What's your take on a Quija Board?

My take is to stay away from them...

What I didn't know was the following from wiki

Use in creation of literature

Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing, or as a form of channeling literary works. As a result of Ouija boards becoming popular in the early 20th century, by the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by Ouija board use.[27]

Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that her 1917 novel Jap Herron: A Novel Written from the Ouija Board was dictated by Mark Twain's spirit through the use of a Ouija board after his death.[28]

Poems and novels written by Patience Worth, an alleged spirit, contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran, for more than 20 years, were initially transcribed from sessions with a Ouija board.

In 1982, poet James Merrill released an apocalyptic 560-page epic poem entitled The Changing Light at Sandover, which documented two decades of messages dictated from the Ouija board during séances hosted by Merrill and his partner David Noyes Jackson. Sandover, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983,[29] was published in three volumes beginning in 1976. The first contained a poem for each of the letters A through Z, and was called The Book of Ephraim. It appeared in the collection Divine Comedies, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1977.[30] According to Merrill, the spirits ordered him to write and publish the next two installments, Mirabell: Books of Number in 1978 (which won the National Book Award for Poetry)[31] and Scripts for the Pageant in 1980.

A horror fiction novel Darkness, Tell Us by Multi-award winner Richard Laymon was also based on Ouija boards.

Imo its just a man made game. Nothing more.

Some people are afraid of black cats dome are not.

Noises and shadows in your house you say?
I'm pretty sure noises and shadows are natural occurances.

The Ouija board is just a board game. It works by suggestion although the effect seems magical

It relies on the fact that multiple people are touching the pointert. Once someone (not necessarily deliberately) eventually applies a slight force to the object it begins to move and then the suggestion takes over.

Most of the time its jibberish but then people start to anticipate the answers to the questions been asked and the pointer moves to the expected letters.

The effect would never work if;

a) all the people applying force to the pointer all spoke different languages or were blindfolded
b) only one person was using the pointer

very entertaining until you fall into a state of depression and you watch helplessly as your friends
and family get ever more distant your luck goes from bad to worse so you wonder could it of been
that dam board?
This is a very familiar pattern so be warned! the power of the human mind or some outside force?
many lives have been wrecked by meddling in "the dark arts" so first you must know what you are
getting yourself into and you can't expect to summon without reprisal.

So much of the occult is as the word literally means "hidden" from view for a good reason.
There is an old saying millionaires don't use the occult billionaires however do.

Take from it what you will.do i believe? would i risk it.would you even believe me if i told you?
Sometimes you have to find out the hard way.

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe
Figured I would post this video again, since it appears to have been overlooked during the initial rounds. Penn and Teller, on their show "Bull#!" do a thorough job of debunking the Ouija Board, proving pretty convincingly that it is nothing more than the Idemotor Effect. Obvious warning, strong language in the video.

As before, my opinion is that all of the "opened doors" and "demonic haunting" supposedly caused by Ouija Boards are just fear-mongering, or because of a different cause. The Ouija Board does not work, it is nothing more than some cardboard, and overactive imaginations.

~ Wandering Scribe

Just quoting this post again as people are ignoring it for truth. If it really were a doorway, with so many of them being messed with this world would be overpopulated with demons as well. Pure bunk.

I am speechless here.

It is literally a Hasbro board-game. The mechanism by which the planchette moves is by means of a subconscious ideomotor effect.

It is no more supernatural than a couple of candles and a paperback copy of the Necronomicon.

*sigh*

Quija boards are solely used by the users, if You are honest to Yourself ( it's not easy at all!) You can easily understand this.
I know by experience. Quit it, You are wasting Your time.
Phrygian.

Wait a second. First you said that you've had 2 strange experiences with them, but near the end of your post you say you have had no strange experiences, or nothing happen to you as a result. Which is it? Also, if you know that your friend's house was not haunted before you played, but became haunted afterwards, isn't that a relatively strong indication that the board was the gateway and is what caused this? Also you mention that everyone you played with has had something happen to them. How is this not enough information to stay away from these boards?

Not only have I read some horror stories associated with these devices, but a family member haunted their house a long time ago by playing with one of these. Multiple people have had multiple strange events happen with them in this house, yet the house had absolutely zero activity before the board was messed with. I cannot be certain as to their mechanism of action, but my limited understanding tells me that it is either one of two things. Either these boards really do work for allowing or inviting a spirit into the home, which may depend upon how sensitive one of the users is, or the belief that the board will work actually causes it to work.

