Ouija Boards???

liamwhite

Ok so i am shifting my focus towards the Ouija board, i have been doing a lot of research into them, seems that its a mixed opinion thing also.

What do people think of them??? Are they evil? Or is it a gimmick??

They sell them at Toys R Us

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2266493#ReviewHeader

Ive been told that thats not a real Ouija board. But if thats not a real one, then what is a real one?

GodlessM

Well the first thing to note is technically speaking there's no such thing as a 'real' or 'fake' board per say as all the board is is a conduit; it's only real purpose is so the user can understand what the spirit is saying. The board can't be evil for that matter either.

Regards their use, the gimp thing about them is no one can ever tell if they really work or not because it's way too easy to fake. Personally I think it's a load of jargon. I'm sure there are ways to contact the dead, but playing a glorified game of Scrabble with bumps in the night involved doesn't seem like one of 'em to me (find it hard to imagine Casper siting cross legged on the floor pushing a planchette around).

Urizen

Well, I don't like them. At all. They freak me out in general, not to mention the higher than average cases of cheating and general shenanigans. Probably the result of a well spent childhood being warped by horror movies, but so I stand.

KeithAFC

Not sure what to make of them to be honest. I'd love to do an experiment with one for some one to use it in a location they don't have a clue about, blind fold them on the way to the location, blind fold them all the way until they are sitting at a table with a Ouija board and then take it off and if they get any factual information, i'd be impressed.

You whole aim is to try and rule out ideomotor effect.

Oryx

Anything can function as an ouija board as long as it has letters and something to use to point at them. So maybe when people talk of 'real' ones they mean the original design produced as a toy.

They have been mentioned many, many times here before. My view of them is that they are best avoided, because whether they work because of Casper the friendly ghost or your own unconscious muscle movements, they can be damn frightening and have caused a lot of fear and sleepless nights. They have such a lot of mystery and urban myths built around them that even the mention of one can cause people to shudder, let alone using one.

I think the blindfold idea is a good one. But I also think the only way to test properly is with one subject using the board alone, with a blindfold, with an observer present.

Red Hand

Oryx wrote: »

I think the blindfold idea is a good one. But I also think the only way to test properly is with one subject using the board alone, with a blindfold, with an observer present.

Or test it in a place where the ouija board is not known at all.

Nevyn

Never summon anything you can't dismiss and never open a door you can not close,
even if it is just your own subconscious.

Quazzie

Ouija is actually a trademark, and this is perhaps where your reference to real and fake comes from. People often forget that until the movie 'The Exorcist' in 1972 that the Ouija Board was a bigger seller than monopoly as a toy that was intended for people to play with and in extreme cases to access their subconscious. Its only since the movie and all the hype that surrounded it that the ouija board is seen as means to contact the dead.

Precisely what Domo-kun said. The Ouija trademark is actually owned by Hasbro, if I remember correctly. I have not used one and probably won't, because I'm deeply superstitious, but I find it hard to believe that what was originally a children's toy is now a means of communicating with the dead. That's like them communicating to us through a game of Mouse-Trap!

6th

I own a beautiful 1950s ones like the one in this picture:

Edgedinblue

im a bit baffled at the min, if only since '72 its been used to contact the dead, then what game could/was played with it before hand?

Quazzie

They were used as toys by children supposedly, and according to an episode of QI a recent survey shows that 2/3 still consider it to be a toy with only 1/3 considering it to be part of the occult.

liamwhite

Edgedinblue wrote: »

im a bit baffled at the min, if only since '72 its been used to contact the dead, then what game could/was played with it before hand?

I do not think those facts were correct, i think the board had been used long before that to contact the dead.

I am very shocked that nobody has come on yet in this forum to discuss there experience with playing one, i would love to hear some peoples personal experiences.

adelarge1

personally i would be way too superstitious to play, even thouh its only nonsense;)

liamwhite

Domo-kun wrote: »

Ouija is actually a trademark, and this is perhaps where your reference to real and fake comes from. People often forget that until the movie 'The Exorcist' in 1972 that the Ouija Board was a bigger seller than monopoly as a toy that was intended for people to play with and in extreme cases to access their subconscious. Its only since the movie and all the hype that surrounded it that the ouija board is seen as means to contact the dead.

