Ouija board

[Jazzy]

The Ouija board also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", "hello" (occasionally), and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words.

Have any of you participated in a séance? If so, what happened?

If not, would you?

 

[Bamboo]

Tried it, followed many ways of how to do them properly.. Nothing ever happened.

 

[DrLeftover]

It is not a toy.

It can be a gateway for unpleasant 'things' to enter this world and possibly even possess one or more of those who are 'playing' with it if they, either knowing or unknowingly, invite something across.


I have been given boards by those who found them in their houses or in other locations to dispose of because they were uncomfortable with them, and had heard that you "cannot throw one away".

You can, but it is better to render it useless beforehand by, shall we say, disassembling it, and not leaving the 'pointer' in with the rest of it.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

I'd try it out :fighting:

 

[JAR]

Me and my brother and his girlfriend tried this at our parents house. We, to this day, believe this house is haunted, but our parents do not.

We had a Ouija board out and used it, nothing happened; so we left. When we came back, the marker was over 'BYE'. We looked at each other and asked if anyone moved it... because we had left it in the middle of the board. That was only one occurrence that happened there. I have more that I share on my forum: Ghost Post.

 

[DrLeftover]

I'd try it out :fighting:

If you do again, and I am saying this seriously- in the light of your 'boxing smiley'- do NOT challenge any Thing to 'take you on'.

You will lose.

Eventually.

 

[Flurry]

Never have used one, always believed those things were evil. Watching the Exorcist sequel really helped cement that belief when I was younger.

 

[Jazzy]

Question:

How does a game board have the power to contact the dead and the spirit-world?

 

[DrLeftover]

It is the intent of the users, they are focusing on the other side. Asking whatever is listening to come over and interact with them.

The board is simply a device that offers a focal point.

You can do the same thing with almost anything. Crystals, icons and amulets, a pan of water, literally, almost anything can serve.

Remember the old profession of "Spiritual Medium", that was a person who, when in the circle of others, did exactly that.

The board is a medium that doesn't eat or expect a tip for services rendered.


Once Used however, the board may remain 'plugged in' to the other side and the "veil" between the worlds may be thinner in its immediate neighborhood. Which is one good reason to not have a used one around.

 

[Jazzy]

Scientific
The Ouija phenomenon has been criticized by many scientists as a hoax related to the ideomotor response. Various studies have been produced, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing that, under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily. Skeptics have described Ouija board users as 'operators'. Some critics noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects. According to Professor of neurology Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003):

The planchette is guided by unconscious muscular exertions like those responsible for table movement. Nonetheless, in both cases, the illusion that the object (table or planchette) is moving under its own control is often extremely powerful and sufficient to convince many people that spirits are truly at work... The unconscious muscle movements responsible for the moving tables and Ouija board phenomena seen at seances are examples of a class of phenomena due to what psychologists call a dissociative state. A dissociative state is one in which consciousness is somehow divided or cut off from some aspects of the individual’s normal cognitive, motor, or sensory functions.

Comments?

 

[DrLeftover]

My comment would be that that was written by somebody with no experience with the thing.

Whatever the skeptics may say, we do not live in a mundane world, and those who claim thusly are often more disturbed by incidents which are best described as Para-normal than others.

Is EVERY experience with the board, and whatever else is used like it, from something that doesn't get its first class mail around here? No.

Is EVERY experience with the board.... based on the users and is subconscious or perhaps a deliberate hoax? No.

The truth is harder for some people to accept because it is in somewhere between those two absolutes, and is most likely a moving target.

 

[Jazzy]

If the game board has all this power, then why doesn't it work for everyone?

 

[DrLeftover]

It doesn't have any power.

If it has been used, it is just a closer and easier connection to the other side than a 'new' board.

It is the users that give it power. If they're "just playing" or openly disbelieving, it may not work at all. Or it may do something unexpected, like wait until a vulnerable individual is in the room with it, then their curiosity could be the opportunity for something to 'get to know' them.

And again, it is subject to fraudulent use by those who would seek to be something they are not to those who they wish to impress.

Which, in the end, may be more dangerous than a demonic entity joining the party.