When I was growing up talks of ghost and demons were fun campfire stories and Halloween costumes. The haunted world was not taken very seriously amongst the general public; the information just wasn’t there. There were no reality shows about ghost hunting. You could however most likely catch an article about demon possession if you read (and my mother had a subscription to all of them) those bizarre weird-news tabloids. Back then no one really understood about the possible dangers when you dabble in the spirit world.
I have fond memories of sneaking into my mother’s bedroom and rummaging through her closet to find the mysterious occult board game…Ouija. I heard from other kids in school that you can talk to a real ghost and it can even predict your future! The only thing about my future that I cared about was who in my school I was going to marry, when I grew up. The Ouija board could tell me that? Of course I tried it! I would ask “Ouija will I marry Alex or Mike or gross Brian?” Unfortunately Ouija wasn’t very helpful, it said “yes” to all of them, even cootie ridden Brian! And I’m not positive that my playfully irritating little sister didn’t move the planchette with her tiny fingers.
But how do we know for sure it wasn’t the work of someone from beyond the grave? Could it be possible that a spirit was actually trying to communicate with two little kids?
Ouija was mass produced in the late 1800’s and was considered a parlor game (or one you play on the floor of your own closet with your annoying eager little sister). It then became a popular occult tool and the simply crafted game (cardboard and plastic, selling in used condition for $9 on eBay) became a gateway to the devil himself. Mostly non-believers feel it is a fun game to fool your friends. Others feel it’s a way to open the door between us and the spirit world or even hell. There have also been studies on the ideomotor effect. This refers to the influence of suggestions of involuntary and unconscious motor behavior.
So, right there we have three Ouija theories. It’s not real, it’s very real, or we only think it’s real. With all that in mind, lets now move to what prompted me to write this post.
A young friend of mine asked if I thought it was safe to use a Ouija board. I wasn’t sure what to tell her. My knee-jerk reaction was heck no it’s dangerous. But I had to pause because I realized I had this fear of the Ouija without real proof or personal experiences to back it up. Then I thought back to when I was a kid and played it countless times and nothing bad ever happened. So maybe my friend would be safe if they perhaps (just for precaution of course) said a protective prayer or announce that they are not accepting any spirits with harmful intentions to join this vintage chat line.
While I was having this inner argument with myself, my friend read up about it on the Internet and determined that she was not going to mess around it. I felt so relieved. I didn’t want to be held responsible for possibly letting a demon reek havoc on their lovely home (they are disruptive characters) or a sudden haunting by a ghost. Her mom would be soooo mad at me.
But it did kick up some curiosity. So I asked for feedback regarding the safety of the game on Facebook and Twitter and found my paranormal friends were against it. Only a few commented that if used properly, it is a great tool for the art of divination.
Upon further research, I came across an ad with a young girl looking absolutely excited about her new pink Ouija board. Yes folks Ouija is now available in bubblegum pink!!!!! I’ll admit it is quite pretty. (If I could have all my paranormal equipment pink I would. Yes I really did just said that.) And you can get it with a pretty carrying case. Sleep over anyone? Anyway, I was stunned. I mean I had to dig under piles and piles of shoe boxes to find the game my mother intentionally hid from us in her closet. This is not something she wanted her daughters to play with. But now they seem to be geared towards young girls (ages 8+). The Barbie inspired color and child friendly artwork can be very alluring for young girls. It’s very clear that the makers of this game do not believe nor are worried about it being possibly dangerous.
Now that I have a much better grasp of the complicated and dangerous side of the paranormal, I don’t feel it is a good idea to sell it to children. Since we are not certain of the true possibilities of this now described TOY, why take the risk on naïve defenseless children? There is no possible demon possession when playing Chutes & Ladders, just lots of smiles and giggles. I can only hope there are smart parents out there and that they do not buy this game for their little girls.
I do have better knowledge of this controversial game, but I may be even more confused then ever. I guess this is going to be one of those little projects that I will continue to research and try to understand. I mean, if it is truly a harmless game, it is definitely less stressful, in my opinion, then the nail-biting, breath-holding, towering game of Janga or the hair-pulling, tantrum-throwing UNO game. Draw 4 and skip a turn?! Ahhhhhhh!
Well all I can say is in my own experiences as both a paranormal investigator and a shaman(Blackfoot medicine man)and dealing with the things left behind after a bad Ouija session someone had perpetrated,they are indeed dangerous in my opinion.
Coincidently the Ouija board s actualy modeled after the ancient “Witchboard” used by Pagans in the roman empire as early as 5 A.D.
The only experience I have personally was a somewhat positive one with the outcome only being what would I name my first child, it gave me a name, so I knew the sex of my first child, which was true. I probably should have asked what my future would be.
A friend of mine, as an adult, had an experience with his board that was terrifying when he was answered by a lady from HELL. So he threw his board away.
My sisters also had a horrifying experience which has continued to haunt their memories to this day. They were PLAYING and acting SILLY asking to speak to Elvis when they unleashed something that was plagued to the day they moved. Something appeared in a whirlwind and made horrifying noises. A handprint appeared on the wall and knocking on the house began. I witnessed first hand the knocking on the house. As my dad and I were sitting in front of the large window on the living room, there was an extremely hard knocking began, on the window. I turned and looked expecting to see someone there. I looked at my dad and said I wonder what that was. He said it happened all the time. It began again on the window, and it appeared as if the window would break. The hammering or knocking, went across the window and went all the way around the house, back to the window and stopped. He then told me he had been seeing figures standing in front of his door at night as well as an entity who was identified as being my grandfather visiting and speaking with my half brother.
