I haven’t played with a Ouija board in years. I suppose I don’t even believe they really work seeing I am now a somewhat intelligent adult. Well…let’s be honest here: somewhat intelligent adult/child. But I’ve had an obsession with talking boards for years. In fact I collect them. Did you know that there are literally 100’s of various talking boards out there going all the way back to the late 19th century? I’m the owner of eleven boards. That’s a meager amount compared to some collections but eleven too many for people who loathe the board and think it an instrument of the devil. I guess I’d like to think that the Ouija is capable of connecting us to “the other side,” but I also know about the ideomotor response and our subconscious mind slightly moving our hands to get a desired response. Or are the spirits using our subconscious mind to connect to our ideomotor response, therefore spelling out a message the spirits want to convey…hmmm.
—–
My amazing friend Tom passed away from cancer in 2013. It was lame then and will forever remain lame for all eternity. It’s strange to lose a good friend for the first time. Someone who was really close to you and then one day they just vanish. It’s odd because I feel like he just went on vacation somewhere. As if he will just show up at my front door one day, a suitcase in each hand, a duffel bag stuffed under his armpit. Maybe a straw hat, Hawaiian shirt and a really dark tan. I’ll greet him with utter surprise and ask him where the hell he’s been all these years and then we will both sit down and I’ll listen to an old friend regal tales of adventure and lazy days living the idle life in a remote location somewhere far, far away.
I know that won’t happen, but it’s a nice thought.
Tom was always taking pictures wherever he went and after his passing, I mentioned to his family that we’d like to have his computer so we could preserve all of the video and photos he had taken over the years. I got the computer about a year later but I haven’t turned it on yet. Partly out of laziness and partly out of the knowledge that it may be password protected and that’s going to be greatly upsetting to me. So I haven’t fired it up.
—–
Recently at Toy’s R Us on the hunt for these incredibly cute “troll doll-like” things calls Zelf’s, (remember the adult child thing from earlier), I walked down the game board aisle to see if they carried the “most dangerous game” and they not only carried it but there was a new version available. Hot damn. The last one I bought glowed in the dark. Adorable.
This board doesn’t glow in the dark but the planchette actually lights up an eerie purple thanks to three AAA batteries. I grasped the box with delight and made my way to the exit with Ouija in one hand and a Zelf in the other.
—–
Talking with a good friend the other day, we got on the topic of Ouija boards and the thought of communicating with Tom on one. What would he do? What would happen? Would anything happen? Or would we just be disappointed. Probably the latter. Tom and I were involved in the paranormal and that’s how we met, so it wouldn’t be all that odd to try and get the attention of our old friend via the board.
But hey…what if that computer I haven’t turned on yet is password protected and we asked for the password and got it?
Yeah…let’s just try it and see what happens.
“Oh!” I exclaimed.
“I have the newest Ouija board and haven’t even opened it up yet! We can use that.”
—–
Two adults. A kitchen table. A Ouija board. This is all you need for an interesting Wednesday evening.
I opened the box carefully as to not rip anything while removing the plastic tabs that kept the board sealed. Remember, I’m a collector. Things need to stay pristine.
The new board doesn’t really look anything like the traditional Ouija everyone is so familiar with. It still has the alphabet, numbers, yes and no and goodbye at the bottom. But this board was made to look like old wood. It looks cool but the old Ouija graphics of the sun, moon and the spirits in the corners are missing and those are just way too important to me. They seem the embodiment of the Ouija design. So I missed those icons not being there.
The planchette on the other hand was very mystical looking. Like the board, it’s designed to look like wood. It’s pretty. And when your fingers are placed lightly on it, the purple light softly glows through the little plastic window.
So we sat there at the kitchen table wondering what to ask. There’s always that element of stupidity you feel when potentially talking to just the air and not any “real spirits.”
“Well Tom…if you are around we’d love to talk to you. Are you with us?”
Good enough.
We placed our fingers lightly on the planchette and waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Nothing happened.
We asked another question. Same thing. Nothing.
“Well Okay…if not Tom are there any good spirits in the room with us?”
And nothing.
Stupid thing. It’s defective.
I started to inspect the planchette as if it were actually broken. “This thing just seems too heavy,” I said. “Let’s take the batteries out.”
So we did. We put our fingers on the now lighter piece of plastic and waited.
Nothing.
Then a few minutes later, that’s when we felt it. Something strange. My friend and I are Reiki masters so we are a little more sensitive to energy than the next person I suppose. But a definite energy had come over our hands. My friend even felt a chill.
Then the little planchette started to twitch and slightly move. A small rush came through me and in my head I felt like a little kid again, wondering if the spirits were really about to convey a message. And then it just started to move. It hovered over letters and nothing it spelled made any sense. We were both a little exhilarated by the feeling that this thing was actually moving for us. We also trust each other and know that it’s not one of us secretly pushing it along.
Just when the board seemed to be getting hot, her 19 year old son came home with his girlfriend and girlfriend’s friend. We quickly flipped the board over and shoved it aside as if we were guilty of something. Mostly we just didn’t feel like answering any questions. And let’s face it. When the kids come home and the adults are playing with the Ouija board at the kitchen table..well…there would be questions.
Her son was just over briefly because they were waiting for a friend to pick them up for a weekend camping trip. They would be there a couple hours though.
Damn. That Ouija board was really hustlin’ and we had more questions. Our curiosity was peaked.
So we carried the board off to her bedroom and shut the door. Let them think whatever they want.
Those odd grown-ups.
We put the board on the floor and sat down and within seconds of our fingers back on the planchette, the little piece of plastic put itself into high gear and moved all over the place, again spelling nothing that made any sense to us.
We asked it again if there were any friendly spirits who wanted to talk with us and it spelled out the word “nag” and went right to “goodbye.” OoooooooOOOOOooh! We both got the chills on that one and agreed it wasn’t Tom.
We asked again if Tom could come through. The board went to “yes.” When we asked for a potential password it spelled out something that for sure resembled a typical password someone would use. But knowing Tom, he would use a word that meant something to him, not just a series of letters and a single number. Then again, I could be wrong.
—–
I called up my better half that night and told him that we had tried to communicate with Tom via the Ouija board. I told him we got something that seemed like a password but who knows really.
“I’ll shit if that’s the password,” he said.
Yup. I think everyone would.
