Ouija Boards (megathread)

Puteq

Well, just to give hope to the likes of Talliesin and everyone else on that side of the argument - I came here cos I was thinking of trying out the Ouija board. Having read all I could find on it on boards, I think I will give it a miss.

Thing is, I am a firm believer that there is no afterlife, and I am atheist who is pretty confident that I am right and everyone religious is wrong. But I cant argue with the point that either nothing will happen, in which case it is a waste of time, or something will happen, in which case it will probably be a negative experience from the sounds of other peoples experiences. Don't get me wrong this thread has not convinced me that spirits exist (though undeniably there is some spooky crap happens for sure) - but I can imagine how playing around with a Ouija board could access some part of your subconscious that you might not want to tap into so either way, that argument is good enough to steer me away from it.

One thing though, I have read all I could find on boards about the negative experiences people have had with the Ouija board - but the best description I get it something along the lines of 'I'd rather not get into it' (KatieK has sad this and I totally understand if it is traumatising) or something like the house shook or a door a door slammed shut. Is anyone actually willing to come forward and give specific examples of their experiences? Sorry I guess this is more my morbid curiosity so feel free to ignore this question as it really is none of my business I guess.

Talliesin

Well, back to my firearm analogy.

Get an old blunderbus and you'll be advised that they are inaccurate and have a habit of exploding. Interesting that the exist, but not really a good idea to use one, because compared to modern firearms they are both useless and dangerous. Nothing needs to be said about bluderbusses from a safety point of view except "don't use them".

Likewise with the Ouija.

Oryx

Tallesins replys were some of the best sense Ive heard on the subject in a while. (And he can be funny too which is always good.)

I know the like of Zillah will say that unless we can prove they are dangerous, say by showing a video of someone getting their eyebrows singed off by one, then they cant be accepted as dangerous. But do you really need to shoot yourself before accepting a gun is dangerous? No. You would accept someone elses say so. A problem we have here is that by discussing them at all loads of people who read this are going to go home and get out a glass etc and try to find out for themselves if we are full of sh!t.

stevenmu

Solas gave a good example on the first page.

solas wrote:

when I was 15 we went on school tour to amsterdam and a couple of friends thought it would be a good idea to mess around with a ouija board. As I've explained in some previous postings, thanks to my father putting the fear of God into with regard to the paranormal, it's something I would never entertain and didn't get involved.
Anyway..a few nights in, we were all hanging out in our chalet after the "disco", few beers downed when the ground and walls started shaking, I recall a glass hopping across the table in front of me. Naturally we all got a bit worried and some of the lads tried to put a brave face on it and explain it away as undeground heating. I was pretty sure it was an earthquake.
Just as a second aftershock occured the lads who had been messing about with the ouija board came flying through the patio doors screaming about how they had let "satan" out. Those of us in the room at the time were completley unawares as to what they had been up to or what they were on about. (they were in a different chalet )

After calming everyone down I turned on the news and there were reports comming in of an earthquake in the area, which was in itself quite unusual but at least we knew what was going on.
To this day, the guys who had been messing about with the board will swear that something else happened and one of which I know, is on medication.

Nevyn

Talliesin wrote:

Well, back to my firearm analogy.

pff scroll up it was my analogy first :P
The cheek of some people.

Oryx

Puteq, I have a few reasons for not posting specifics here, not so much cos it would be traumatic to me, but because I dont want to encourage people to try it themselves. And because being a private sort, I dont post stuff close to my heart.:rolleyes: All I will say is that it happened to me in my teens and it took about two years to get over it. And I wouldnt touch the things again with a barge pole.

Nevyn

Puteq wrote:

Is anyone actually willing to come forward and give specific examples of their experiences? Sorry I guess this is more my morbid curiosity so feel free to ignore this question as it really is none of my business I guess.

