom of Abraham, pending admission to heaven.

The vivid details of these ghostly appearances revealed medieval beliefs about purgatory and the soul’s journey through purification before reaching heaven.

Famous Ghost Encounters in the Middle Ages

Some medieval ghost stories stand out for their strange and intricate details. One comes from 15th-century Germany, where Henry Buschmann, who had died forty years earlier, appeared to his grandson Arnt Buschmann in 1436. Initially, the ghost took the form of a dog, confusing the family until clerical advice helped them understand the ghost’s true nature.

Some of the revelations from the ghost of Henry Buschmann were similar to other ghost stories – he had a guardian angel, and part of his time in purgatory involved returning to Earth. However, he also shared unusual details about other spirits. For instance, he mentioned a widow who had completed her time in purgatory and was now seated among the eighth choir of angels. In contrast, the spirit of a father was still serving his punishment on Earth, staying in his son’s home. This spirit had killed seven of his grandchildren after their baptisms as a way of punishing his son and other family members for their sins. This continued until the son’s wife convinced him to confess and perform penance, which eventually put an end to the hauntings.

Arnaud Gelis: The Medium of Pamiers

In 14th-century southern France, Arnaud Gelis, a minor church official in the town of Pamiers, had a reputation as a medium who could communicate with the ghosts of the dead. Swanson explains how Gelis’s ability was apparently a family trait, and his conversations with the dead revealed much about medieval beliefs:

The earth was crowded with the invisible dead, who had to be accommodated, and considered. Even energetic walking might harm them: ‘People who move their arms and hands from their sides when they walk about … knock many souls of the dead to the ground.’ This is also a somewhat uncharitable afterlife: if the the dead fall over, they cannot rise of their own accord but must wait for help from other souls who knew them while alive. Those who did not know them simply walked over them.

The ghosts that Gelis encountered were mostly Christian souls undergoing post-mortem purification. They sought help through masses and other charitable acts to hasten their journey to heaven. Gelis even reported seeing Jewish ghosts, who remained separate from Christians but would still be saved by Mary’s intercession.

The connection between the dead and churches played a significant role in Gelis’s accounts. He explained how the dead were constantly on pilgrimage from church to church, purifying their souls and securing salvation. This connection to churches, churchyards, and even family homes emphasized the ongoing relationship between the living and the dead in medieval society.

Gelis revealed that the dead rested from Saturday evening to Monday morning, often returning to their family homes on Saturdays, where they enjoyed wine and a warm fire. However, they were fastidious about unclean houses. Offerings of oil lamps were also preferred by the dead, as altar candles were too easily blown out when they walked about.

The stories of medieval ghosts offer a window into how people of the Middle Ages understood death and the afterlife. Ghosts were not always seen as evil or malicious spirits but as souls in need of help or even demons masquerading as the dead. These beliefs were closely tied to the concept of purgatory, which developed in the late 11th century. For medieval Christians, the responsibility of praying for the dead and helping them move beyond purgatory was deeply rooted in their faith and everyday life.

Today, while ghosts are often viewed with fear, medieval people saw them as spirits with a message – perhaps not of terror, but of the next life.

Robert Swanson’s article, “Ghosts and Ghostbusters in the Middle Ages”, appears in Studies in Church History, Volume 45 (2009).

Top Image: Graves at Clonmacnoise. Photo by Bernd Thaller / Flickr