As for the handprint, I was skeptical about it. I was told by my sisters that dad would paint over it and it would bleed back through the paint. Eventually he put up a fake brick to cover it. My belief came when my dad was moving. As I walked in, I noticed some of the brick as well as the adhesive had come off the wall. I walked over and looked at the bare spot, there was a dark print of a hand on the wall, apparently NOTHING would stick to the spot where the handprint was. Whatever was in the house and plaqued them with noises and dark figures stayed when he moved, nothing happened at the new house.
There are 3 ouija board experiences, one not so bad, 2 very terrifying experiences.
After writing the ouija board experiences and was re reading my comments, a thought came to me concerning the handprint on the wall. My thought being it possibly was a force from good keeping the evil which was hammering on the house at bay and not allowing it to enter?? Just a thought.
Wow Neubaum Turk! These are the experiences I want to hear about. I also like your theory on the hand print. Almost like a spectral watch dog. Guarding you. Would you mind if I read what you wrote on our 12/27 radio segment for Haunted After Hours radio show? We are going to be discussing the Ouija board. If not, no worries. But let me know. Thank you again for sharing. Or if you are interested in call into the show and telling us your story on the air please email me at hauntedafterhours@gmail.com
We feel the Ouija board is a tool. It’s neither good nor evil, but it needs to be treated with knowledge and respect, not unlike a handgun. If you mess with it while uneducated or without regards to safety someone could get hurt.
We think the board works for people because it is pretty self explanatory and simple. An entity can walk up and see you playing with one and instantly understand what it needs to do to communicate. Whereas our tech equipment these days has no clear set up or operation. We have to tell the spirit how it works. “Talk into this device, we can hear you”, or “step closer to this device and light up the lights”.
For any entity pre-dating these things, the tech could be scary and confusing to them. But the simple Ouija board isn’t intimidating at all and extremely simple, (I can spell out my answers).
Anna 05 December 2012
Your Mom had a subscription of bizarre weird-news tabloids before it was cool! I see you have similar interests.
Great post! Love the kid image at the end, it’s perfect for this article 🙂
Jay 05 December 2012
Well all I can say is in my own experiences as both a paranormal investigator and a shaman(Blackfoot medicine man)and dealing with the things left behind after a bad Ouija session someone had perpetrated,they are indeed dangerous in my opinion.
Coincidently the Ouija board s actualy modeled after the ancient “Witchboard” used by Pagans in the roman empire as early as 5 A.D.
Neubaum Turk 17 December 2012
The only experience I have personally was a somewhat positive one with the outcome only being what would I name my first child, it gave me a name, so I knew the sex of my first child, which was true. I probably should have asked what my future would be.
A friend of mine, as an adult, had an experience with his board that was terrifying when he was answered by a lady from HELL. So he threw his board away.
My sisters also had a horrifying experience which has continued to haunt their memories to this day. They were PLAYING and acting SILLY asking to speak to Elvis when they unleashed something that was plagued to the day they moved. Something appeared in a whirlwind and made horrifying noises. A handprint appeared on the wall and knocking on the house began. I witnessed first hand the knocking on the house. As my dad and I were sitting in front of the large window on the living room, there was an extremely hard knocking began, on the window. I turned and looked expecting to see someone there. I looked at my dad and said I wonder what that was. He said it happened all the time. It began again on the window, and it appeared as if the window would break. The hammering or knocking, went across the window and went all the way around the house, back to the window and stopped. He then told me he had been seeing figures standing in front of his door at night as well as an entity who was identified as being my grandfather visiting and speaking with my half brother.
As for the handprint, I was skeptical about it. I was told by my sisters that dad would paint over it and it would bleed back through the paint. Eventually he put up a fake brick to cover it. My belief came when my dad was moving. As I walked in, I noticed some of the brick as well as the adhesive had come off the wall. I walked over and looked at the bare spot, there was a dark print of a hand on the wall, apparently NOTHING would stick to the spot where the handprint was. Whatever was in the house and plaqued them with noises and dark figures stayed when he moved, nothing happened at the new house.
There are 3 ouija board experiences, one not so bad, 2 very terrifying experiences.
Neubaum Turk 17 December 2012
After writing the ouija board experiences and was re reading my comments, a thought came to me concerning the handprint on the wall. My thought being it possibly was a force from good keeping the evil which was hammering on the house at bay and not allowing it to enter?? Just a thought.
Ghost Girl Kimberly 19 December 2012
Wow Neubaum Turk! These are the experiences I want to hear about. I also like your theory on the hand print. Almost like a spectral watch dog. Guarding you. Would you mind if I read what you wrote on our 12/27 radio segment for Haunted After Hours radio show? We are going to be discussing the Ouija board. If not, no worries. But let me know. Thank you again for sharing. Or if you are interested in call into the show and telling us your story on the air please email me at hauntedafterhours@gmail.com
Chasing Kaos 23 January 2013
We feel the Ouija board is a tool. It’s neither good nor evil, but it needs to be treated with knowledge and respect, not unlike a handgun. If you mess with it while uneducated or without regards to safety someone could get hurt.
We think the board works for people because it is pretty self explanatory and simple. An entity can walk up and see you playing with one and instantly understand what it needs to do to communicate. Whereas our tech equipment these days has no clear set up or operation. We have to tell the spirit how it works. “Talk into this device, we can hear you”, or “step closer to this device and light up the lights”.
For any entity pre-dating these things, the tech could be scary and confusing to them. But the simple Ouija board isn’t intimidating at all and extremely simple, (I can spell out my answers).
Just some random thoughts.
LogicBomb 01 April 2014
No more dangerous than a Monopoly board. Very misunderstood though, because some people actually believe it.