Ouija Board

Ouija board, spirit board, talk to me.

A Ouija board is often a wooden board with painted numbers, letters and words. It uses a planchette, a sort of viewfinder, to select which numbers or letters or words that were needed to convey whatever the users needed.


Origins exist far earlier than the iconic board that you may be familiar with, and there are references to spirit boards and similar devices used in China and Japan and Europe. The attempts to contact the deceased are not new and have continued all throughout history in differing forms, but Ouija board is the most common.

There were no 'Ouija' boards before the 19th century, and even then they were marketed as a game, a toy, that both children and adults could play with. And they did. It wasn't long before spirit games became an image of popular culture and sleepover rituals that transcended time and place from America to Australia and to China and Japan. Seances, en vogue throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, began to use them with the intention to conjure or speak to the dead.

But how many people really believe in what the boards stand for? I'd wager far less than should.

There is no real tell as to what effect the use of a Ouija board will have, and they probably depend on the kind of person you are. It may even depend on who you play with or how you play.

One rule I will enforce to any game to try it, for whatever reason, is never, ever play alone. Not because you'll frighten yourself, not because it won't work as well, and not because it won't be as fun. Ouija boards not only open a forum for contact but they will also leave you open and susceptible to that kind of energy, mindset and contact long after you stop playing. Always, even if you don't really believe, have at least one other person there to anchor the situation.

I'm not sure, for all my belief in ghosts and the other world, that I quite believe as far as demon or spirit possession but this is the sort of situation that starts it. The boy that Linda Blair's character is based on in the film The Exorcist, Roland Doe, claimed that he was playing with Ouija boards alone and is inherently what led to his possession and eventual exorcism during the 1940's. You may not believe, I'm not even sure I do - but the question there, the not being sure, is what stops me; you just never know, and it's best not to meddle in things that aren't fully understood and can prove to be very dangerous for all involved.

For those that have always been interested to play with a Ouija board just for fun or to actively attempt to make contact, then there are plenty of forums for attempting as safely as possible. Wiki and Ask.com offer a simple step guides to the 'game':

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Ouija-Board

http://paranormal.about.com/cs/ouijaboards/ht/use_ouija.htm

But for all my terminology I don't consider it to be a game. I don't take it light-heartedly and I can tell you that there are many, many people like me and those who feel even stronger about the topic. Paranormal investigators and psychologists and mediums and clairvoyants will often strongly encourage against the use of spirit boards without proper instruction and ritual. Think of it like science or potions class; improper mixing or following of the recipes will turn your solutions bad or they just won't work as well. I can tell you that in my experience even something as seemingly simple as making soap can go awfully wrong when you don't follow instructions (my beaker exploded and got me with the shards).

Even more dangerous is the people who use the Ouija board for proof of some kind of spiritual existence. Asking a spirit to prove itself by throwing or moving something, or basically any kind of physical interaction, is dangerous because it allows whatever is actually there to accumulate enough energy to impact on the real world - and if that happens who's to say that that will be where they stop.

I've thought about all this sort of stuff before because it's always been something I've wanted to try, like a seductive fantasy or quest for some more solid proof. But I know never will - It's just too dangerous, and I'm so susceptible, open and I feel far too strongly that I would be a perfect conduit for things to take advantage or go awfully wrong. And I'd never play alone.

But what I did do was see a Ouija board iPhone cover on the internet and decide that I had to have it, so I bought it and it wasn't really all that expensive. But when it arrived and I put it on my phone, proud of it, I've started to have a bad feeling in my gut and every night it's been on I've had horrible nightmares that have woken me up in the middle of the night too terrified to do anything but keep my eyes closed and force myself to breathe. It probably all seems kind of silly, and I'll admit that a large part of this is in my head, but I can't deny that this was a likely mistake.

I never played it, the cover only features the board and never came with a planchette, but I could never have done it anyway. I really like the cover, but for now it may be worth putting it away until my subconscious stops sending me night terrors and I stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Sure, I believe in ghosts and not everybody does, but sometimes the mind can play tricks on you, too.

I'd rather believe that my mind was just spinning than the Ouija board cover was having a real effect on my susceptibility.

A fun read for skeptics and believers alike: http://www.aformerskeptic.com/

Sam xox