I do not know were you hear that, according to this article the Ouija board was banned in 1920 in a lot of places because of its use to contact the dead.

http://www.yourdiscovery.com/paranormal/top_ten_ways_to_contact_the_dead/ouija_boards/index.shtml

liamwhite

adelarge1 wrote: »

personally i would be way too superstitious to play, even thouh its only nonsense;)

Well enough people have told me enough "gods honest truth" stories to make me avoid them. I understand it does sound a little bit iffy to be true, but i never tend to rule anything out with out investigating it for myself, although i am half tempted to find out for myself i think this one by the sounds of some genuine honest people i know and the advice they gave me i think ill give this one a miss with finding out for myself :P

Quazzie

I based the 1972 date on a recent episode of QI where they were talking about it. Definitely the boards were around before then and were being used as part of the occult but they were referred to as 'talking boards' and the name Ouija is a brand name, and in the same way we often refer to a vacuum cleaner as a hoover, or clear sticky tape as sellotape the name is synonymous with it now.

LambsEye

I think they're poppycock and balderdash rolled into one.

Dave!

You can read the patent from 1921 at http://www.google.com/patents?id=8GM_AAAAEBAJ

"The ouija board, as is well known, is a device designed to permit human beings to give expression to sub-conscious thoughts induced by complete muscular and mental relaxation."

Quazzie

Just to add my own story regarding the Ouija Board. My Mother told me this and she swears blind to this day that everything she says is exactly as it happened. Back in the 60s she was living in London and was only living there a few month having spent most of her life living in Scotland. Her and a few of her new friends were doing the Ouija board and she had her doubts so asked it a question that would be impossible for anyone else there to know the answer to. She asked what was her fathers surname? Now what no one else is the room knew was that my mothers father was divorced from my grandmother and the guy she often referred to as her father was actually her stepfather. Even stranger still was that her real fathers surname was Polish and near impossible to spell. But spell it, it did. This immediately made it real for my mother and she knew that something serious was happening. It then proceeded to tell her many things that would happen to her in her life, although most of these didn't come through, and over the years my mother forgot about it for the most part. One thing it did say was that she would have two sons one called X and one called Y and that the one called X would die, but the one called Y would live. Having forgot this my mother got married to my father and had a son. She called it X (also my fathers name) and within 8 hours it died being less than a day old. On a strange coincidence 6 years to the day later I was born and my mother swore to take no risks and called me Y.

Now believe of that what you like, but I fully believe it to be true, because I know when my mother is telling yarns, but whenever she talks of this she is always 100% serious. The fact that she believed it enough to call me what I'm called is enough for me to believe in it.

There could also be the argument that she moved the cursor subconsciously around the board to spell her fathers name as she really wanted to believe and that the rest is just coincidence, but try telling that to a woman that buried a son that was predicted years beforehand.

mathepac

Why all the excitement about a piece of printed cardboard called a "Yes, Yes Board"? (Oui = Yes in French, Ja = Yes in German)

Is it the possible implication of "Yes, Yes..." that got some strait-laced Victorians all hot and bothered about these toys?

Riamfada

mathepac wrote: »

Why all the excitement about a piece of printed cardboard called a "Yes, Yes Board"? (Oui = Yes in French, Ja = Yes in German)

Is it the possible implication of "Yes, Yes..." that got some strait-laced Victorians all hot and bothered about these toys?

Someone watched the movie "Ouija?"

Kennard claimed he learned the name "Ouija" from using the board and that it was an ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck." (wiki)

GodlessM

Domo-kun, the only problem I find with the story is omniscient and precognative spirits. That's new.

liamwhite wrote: »

I do not think those facts were correct, i think the board had been used long before that to contact the dead.

I am very shocked that nobody has come on yet in this forum to discuss there experience with playing one, i would love to hear some peoples personal experiences.

The facts are right but the year is wrong. The Ouija Board first came on the market in the 1890's.

As to the second part of your post, please do not open that door; you do not want to invite some of the jargon some people come up with and this is a prime topic for such things.

maccored

Is it the board (which lets be honest, can be anything) or is it the mind that creates responses (like spelling out a name no-one but one person there would know).

I'd reason it's the mind, and not spirits, that move an ouija board. still fascinating all the same.

Riamfada

What I have seen practically all of the time is that random letters are spelled out and the people around the table usually interpret what the ghost obviously meant. For example

Medium "Is there a ghost here"
Ghost Writes "Maptine"
Medium "Whats Maptine? It obviously means Martin, this is the ghost of Martin"

Planchette moves to a letter closer to Y than to N

Medium "yes he said yes"

And so on ...

Riamfada

Then again I grew up with some goths and one lad in particular did a Ouija board in his room. Apparently some mad stuff went down but he was terrified of them ever since, he started going to mass every week and kicked the aul goth stuff.There was also loads of dead wasps in the room the following days.

mathepac

Grimes wrote: »

Someone watched the movie "Ouija?" ...

