Spooky Stories from Scripture

People tend to think that the Bible is just filled with boring old stories. But some of the things in the Bible are surprising. There are even some stories that are downright spooky when you think about it. Tonight, we are going to look at some of these spooky stories from scripture.

Episode 1: Into the Necromancer’s Lair

Are ghosts real? Can you talk to the dead? SHOULD you talk to the dead?

1 Samuel 28:3–19 MEV

Now Samuel died and all Israel mourned him, and they buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Then the Philistines gathered themselves together. And they came and camped in Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams, or by lots, or by prophets. Then said Saul to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “There is woman medium in Endor.” So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and he went with two of his men. And they came to the woman by night and he said, “Please divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whom I will name to you.” The woman said to him, “Listen, you know what Saul has done, how he has eliminated the mediums and necromancers from the land. Now why are you laying a trap for my life to cause my death?” Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.” Then said the woman, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.” The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a divine being ascending out of the earth.” He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a robe.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel. And he kneeled with his face to the ground and bowed himself. Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you roused me to bring me up?” And Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me any longer by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you that you might make known to me what I should do.” Then said Samuel, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? The Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, David. As you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out His fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. And moreover, the Lord will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

Episode 2: Baby Food

2 Kings 6:24–30 MEV

After this, Ben-Hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, went up, and besieged Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria, and they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. As the king of Israel was walking across the city wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help, my lord king.” He said, “If the Lord will not help you, how can I help you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” And the king said to her, “What is wrong with you?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son and let us eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. And since he was walking across the city wall, the people saw that he had sackcloth on his body underneath.

Episode 3: It Came from the Tombs

Mark 5:1–13 MEV

They went to the other side of the sea to the region of the Gadarenes. When He had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit came out of the tombs and met Him. He lived among the tombs. And no one could constrain him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. But he had pulled the chains apart and broken the shackles to pieces. And no one could subdue him. Always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran up and kneeled before Him, and cried out with a loud voice, “What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure You by God, do not torment me.” For Jesus said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Then He asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “My name is Legion. For we are many.” And he begged Him repeatedly not to send them away out of the country. Now there was a great herd of swine feeding near the mountains. All the demons pleaded with Him, asking, “Send us to the swine, so that we may enter them.” At once, Jesus gave them leave. Then the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. And the herd, numbering about two thousand, ran wildly down a steep hill into the sea and were drowned in the sea.