The reason I say this is because I have recently concluded that certain phenomena are controlled by a person's conscious or subconscious thought patterns. Most people will not see any type of manifestation or odd occurrence associated with their thoughts materializing in their reality, but sometimes there are people who do experience this. Whether it is because of their personal psychic nature, or whether there is bearing on the physical location and its properties, such as the type of rock underneath the ground, amount of water, etc, I do not know. Just throwing that out there because recently I have begun to believe this is entirely plausible. I have also been toying with the idea of the afterlife for a particular person being associated with what they expect the afterlife to be like.

Originally posted by Klassified
The Ouija board is really no more than an aid to communicating with your subconscious. The after effects you speak of are more likely those peoples fears and subconscious beliefs playing out. Still, the subconscious is a powerful force in your life. Be careful how you program it.

edit on 12/28/2012 by Klassified because: spelling

This is part of what I was alluding to in my above post. This is an entirely plausible explanation, and deserves investigation. However, it is easy to assume that the movements on the board are results of subconscious mechanisms, but once strange things start happening at a location that just hosted one of these games, it is much harder to accept this possibility at face value. But as I mentioned in my other post, maybe what is manifesting in reality, in the house where the board was used, is a result of one of the user's subconsciousness. But this would imply that the board still is some sort of gateway. This is because all of the sudden, after simply using this board, subconscious thoughts, fears, etc. are all of the sudden appearing in the physical world. And, other people can see these manifestations, so they are not imagined or simply confined to the person's mind.

So the board would then be a gateway to unleashing parts of the subconscious into the physical reality of everyone who is there to experience the manifested thoughts. This is sort of hard for me to swallow, although I admit that it is not impossible by any means. But I wouldn't go as far as to say it is probable either; just possible. Frankly, the idea of evil spirits fits better into my personal world view, simply because it meshes with other things that I know to be true. Having had paranormal events occur a few times throughout my life, which were witnessed by more than myself, I can not in good faith dismiss any paranormal activity. The people who do this are simply submitting to their personal biases, and are not truly being honest with themselves, because they have not investigated, or in some cases even entertained, the possibilities that are present. And not only are those possibilities present, but many thousands of people have been claiming that these ideas are more than possibilities, and instead are reality.

Its all about intentions. I don't think people should be using them because they open pathways. What makes them work, your intention to contact them is permissions given. And we're that monitored by both sides of the magnetic poles, positive/negative.

As for EVP researchers, those who are scientific in their approach and more positive especially, and there is a difference, they are working to show that we're Spirit and We Survive Death, with the right to be curious, humans quest for truth and have open minds. That intention is a good one, an honorable one, and with very much precautions, and not personal play, but professional evidence, I believe Family watches over, and you are not giving open "permissions" for negative contact, but are doing good work, and also, some people who do work helping others get unstuck on the other side, doing astral rescues, may benefit.

Just not the average person.

A quick thought would be to put all the users into TIN FOIL HATS, and then see what the results of useing the game would be like, use lots of test subjects for good results and see what we come up with, seems like a good method to connect to with your friends on a cosmic level.?? i dunno?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thats the tin foil hat thread.

I would highly recommend that you do not mess with Ouija Boards. My experience is that a) they can work to predict the future and b) they open you up to all sorts of negative entities. I would personally never mess with one of these things again and hope you will avoid them for your own safety.

reply to post by JiggyPotamus


Sorry, I meant that i had two strange experiences in my friends house, not with the board itself. I will edit it now. Thanks for correcting.

reply to post by JiggyPotamus

An interesting take on this Jiggy. I would not discount completely the possibility of what we refer to as paranormal activity. For one, I don't have enough conclusive evidence to say that. But having seen in my own life the power the subconscious mind is capable of, especially in groups which seem to psychically amplify the strongest fears, that's what I usually look at first and foremost.

The Ouija board, among other tools, is excellent for communicating with the subconscious, if used specifically for that purpose. However, I admit, I have wondered if the focus of one or more people, with specific intent, could somehow open communication between two dimensions. A little out there, and I'm speculating, but it seems plausible.

I would add though, the board itself has little to do with it. It is merely the inanimate object of group focus.

ETA: FTR, I have played with the Ouija board on several occasions with no ill effects or happenings. However, it was interesting to see the answers I got from it myself, and as a small group.