I've never heard of the film but have a very basic grasp of European languages.

Apart from films and the entertainment industry generally, wiki is of course another excellent impartial source of meticulously researched scientifically proven "facts".

caseyann

Avoid like you would the plague

Oryx

Gently reminding you all to play nicely. Less of the hostility there, please.

RavenWhite

Hello just new to this site

Just wanted to give my opinion on the Ouija

Ouija Boards are conductors, wether that be a self drawn piece of paper to the boards you can purchase in a shop. To connect with energy, entities or spirits and anything else that we are not sure of is not only extremely dangerous when there is no understanding but highly addictive. If you use this tool and are nervous or anxious and afraid then you will attract such. I personally do not believe in 'evil' spirits but I do think you can attract 'lost' spirits or manifest negative energy without knowing you are doing so. A Ouija board is like turning on a light in a dark place, you are connecting your energy to things that will be attracted to this, if there is a spirit who is angry, sad, confused and you have any similar emotions then this is what you will attract. Its not neccessarily evil but it can be dangerous. When doing any type of mediumship, a person needs to know how to protect themselves, to be grounded and to be sensitive enough to understand what is happening. I would reccommend that you do this with someone that does mediumship and can be there to make sure you are safe and protected x

Riamfada

RavenWhite wrote: »

Hello just new to this site

Just wanted to give my opinion on the Ouija

Hi, welcome to boards. I have to say I cannot agree with what you claim Ouija boards to be based on the lack of evidence for a number of factors involved in it. It would seem that there is a lot of paranormal buzzwords used such as energy in this context and grounding.

Im not sure standing in a circle and visualising white lights would stop the devil. I have also done plenty of investigations without being grounded and it has never done me any harm. I think its purely psychological as is the Ouija board.

RavenWhite

Thank you Grimes

I am not on here to prove or disprove anything. My experience on the boards are as such. It is dealing with energy, I never said anything about standing around in a circle lol I do believe there is more than what we see and I have witnessed such, Grounded is as it sounds, to be realistic, to be aware and to not let things get out of hand. xXx

Wolfe Tone

Hey guys, was going to make a new thread, but this seems like the right place.


Basically some friends are planning to use a Quija board over the weekend and they asked me if I was interested.

I said yes immediately as I am a curious sort. As far as I know none of them have done this before. So does anyone have any advice as what to do, precautions to take? Ive heard stuff like taking mirrors out of rooms, having holy water and crosses, things like that. Is it really necessary?

Im a sceptic of all these paranormal things, but my previous gung ho attitude has been worn away in the face of what I have read here and elsewhere. I fully expect to sit there and end up with a pile of gibberish. But tbh, I feel a little worried.

Riamfada

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Hey guys, was going to make a new thread, but this seems like the right place.


Basically some friends are planning to use a Quija board over the weekend and they asked me if I was interested.

I said yes immediately as I am a curious sort. As far as I know none of them have done this before. So does anyone have any advice as what to do, precautions to take? Ive heard stuff like taking mirrors out of rooms, having holy water and crosses, things like that. Is it really necessary?

Im a sceptic of all these paranormal things, but my previous gung ho attitude has been worn away in the face of what I have read here and elsewhere. I fully expect to sit there and end up with a pile of gibberish. But tbh, I feel a little worried.

What I and other have done is play it safe. Observe the Ouija and see how you feel and then if there dosnt seem like anything to worry about jump in.

But dont come back to me when an unseen force is pulling you down the stairs. Ive seen the Ouija done and nothing bad has ever happened. Probably because I would be more skeptic than most.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I remember my mother bringing one home once , much to my fathers disgust. He brought it outside and burnt it , saying he wasn't having that thing in his house.

GrahamR1980

Howdy all! )

I have used a 'Planchette & Letters' before and it 'worked' and I would happily use it again.

My current opinion and understanding of them is that they are like 'Daddy's Shotgun'! only to be used by someone who has a resonable idea of whats 'going on'.

Just a quick look through the thread so far I would agree with the 'like attracts like', if you are drunk, stoopid and looking for agro you will probably most certainly find it!

As for grounding/protection, I hope I explain this properly.. I am sure (hope) all would agree that all the white light crystal earth stuff does is alter your 'mental faculties'. i.e. if you believe you are protected then you will be protected. I believe its just a frame of mind. same as above if you feel your going to get agro then you will get it, if you feel you are safe then you are safe.

As for the Holy water and cross's thats again just to give you the frame of mind as 'protected'.

