Ouija: Believe, Not Believe?
It's just a game. You can buy one at just about any major toy store. People collect them, some use them, others fear them. But it's only a game. Isn't it? So what is it about this common board game, a game that's been around for at least 100 years, that completely unnerves some people? Why is it that some have no luck using it, while others have experiences they'd rather not repeat, experiences that repeat themselves regardless in the shadowy corners of their nightmares? Ouija. Just a board game, or an open portal to a world we're not meant to be a part of yet?
Hardly a day goes by that I don't remember some of the spookiest (most exciting) parts of my childhood, and one of the spookiest is watching my mom and oldest sister use the Ouija board. I can't say I saw anything that made me have nightmares, but what I did see was, well, intriguing. Many a night I spent sitting under the kitchen table in the semi-darkness of our house on N. 11th Street, watching as my mom & sister rested the board between their knees and asked it questions. And you know, Ouija usually answered!
Sure, some would say it's all a hoax, a scam, and that people are actually pushing the little plastic thing across the board with their hands. But I don't know. To me, it seemed to have a personality all it's own. No one ever really explained to me the details of the answers, and I was very small at the time so I didn't really ask much. But I did see the looks exchanged between my mom and sis as I sat at knee-level below the table, not daring to peer into the darkness around where we all sat. To this day I don't know all the details about those sessions with Ouija, but I'm hoping my sister will indulge me with the stories one by one so I can add them here. But until then, I do have one very unsettling story to tell that involved my youngest brother, a man who didn't believe much in anything metaphysical or magical. He was a true skeptic, and one that had no problem making fun of board games like Ouija, as he so often did. However, he had his own experience---only once---that changed his mind about what he refuses to take seriously.
One particular evening many years past my brother and his fiance decided to "play" with my mother's Ouija board--for the fun of it. What happened when they tried still haunts most of us to this day, and although I don't have every small detail about the incident, what I do have is quite enough. My brother, a grown man even then, said that when they attempted to play the game...the table they were using to set the board on moved. My brother and his fiance, suddenly avid believers, jumped up from the table and quickly moved away, my brother going directly into the front room (adjacent to the dining room where the table was). He was one minute sitting on the couch in disbelief...when he turned and realized the table which Ouija was sitting on was now next to him on the couch. He's never touched one since, and wont allow a Ouija board inside his home. Although I can't really understand why. After all, it's only a game.
Note:Be sure to check out the beautiful hand-painted Ouija board from Haunted Studio! Also, I'm thrilled to say that I've won a few Lewis Barrett Lehrman signed prints for winning title contests, as well as a house-naming contest. Visit the Haunted Studio and see this unique artist's beautiful Halloween and spooky-themed paintings!
It's just a game. You can buy one at just about any major toy store. People collect them, some use them, others fear them. But it's only a game. Isn't it? So what is it about this common board game, a game that's been around for at least 100 years, that completely unnerves some people? Why is it that some have no luck using it, while others have experiences they'd rather not repeat, experiences that repeat themselves regardless in the shadowy corners of their nightmares? Ouija. Just a board game, or an open portal to a world we're not meant to be a part of yet?
Hardly a day goes by that I don't remember some of the spookiest (most exciting) parts of my childhood, and one of the spookiest is watching my mom and oldest sister use the Ouija board. I can't say I saw anything that made me have nightmares, but what I did see was, well, intriguing. Many a night I spent sitting under the kitchen table in the semi-darkness of our house on N. 11th Street, watching as my mom & sister rested the board between their knees and asked it questions. And you know, Ouija usually answered!
Sure, some would say it's all a hoax, a scam, and that people are actually pushing the little plastic thing across the board with their hands. But I don't know. To me, it seemed to have a personality all it's own. No one ever really explained to me the details of the answers, and I was very small at the time so I didn't really ask much. But I did see the looks exchanged between my mom and sis as I sat at knee-level below the table, not daring to peer into the darkness around where we all sat. To this day I don't know all the details about those sessions with Ouija, but I'm hoping my sister will indulge me with the stories one by one so I can add them here. But until then, I do have one very unsettling story to tell that involved my youngest brother, a man who didn't believe much in anything metaphysical or magical. He was a true skeptic, and one that had no problem making fun of board games like Ouija, as he so often did. However, he had his own experience---only once---that changed his mind about what he refuses to take seriously.
One particular evening many years past my brother and his fiance decided to "play" with my mother's Ouija board--for the fun of it. What happened when they tried still haunts most of us to this day, and although I don't have every small detail about the incident, what I do have is quite enough. My brother, a grown man even then, said that when they attempted to play the game...the table they were using to set the board on moved. My brother and his fiance, suddenly avid believers, jumped up from the table and quickly moved away, my brother going directly into the front room (adjacent to the dining room where the table was). He was one minute sitting on the couch in disbelief...when he turned and realized the table which Ouija was sitting on was now next to him on the couch. He's never touched one since, and wont allow a Ouija board inside his home. Although I can't really understand why. After all, it's only a game.
Note:Be sure to check out the beautiful hand-painted Ouija board from Haunted Studio! Also, I'm thrilled to say that I've won a few Lewis Barrett Lehrman signed prints for winning title contests, as well as a house-naming contest. Visit the Haunted Studio and see this unique artist's beautiful Halloween and spooky-themed paintings!
I remember many a night as a little girl sitting beneath the corner of the dining room table watching my oldest sister and my mother with the Ouija board. It sat between them, propped on their knees. Even now as an adult I cannot fathom reading as fast as that planchette was moving.
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