John Wesley apparently spent some time attempting to prove the existence of the paranormal.  He seemed to mourn the shift in culture away from belief in witches, saying, “the giving up of witchcraft is, in effect, giving up the bible.”  Witchcraft, ghosts and demons are all mentioned in the bible, and for Wesley, they were proof in existence beyond the material world.  As The Enlightenment led away from belief in the supernatural, Wesley spent time researching and publishing ghost stories that he believed were credible based on the holiness of the person telling them (the holier person would only tell the truth).  While the Wesley Bros did not actually investigate Scratching Fanny, the Cock Lane ghost, Methodists following John’s lead to prove the existence of the paranormal were at the center of the controversy.

The Cock Lane ghost made the newspapers, even made it into Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities.  Seances were regularly held as Scratching Fanny always responded to questions with knocks and scratches for “Yes” and “No.”  The landlord of Cock Lane owed a huge amount of money to his renters, an unwed pregnant couple.  Fanny Lynes died, supposedly of smallpox, before her child was born.  Kent (Fanny’s lover), had sued his landlord for the what was owed him, and suddenly, the landlord claims their home was haunted by the ghost of Fanny Lynes.  The ghost revealed she had not died naturally of smallpox, but had been poisoned by her lover.  Two clergymen with Methodist ties investigated, trusting the testimony of the ghost against Kent.  As the public came to catch proof of life beyond the grave, to contact their deceased loved ones, the authorities got involved to expose the landlord’s daughter as the source of the knocks and scratches.  The Methodists were publicly viewed as perpetuating false proof in the supernatural.  William Hogarth published a wonderful editorial comic titled “Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism,” (Check it out at this link) exaggerating the emotionalism ascribed to the Methodist movement.  In the picture, John Wesley’s sermons are part of a thermometer gauging religious fervor, with the Cock Lane ghost at the top revealing completely irrational religion.  Not the finest moment in Methodism, to be sure…

Today, most of us want some sort of proof in life beyond the grave, we want to know we will see our loved ones again.  The belief in ghosts hasn’t greatly diminished over the centuries, and this is the time of year we tell ghost stories to excite and thrill, but also with a tiny tinge of hope that it might be true.  John Wesley’s ghost-hunting may not be that different from our common desire to know…without a doubt…that there is more to this life than we can see.  As I was in the middle of working on this week’s comic, my wife went to visit a neighbor we had been caring for, and found that she had ended her life in her apartment.  As we have grieved this loss, we have semi-joked that we don’t want any ghostly visits, but more so we have prayed that this woman who dealt with so much pain in this life found not the end, but the open and welcoming arms of the God of grace in the next life.  Grief and loss are so unbearable because of the finality of death… While focusing on finding proof in life after death might be religiously irresponsible, I think we would do well to comfort those who mourn with trust that Christ has ultimately defeated Death.

PS. I’ve wanted to include Sam and Dean Winchester (from the show Supernatural) for a while and this seemed like the best story to do it.