My interest in the ouiji board was heightend when some friends brought a home-made version over one evening. It was suggested that we give it a go, and immediately I felt like a doomed teenager in a bad horror film.Coupled with my excitement was a clear theoretical understanding of ideomotor movement and how it was supposed to operate, so I was interested to see how things would work out. Doug, one friend, was convinced by its efficiency and it was he who was pushing for us all to be impressed by it. I suggested that we contact my grandfather who had died a few years before, and ask for proof that his spirit was coming through; but I added that I myself should not place my finger on the glass, as I might prove guilty of making the tiny unconscious movements needed to spell out the details we were hoping to see.
Doug, however, insisted that the person who knows the deceased needs to have his finger on the glass. A convenient point, I thought, and I joined in with the others, though I decided to do nothing to influence the movement of the glass. We solemnly asked whoever could hear us to bring us into contact with my deceased granddad.

The glass was placed between two circles, one with a 'Yes' written inside, and one with a 'No'. Around them, in a large circle, were written the letters of the alphabet. With 4 of us with 2 fingers on the glass, we asked our first question under dougs instruction: Is there a spirit present? We were told to start the glass moving around in a circle and wait for it to start moving towards the 'Yes' or 'No'. Now, at the time, we were all rather focused on the exciting possibility that the glass would start to pull one way or the other, and missed the psychology of the situation. Clearly, a move to 'No' would be rather ridiculous, a textbook error on the part of the spirit which would cause him no end of embarrassment in the happy summerland. So there we were, moving the glass around in a little circle, expecting and waiting for the glass to move to the left towards the 'Yes'. Of course it eventually did.
Doug, now excited urged me to ask a question. "Tell us your name,' I asked. None of my friends present knew my grandfathers name, so I was ready to become a believer if it was spelt out. After 10 seconds or so of stillness, the glass started to move slowly, seemingly pulling our fingers with it over the board. It rested for a moment on the letter 'R'. Then it started again, shifting across to the 'U'. Now picking up speed, it zipped across to 'P', Then 'E', 'R' again and 'T'. Rupert. Then it stopped. We all let go. It was impressive stuff.
"That's amazing!" Doug exclaimed. 'As soon as you asked for it to spell a name, I thought of Rupert. I knew that was the name before it even spelled it!"
'That'll be it then', I said. 'My granddads name was Fred, not Rupert.'
Doug had expected it to move towards the R, and had provided the movement needed. Once he saw that he knew what was coming and expected it to continue spelling the name, and as each move to each letter convinced him more (and made him push it more), the impetus increased as the suggestion involved became more intense. We tried a similar thing without him, and the movement was much more sluggish.
Still he wanted to persevere, so I suggested we contact a woman who I said had died in the area recently. In fact she was a complete fabrication, and I invented some details about her that we could use to check for proof. Sure enough, we had no trouble contacting her even though she never existed, and had all the details verified even though they were never true. When I told the others that she lived in Islington, the Glass spelt out exactly that. It took only a tiny suggestion from me that there might have been some foul play for the accusation of murder to come through the board. When the direction of movement of the glass was expected - for example, when spelling out the ends of words already recognizable from the first few letters the speed inc

Good job exposing the truth and denying ignorance.
I thought this was gonna be another hairy fairy things exist,that don't really exist thread.

* Continued *

*increased.

There is a simple but intriging explanation for how the ouija board works.Those of you who prefer to belive that spirits move the glass are of course welcome to your beliefs, but the actual principle behind it is not speculative, or narrow minded refusal to accept 'evidence' of spiritual activity. It works reliably in all sorts of situations, and can easily be shown to be the guiding force behind the magic of the ouija. The answer lies in a fascinating principle called
'ideomotor movement'. From understanding this fully, we can use it to perform many other supposedly spiritual feats, and achieve many seemingly inexplicable phenomena without the use of trickery.
The principle works like this. If you focus on the idea of making a movement, you will likely end up making a similar tiny movement without realizing it. If, undistracted, you concentrate on the idea of your hand becoming light, you'll eventually find that you make tiny unconscious movements to lift it. While you may be consciously aware that these movements are happening, you are not aware that you are causing them. In the same way that a nerve repeatedly firing can cause a twitch that feels outside your control, so too an ideomotor movement
(from idea + movement) will feel that it is happening outside your control. Certainly some people are more susceptable, but it is a very common thing that we all experience in one way or another. For example, you may have caught yourself kicking an invisable football while watching a match, or making sudden brief empathetic movements as you follow characters in a film.

