A Catholic take on ghosts is shown here.
Do Catholics Believe in Ghosts?: Church Teaching on Purgatory | St. Paul Center
One paragraph is as follows -
The most common type of human spirit haunting cases are the souls of people who have committed suicide as well as murder victims. These souls usually create a very strong feeling and effect of sadness, depression, and malaise near where they died. They may cause some manifestation, such as knocking or banging at the time they died or when they are talked about. One has to be careful because demons can take advantage of a known suicide or murder and pose as the victim in that location. Also, a demon that helped encourage a murder or suicide could still be there. The other types of human spirit haunting that are common occur in churches and religious housing such as rectories or monasteries.
I believe they exist. I've told this story before, but I had a prophetic pastor when I was still Presbyterian. Amongst his predictions was "I think you'll be doing a cleaning job for a short time. You won't like it much, but I think the
Lord will just want you to hear about a ghost."
He made that prediction circa 1990/91 as he died himself in 1992. I didn't take it seriously even though I knew how accurate he was. But fast forward to 2006, and I did a cleaning job. I didn't do it for long (about four months), didn't like it much, and I heard about a ghost.
The ghost was the spirit of a former manager who committed suicide in the basement sometime in the 1960's. He didn't cause me any issues, and in fact I felt rather positive vibes, as I think he expected me to do something for him. I eventually got a mass said for him, although it took me a while.
But the young bloke who showed me the cleaning round was scared of him. He said one night all the stock on one complete set of shelves jumped up and landed on the floor. It scared the hell out of him.
At other times he could push a very heavy buffer with his little finger, as something was pushing it with him. I suppose the ghost was bored out of his mind, and it was one way of causing a "manifestation".
I think they exist, and I don't think they're all demonic. Some may be, or they might mimic them, but I think a lot of them are bonafide human spirits.