Originally posted by Metallicus
I would highly recommend that you do not mess with Ouija Boards. My experience is that a) they can work to predict the future and b) they open you up to all sorts of negative entities. I would personally never mess with one of these things again and hope you will avoid them for your own safety.

This is a good example of intent and stigma. The only reason the Ouija board has any negative connotation on it at all, is because that's what people the world over have put on it, and that is what they expect. The board itself is an inanimate object manufactured like any other board game. It is the stigma in conjunction with intent that opens one up to the negative.

Originally posted by Klassified
The Ouija board is really no more than an aid to communicating with your subconscious. The after effects you speak of are more likely those peoples fears and subconscious beliefs playing out. Still, the subconscious is a powerful force in your life. Be careful how you program it.

edit on 12/28/2012 by Klassified because: spelling

Exactly my thoughts. Though I feel like once you realizethat, it's harder to "make it work", but when it does, it's more trustworthy than when you think it's a possibly-deceptive demon.

reply to post by ZetaExplorer15


DISCLAIMER: I do not recommend that anyone attempt to recreate, copy or otherwise use the following, in any way, shape or form. In hindsight, it was foolish and was never attempted, again.

I guess it's been about 8 years ago, now. There were a series of bad storms that came through our area, that year, and on this particular night, the power had been out for several hours. Myself, my wife and two other couples, were having a gathering of like minds, to discuss some of our favorite topics, and to generally just hang out. It was a regular thing for us to do, and the evenings usually became pretty lively, as we would progress with our conversations to sometimes, outright debates. On regular occasion, the women would decide to play with our Ouija. The men would supervise and make sure things didn't get out of hand. Tonight was no exception.

We had recently, a few months before, undertook an "experiment" in which we collaborated on the procedure, peripherals and materials used, to construct a homemade Ouija board. Our attempt was highly successful due to the extreme nature of our "contacts" through this medium, versus ones we typically encountered, on commercial boards.

Without divulging too many specifics, our attempt from the start, was to enhance our experiences with the phenomenon, and enter into it in the most clinical way, conceivable. We were meticulous in the materials used, the construction parameters and the way we intended to garner information through the use of this board.

Each participant's job was deliberated on, decided through consensus, and enacted per each session. The format was simple. Always the same. The same list of questions were asked. The same person taking notes. The same two individuals handling the seer, etc...Times, weather conditions, even world events occuring during the sessions were noted in the documentation we amassed. Many of the sessions revealed several mentionables and this went on for about a month.

After awhile, we decided to shake things up a bit. It became apparent, that one of the individuals participating in our project, was not as "in to it" as the rest of us were. A decision was made to replace her, but with whom? It was debated and voted on, that we would elicit a more dark individual to our group. Not by skin color, but someone who seemed to have a penchant for what we were dabbling with. Someone with perhaps some insight beyond what we were bringing to the table. I knew just the person.

"Daniel" was a highly-intelligent, yet very introverted and mysterious young man. We developed a friendship through our jobs, and began to socialize outside of work, and continued to do so, for a few years. He was in his late 20's but had the knowledge and presence of a much older individual. And, he was aware, to some extent, of our little experiment. Upon presenting him the opportunity to join our group, he seemed both interested and reserved. I couldn't yet, determine the cause of the latter.

The first night that Daniel came into the group, everyone noticed a significant difference in everything, that transpired. Later that week, we all met to discuss what we perceived and to attempt to determine the cause. Obviously, Daniel, played a large part, but the why, was the biggest question that was debated. We had trouble agreeing on specifics, so we decided to test all theories during our next few sessions, to see if we could add evidence to any of them. It would only take one, to make a determination...

On the aformentioned evening, a severe thunderstorm had passed through about an hour before our gathering, which caused a power interruption to our home.
It was decided that it was too late to cancel, as many were already on their way, and the thought of performing the experiment in a powerless environment, had a certain appeal to it, anyway. We lit every candle that we could find. Set up our board, per the normal routine, and began our investigation.

On this particular night, we were going to use provocation, to see if we could affect the responses of the board.
It was a theory that Daniel, had a way of creating animosity and even disgust, from a few of the entities that we were communicating with, regularly. Why? We were not sure? But it was what we intended to find out.

We began by calling out the entities! Questioning their very existence! And daring them to prove to us that they were infact, responsible for the answers that we received from the board. We told them that this was our last night, and that we didn't believe in them, and were going to destroy the board and carry on with our lives!