Now the removing the mirrors, what I believe this came from is that when you take part in ANY spirit work there is a change you can be 'overshadowed' i.e. vaguely look like the person you are contacting. The removing the mirrors is so you dont get the fright of your ****e if you look into the mirror and see someone else! :P

Here is my opinion on How it works...
The spirit does not move the planchette, YOU move the planchette.
The spirit makes YOU move the planchette by communicating with YOUR spirit which moves your body.

That idea of using it blindfolded sounds pretty cool, will give it a go and see if it still works when/if I get the chance!

I would NOT reccommend just anyone to give it ago, like someone said, "it fecks with your mind", yes of course it does, if your not familiar with contacting the dead.

For those of you that have friends or family that either have had bad things happen to them or forbid them to use one but decide to go ahead to use one, ye guys will have a rougher time than most because you already have a preconcieved notion of what you believe is going to happen!


Graham

maccored

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

Hey guys, was going to make a new thread, but this seems like the right place.


Basically some friends are planning to use a Quija board over the weekend and they asked me if I was interested.

I said yes immediately as I am a curious sort. As far as I know none of them have done this before. So does anyone have any advice as what to do, precautions to take? Ive heard stuff like taking mirrors out of rooms, having holy water and crosses, things like that. Is it really necessary?

Im a sceptic of all these paranormal things, but my previous gung ho attitude has been worn away in the face of what I have read here and elsewhere. I fully expect to sit there and end up with a pile of gibberish. But tbh, I feel a little worried.

If anything happens, it'll probably be human engineered - more than likely subconsiously. - well worth reading up on the ideomotor effect

It came to be recognised when scientists looked into 19th century fascinations such as dowsing, pendulums, (non-fraudulent) table tipping in séances, automatic writing, Ouija boards etc. It being a non-paranormal explanation for the results of these practises.

GodlessM

On Holy Water and crosses; not sure how anyone could ever consider them protection as they are fundamentally symbols of a belief in something which obviously not everybody believes in. It may or may not be real, so that's not going to do you much good.

@ Graham; the mirrors thing is actually dating back to olden times when they believed the soul and/or spirits could be trapped inside mirrors, thus when conducting seances or exorcisms the mirrors were turned around, covered, or removed completely from the room.

GrahamR1980

maccored wrote: »

If anything happens, it'll probably be human engineered - more than likely subconsiously. - well worth reading up on the ideomotor effect

100% Agree, its the ideomotor effect that is responsible for ALL divination but its where the subconsious mind gets the info is where the agro starts! and thats a fight not worth having!

Ziycon

Personally I've very little faith in it being related to spirits, ideomotor movements can fully explain what occurs.
My general feeling is that if a person has to interact with an object or person to make contact then its not a true source of proof for the spirit world.

I will gladly throw my hands up if wrong but first show me some form of communication that doesn't involve physical interaction.

http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/tv-shows/science-scams/episode-4/

maccored

GrahamR1980 wrote: »

but its where the subconsious mind gets the info

If someone managed to get 100%, undisputed, unknown to anyone present at the time information then I'd think there'd be something to argue about. As it is, there's not much proof of any such information ever being uncovered. Its usually something 'only one person there knew' type stuff - which explains where it came from.

Oryx

maccored wrote: »

If someone managed to get 100%, undisputed, unknown to anyone present at the time information then I'd think there'd be something to argue about. As it is, there's not much proof of any such information ever being uncovered. Its usually something 'only one person there knew' type stuff - which explains where it came from.

I mentioned this here before, years ago. The one time I used one, aged 17, I was alone. I got initials of some distant relative, she had a double barrelled surname so it was specific, three initials. It then began to spell another surname from her immediate family, which began DEVI... and was heading I thought, for L, so needless to say I quit. The surname was Devine. (the pointer was going for N I presume) Thing is, at the time I only knew this lady as Aunt Mxxx, I didnt know her full name or the name Devine. Thats what scared me with this stuff. Until I was told that the initials and name made sense, I hadnt a clue they were relevant. I thought the letters were gibberish and Id contacted auld nick himself.

Yeah, it could still be coincidence. But a hell of a good one if you want to explain it that way. It did affect me, quite badly, for a long time.

I no longer fear the things. Thats changed even since I began posting about them here, back in the day. But I dont encourage their use because they are dangerous, they play on your mind, on your fear.

GrahamR1980

The saying "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." comes to mind.

It has been all proven before 100% in science but everyone that manages to prove it 100% scientifically is usually shut up by whoever pays their bills or whoever owns the scientific publication. OR get paid BIG money to work solo with some corporation. I believe everyone has a price!!