I dont know what to believe with them to be honest. I wouldt do one myself but i enjoy reading peoples accounts just dont know how true they are especially since i read about that scientific term! PEople should close their eyes and a neutral person not playing the board should not the results. Surely that would be the proof needed?

Well, that's it, then. Everything's wrapped up in a neat, little box. Or is it?

The OP was obviously biased going into this "experiment". So, should we assume that the bias couldn't have possibly played into the "outcome" even one teeny little bit? What if, on a subconscious level, the OP was relaying the name Rupert? Is that entirely impossible? Can that definitively be ruled out? Just asking questions.

I don't know...I mean, this sounded like a "debunking" from the get-go. So, it's no surprise that the OP got the result that was expected/wanted.

I'm not a ouija board defender or denier. Although, as a kid, I used to get my cousins to do sessions with me. I looked at the whole thing as entertainment.

Can spirits talk through them? Or do we unconsciously move the piece? I don't know or care, but "debunking" gets boring and tiring.

Originally posted by imsteve

The principle works like this. If you focus on the idea of making a movement, you will likely end up making a similar tiny movement without realizing it. If, undistracted, you concentrate on the idea of your hand becoming light, you'll eventually find that you make tiny unconscious movements to lift it.

Well then, you have proved your theory to yourself, that you cannot contact spirits in the afterlife with a Ouija board haven’t you? I have no doubt, that if you go on to research the afterlife, you will also prove to yourself that it doesn’t exist either?

Then there is nothing that I could say to you about my experiences over the past 34 years with communications between this 3rd dimension of ours, and the 4th dimension, which you would find of any interest, nor consider credible.

On the other hand, if you ever feel like reading further on this fascinating subject, there would be no better source of material for you than the books by the scientist Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge 1851 to 1940, Bachelor of Science, Fellow of the Royal Society, and amongst other things, inventor of the automotive Sparking Plug.

These include: Man and the Universe, 1908; Survival of Man, 1909; Reason and Belief, 1910; Life and Matter, 1912; Modern Problems, 1912; Science and Religion, 1914; The War and After, 1915; Raymond, or Life and Death, 1916; Christopher, 1918; Raymond Revised, 1922; The Making of Man, 1924; Ether and Reality, 1925; Relativity, 1926; Evolution and Creation, 1926; Science and Human Progress, 1927; Modern Scientific Ideas, 1927; Why I Believe in Personal Immortality, 1928; Phantom Walls, 1929; Beyond Physics, 1930; The Reality of a Spiritual World, 1930; Conviction of Survival, 1930; Past Years, 1932; and My Philosophy, 1933.

There are also the books more recently channelled by him from the 4th Dimension to his partner in the 3rd Dimension. Raymond Smith, a psychic researcher, and these include: Nobody Wants to Listen & Yet: For Those Who Are Willing to Listen Read On; The Truth, The Whole Truth, & Nothing but The Truth.

I do not seek to prove anything to you, you have to do that yourself.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Well, that's it, then. Everything's wrapped up in a neat, little box. Or is it?

The OP was obviously biased going into this "experiment". So, should we assume that the bias couldn't have possibly played into the "outcome" even one teeny little bit? What if, on a subconscious level, the OP was relaying the name Rupert? Is that entirely impossible? Can that definitively be ruled out? Just asking questions.

I don't know...I mean, this sounded like a "debunking" from the get-go. So, it's no surprise that the OP got the result that was expected/wanted.

I'm not a ouija board defender or denier. Although, as a kid, I used to get my cousins to do sessions with me. I looked at the whole thing as entertainment.

Can spirits talk through them? Or do we unconsciously move the piece? I don't know or care, but "debunking" gets boring and tiring.

I'm not debunking anything, I am searching to believe. All I am talking of is my first encounter of the ouija board. Since this I have been involved in many cases and experiments involving the board, and unfortunately they all had the same outcome.

Have you tried the ouija board when you are alone?

In the interests of safety, let me add a few comments. The Ouija board (from the French Oui and the German Ja, for Yes) is the basic tool to start receiving messages from discarnate people. It's like texting with a chalk and blackboard, but the tool can work, if the motive for using it is of genuine enquiry in to communications with the 4th Dimension.

I channel messages using the computer keyboard and Microsoft Word 2003, it's the same technique, but a whole lot quicker.

All discarnate souls are not spiritually developed, so you need to build up defences against being clung to by a dark soul who does not have your best interests at heart. Just ask for protection via your higher mind within yourself.

Please trust me when I say to you that if you ever get grabbed by such a nasty, it can ruin the rest of your life, so be careful!!! I've seen it and been permitted to experience it by my guide, so that I could distinguish the feeling from a 'light' soul, and you don't ever want to experience being grabbed by a dark entity.