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Many people wonder if there is a spiritual afterlife for animals in a peaceful heaven. The writers of the Bible did not mention it. They gave no explanation for supernatural spirits, apparitions or ghosts that can be seen, but they wrote about the Holy Spirit (Ghost) that cannot be seen. Part of the answer about animal spiritual afterlife may be in evidence of ghosts. A book, “Civil War Ghosts and Legends,” describes human and accompanying animal ghosts long after the war.
John Brown was a northerner and slavery abolitionist, whose followers killed slave owners. In 1859, he attempted to raid the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. to arm slaves and start a slave rebellion. Hiding in an armory fire-engine house with his big dog, Brown was captured and hanged for treason. Brown, who read the Bible and prayed aloud but seldom knelt before God, claimed to be an instrument of God.
Tourists have often seen ghosts of Brown and his large dog walking to the engine house where they vanish. When or where Brown’s dog died wasn’t given.
Elizabeth Van Lew, an anti-slavery southern socialite was the finest spy for the Union in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. She dispatched military maneuvers of Confederate troops to Union commanders by black servants throughout the war causing death and crippling of many southern soldiers. She died in poverty, despised by southerners 35 years after the war. She probably had 40 cats, apparently the only beings that would communicate with her. Ghosts of her and many cats (some friendly) were seen near her dilapidated great house. Her cats would have died long before she did.
It seems to be punishment for human spirits to wander in this world as ghosts. These slavery abolitionists were supposedly pursuing the righteous cause but were denied heaven for the righteous — and their animals. Perhaps they needed the Holy Spirit. Assuming these stories are accurate, it can be derived that animal and human spirits meet in peaceful heaven as in these ghostly afterlives. Human and animal communication appears necessary for animal spiritual afterlife. Evidently, no animal ghosts occur without accompanying human spirits. A waiting place for animal spirit destination must occur for those that die before humans.
Whether animal spirits enter peaceful heaven or become worldly ghosts must depend on the salvation of humans in the relationships.
Edward L. Flickinger
Victoria