Normally, we would begin to see responses within the first minute or two. But on this night, 30 minutes passed, and still no action from the seer. We took a short break, and upon returning, we took it up a few notches. We always had just one person, who was not contacting the board, ask the questions. And the ones in contact, were not allowed to see the questions, beforehand. To this point, our approach had always been clinical. But now, we were determined to throw caution to the wind. Whether it was frustration, or simply vindictiveness, we escalated beyond our measures of control. Several observers began taunting! Some were calling names! Some were cursing and accusing the spirits of having no power!...Then...Suddenly!

...the lights came back on....

Interrupted by reality, and being quite sure it was the power company and not anything supernatural, that caused the return of lights to our home, the spiritual bombardment of the other side, ceased. But, they were just getting started...

CONTINUED:

Now, is where the story gets weird...

Someone said they needed a drink...Another one had to use the restroom. I also went inside. My intentions were to turn off many of the lights that had just came back on, regroup, and decide what course of action to present to the group for a continuance of the evening. At some point in the next several minutes, Daniel got my attention. He motioned me towards the front door, and to the area where we all just experienced our now, seemingly surreal, ordeal. I took a quick head count and realized that my wife and "Russ" the two participants that were contacting the board, were not in the room! The multiple conversations that were going on inside the house, began to fade away, as I noticed the unusual expression Daniel was displaying. My mind started racing! What on Earth could cause such a look, in such little time?

As I reached the doorway, I saw my wife and Russ, still seated at the board! They both were in contact with the seer, and both appeared to be in some sort of trance! At first, I thought they were playing a joke. But, it didn't fit with my wife's sense of humor. She took such things rather seriously, and wouldn't pretend, for the sake of a laugh. Russ was always the skeptic and timid one. I couldn't see him, holding this type of ruse together, for this long, either. What was happening?

By this point, my typical stoic and reserved nature, must have also waned, as the entire group was behind me trying to figure out what was going on, as well! That's when I noticed the candles...4 of them. At each corner of the board. But the flames were not right! There was no breeze, to speak of. No motion to affect them. But each of the flames were leaning, as if something was gently pushing them over....But wait! They were not all leaning in the same direction! As I approached with caution, I realized that they were all leaning in towards the board! As my mind tried to comprehend what my eyes were seeing, it was as if the force acting on the candles, suddenly grew stronger! The flames became elongated, and even appeared to bend into an arc! Where was the smoke? Typically, there is smoke emanating from the flames! What the...

Suddenly, there was a clearly audible whooshing sound. The force that everyone was witnessing, seemed to reverse! All of the candles went out, simultaneously! Still, no one felt anything. No wind! NO breeze! No one exhaled, forcefully!

My wife and Russ, still sat motionless, with all four hands, still on the seer. Someone said, "Are they breathing?"
I couldn't tell. "Baby!" I yelled..."Michelle"!!! Someone shook them! As if, just waking up from a deep sleep, they both began to come around...Their eyes were wide open the entire time! With a glazed-over expressionless look! Now they seem to be opening their eyes from a long restful sleep! Rubbing them, and looking around in a dis-oriented and confused manner! Russ, jumped up and back at the same time. He appeared angry and bewildered. He wouldn't talk to anyone and fumbled for a cigarette, and started walking down the road!

I asked my wife what happened to them? Why wouldn't she acknowledge me, before? She didn't remember! All she keept saying was that, she "saw" him. "Saw who", I asked?... "Ted!" She finally retorted...Ted was the name given to us, by one of the entities we interacted with, over the last few months.

Well, what did he look like? What did you see, I asked?..."I saw him! I saw everything about him", she said.
I asked her again, "What did he look like?" She said it was hard to explain. "It was dark and he was dark. Real dark. But, somehow I could still see him. It's like, whatever he was made of, was moving. But he was standing still!"

Highly concerned, but truly intrigued, I pushed on..."What else?" "He spoke to me", she said. "What did he say?" "Well, he didn't really speak, but I could hear him. Well, I didn't hear him, more like I could feel his words. Like his thoughts were in my thoughts"

I'm floored, at this point! I don't know what to do? My mind is a thousand miles an hour, right now. "Are you OK? Can I get you anything? Can you stand up?....What do you want me to do?"

"Where's Russell?" She asked.

She never calls him Russell. Why is she calling him, Russell? What the devil is going on here!?!?...