I am sure if you developed an experiment to test it 100% which made you a believer then there would be a million people behind you looking for their own experiment to be carried out. which by all means you are perfectly entitled to do! but finding someone willing to do the experiment will cost cashola cause most psychics/mediums (that are any good!) have better things to be doing than jumping through hoops! oh and dont just test one person, every one has their bad day so you will need a good few to get the statistics up! )

<RANT> btw NEVER EVER pay a medium or psychic that is crap!! </RANT>

I would honestly still love to hear an example of what experiment you would propose to verify spirits?

for psychic stuff one experiment I heard someone did was get a few hundred thousand photos all numbered and linked to a random number jobbie, then the psychic was asked to describe what photo they WILL BE looking at when the random thingy picked a photo. needless to say they failed misserably!! The photo had 7 trees in a park with a pond and not 6 trees in a park with a pond as the psychic had it! FAIL! :p:p

maccored

Oryx wrote: »

I mentioned this here before, years ago. The one time I used one, aged 17, I was alone. I got initials of some distant relative, she had a double barrelled surname so it was specific, three initials. It then began to spell another surname from her immediate family, which began DEVI... and was heading I thought, for L, so needless to say I quit. The surname was Devine. (the pointer was going for N I presume) Thing is, at the time I only knew this lady as Aunt Mxxx, I didnt know her full name or the name Devine. Thats what scared me with this stuff. Until I was told that the initials and name made sense, I hadnt a clue they were relevant. I thought the letters were gibberish and Id contacted auld nick himself.

Yeah, it could still be coincidence. But a hell of a good one if you want to explain it that way. It did affect me, quite badly, for a long time.

I no longer fear the things. Thats changed even since I began posting about them here, back in the day. But I dont encourage their use because they are dangerous, they play on your mind, on your fear.

thats interesting

Ziycon

The best experiment to use is one where none of the participants are aware of what the experiment is, this way they wont know what to expect and have a very little chance of manipulating the outcome to prove either side.

This should be done with a controlled group, one person knows the whole experiment and only just before the experiment occurs does that person explain to the witnesses what is being done, this way the witnesses know what the possible outcomes could be whereas the participants have no idea until afterwards.

The results have to be carefully examined due to the results possibility being associated to ESP!?

GrahamR1980

Ziycon wrote: »

Personally I've very little faith in it being related to spirits, ideomotor movements can fully explain what occurs.
My general feeling is that if a person has to interact with an object or person to make contact then its not a true source of proof for the spirit world.

I will gladly throw my hands up if wrong but first show me some form of communication that doesn't involve physical interaction.

http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/tv-shows/science-scams/episode-4/

Just out of interest, feel free to not answer but would you be willing to go to a few Medium's and have them contact a passed-on relative of yours? If the Medium came up with info that only you or your family would know, would you consider that as proof? or how much proof would 'you' need?

GrahamR1980

Ziycon wrote: »

The results have to be carefully examined due to the results possibility being associated to ESP!?

Ruling out ESP/Psychic stuff is going to be tricky if not impossible but would love to see/help an experiment that would try to! :cool:

Ziycon

GrahamR1980 wrote: »

Just out of interest, feel free to not answer but would you be willing to go to a few Medium's and have them contact a passed-on relative of yours? If the Medium came up with info that only you or your family would know, would you consider that as proof? or how much proof would 'you' need?

I would go but would take everything said with a pinch of salt due to hot/cold reading, I'm not saying all use this but there are some people out there that are very good with it!

GrahamR1980

Ziycon wrote: »

I would go but would take everything said with a pinch of salt due to hot/cold reading, I'm not saying all use this but there are some people out there that are very good with it!

I agree with that but to take that out of the equation what I have seen people do is to sit behind the medium looking at the mediums back and have the reading that way.

In a general medium reading its usually only the most 'energetic' spirit that comes through unless you mention who specifically you want to contact so all you would have to do is ask the medium to 'please contact Joe Higgs, tell me about him and if he has any messages for me!' oh and dont forget to record it so you can look back!

also dont forget that its for entertainment purposes only so they dont get sued! :rolleyes:

Oryx

Ziycon wrote: »

I would go but would take everything said with a pinch of salt due to hot/cold reading, I'm not saying all use this but there are some people out there that are very good with it!

If you happened to find a medium who is willing to work with you in an experimental way, a good exercise is for them to give a full reading while blindfold or facing away from you, with no feedback. It is a technique often used in mediumship training.

Good luck with finding a regular reader who will do it though.

Major Lovechild

Good luck indeed!