FINAL:

To whomever has been following me as I recount my experience, thank you for your patience. It takes alot out of me, to write this. I'm going to attempt to finish, and if I'm able, I will offer my summation, afterwards...

No one was sure what just happened. My wife seemed ok. Everything appeared to be returning to normal. Several people decided to call it an evening. As goodbyes were exchanged and vehicles began leaving, I started to clean up and break things down. Before I touched anything on the table where the board and the candles were, I grabbed my Mag-lite. Shining the beam on the candles, I examined them closely. Searching for anything that might explain what had just occured. Everything seemed to be intact. Nothing unusual or out of place. No "ectoplasm" saturating anything...I laughed to myself, for even looking for such things...

We were down to four, now...My wife had made it into the kitchen and was sitting at the dining room table, deep in thought. Sipping on a Mountain Dew, occasionally. I was putting the seer back in it's bag and I placed it and the board back into the closet. Daniel was still out on the porch, leaning on the railing, looking out into the darkness. Russ...RUSS!!!

Where was Russ? I walked out to the road! Scanning the sidewalks and across the pasture behind the neighbor's house....Is that him? A dark figure of what appeared to be a man standing in the middle of the pasture. Russ!...I called...No response. No movement. Russell!!! I yelled again....Yeah!...I heard behind me. I turned to see Russ walking up behind me. Coming from the direction of the house. But if Russ is there?...I spun around to look into the field again! What ever I saw, was not Russ and...Is not there!...Man...I really need some sleep. My mind is messing with me BIG time....

What happened? Are you OK? I asked. Yeah...I just needed to be alone for awhile, he said. Well, do you want to talk about it? I paused to let him think...He turned and gestured that I walk with him. He took out another cigarette and lit it. He said, "Ya' know when something happens to you, and try as you may, you just can't get your head around it"...I responded... "Yeah! I've had that happen once or twice." And then he said, "Well, THIS is NOT one of those times!!!" I tried to interpret what he meant. And, I'm sure my expression revealed that I was as confused as I really was.

We were back on the porch now, and he picked up the chair that he knocked over earlier, and sat down. I grabbed another and slid it up facing his. The investigator in me wanted to grill him with 50 questions. I tried to come up with a solid ice-breaker that would allow the conversation to flow from it. I was just about to speak, when he blurted, "You know, I just don't know how to say this, so I'm just gonna say it!"...

"I don't know how, but your wife and I were taken somewhere. And while we were there, we could hear everything that was going on here, but while our minds...or, or, or, our spirits, or whatever, were there, we had no control over our bodies, here...We saw Ted! Now I don't know if he brought us there, or what, but I could....'feel'...everything that he knew and that he wanted from us, and I could 'feel' everything about Michelle, too!"

I didn't know what to say! "Feel", "Saw", "Heard"...All of these senses require body parts, but he says that they left their bodies and couldn't control them! And, where exactly did they go? Another dimension? Another universe? Hell? Purgatory? Where does, "Ted" live????

Suddenly...my thoughts were interrupted, by a giant shadow, moving across the yard! Like a gigantic sheet flying across my property, blocking out the moonlight. What the hell was that! I looked up...Nothing....There it goes again! What on earth could be causing that? I heard a big "Thump". Like a boulder hitting the ground. "Did you hear that?" Russ asked. Yeah! What was it? I said.

Something was brewing and there was a definite sensation in the air. We both could feel it! You know that feeling you get when you're watching a scary movie, and you try to prepare yourself for whatever is about to happen? Well imagine that, 10 times stronger, but without the ominous music playing in the background...It was deathly silent...Not a sound. I was straining my ears, trying to pick up anything at all, to prove to my brain that my ears still worked...

At first, it was like a hum...And then, like a sudden gust, blowing through the treetops...But when we looked, the light of the moon shining through, revealed no movement! The sound left, as quickly as it had come..Then...All at the same time, the shadow, that whoosing sound and the entire porch, roof, foundation and all seemed to lift several inches off of the ground and slam back down!!! We both strained to keep our balance.

Somehow, Ted paid us a visit!!!

Originally posted by 0zzymand0s
I am speechless here.

It is literally a Hasbro board-game. The mechanism by which the planchette moves is by means of a subconscious ideomotor effect.

It is no more supernatural than a couple of candles and a paperback copy of the Necronomicon.

*sigh*

But I would think that when we access the subconscious realm and make subconscious decisions, that's when we are making art and that's when we are channeling the universe, which knows all.