If you were in a car crash which was tramatic and hard for you to talk about
as recalling it still shakes you and takes you back to that place and those feelings would you be willing to go into intimate detail for a complete stranger
on an internet forum and open yourself up to all sorts of questions ?

There are other less seeming practical reasons to do with words and toughts having power.

Cactus Col

Do you not think though that building up the dangerous aspect of oiuja boards without telling them of specific consequences makes them seem all the more exciting to people.

We all know ecstasy is dangerous, but there's plenty of people who'd want to get their hands on them for a bit of fun down the disco, we all know driving sports cars down country lanes really fast is dangerous, that doesn't stop people from strapping themselves into a porsche and ripping it up down the road.

Hearing that using a ouija board may have been responsible for an earthquake in amsterdam? If I was a teenager again, I'd be suggesting we get a board together as soon as possible.

What has a greater tendancy to stop people is talking to people who have been affected, finding out specific consequences.

To take Thaedydal's analogy of the car crash, if you caused a car crash that was traumatic, I would damn well expect you to talk about it, I fully expect anyone who is responsible for a crash by speeding or drunk driving to try and explain through personal experience why it is a bad idea.

Oryx

If I describe here what might (and did) happen you will still get those who will say "Id be able for that, lets give it a go" In the same way you get people who speed and drink drive even tho they know the risks.

6th

Ok maybe my opinion is influenced by the fact i've gone through things in my life as bad as any ouija board can dish out. Having gone through very heavey stuff (non paranormal related) I got my stuff together and feel that silence is never the answer. I understand people keeping things to themselves to deal with it but a I personally think people should be made aware of how to deal with everything and anything. When i was in school a guy came around giving a talk on how his life had been riuined by drink and drugs. He told us of the great fun he had with them but of the slippery slope that dragged his life down and down. Its people like this sharing their messages that make a difference - not hiding facts.

From what i see the most common danger with ouija boards is when people depend on them and get addicted, there are people who cant make decissions in their lives without consulting ouija, crystals, tarot etc.

People here are saying that they are dangerous, that they dont work, etc but no one is saying they work, that they will help you etc.

People have gotten the message by now.

Sapiens first post covered it all as far as i see it and i still think that single post should be stickied and locked.

Zillah

stevenmu wrote:

Solas gave a good example on the first page.

...? Surely you don't have to be a die hard sceptic to see thats just coincidence? They did a ouija board, the ground shook, the TV says there was an earthquake. Do you think the earthquake would not have happened if there was no ouija board?

KatieK wrote:

I know the like of Zillah will say that unless we can prove they are dangerous, say by showing a video of someone getting their eyebrows singed off by one, then they cant be accepted as dangerous.

That would be very nice, yes. And cool. That'd be damn cool.

KatieK wrote:

But do you really need to shoot yourself before accepting a gun is dangerous? No. You would accept someone elses say so.

I've seen guns hurt people thousands of times on TV. They're obviously dangerous. Now imagine someone got a square block of wood and said

"Don't use this, its dangerous, like a gun."
I'd be all like, "...but thats completely ridiculous, thats a block of wood..."
"Oh, but it hurt me before."
"Really? How?"
"I can't say..."
"I see..."


They can say its dangerous all they like, but in the end im still sitting there with what appears to be a completley harmless piece of wood.

Oryx

Zillah wrote:

They can say its dangerous all they like, but in the end im still sitting there with what appears to be a completley harmless piece of wood.

Until I hit you over the head with it.

Im getting my metaphors all mixed up here, but a gun is a piece of metal until some idiot fires it. A baseball bat is just a piece of wood until it stove your head in with it. An ouija board is to all intents and purposes a panel with letters on it until you use it with the intention of contacting spirit. We can argue about the proof of this till the cows come home, just like we argue about all paranormal phenomenon because we cant show proof here This is why an awful lot of people who read these boards go pffft... loonies.

6th

I dont think Zillah is actually asking for proof but more saying that if people are going to say they are dangerous can they give examples of how they are dangerous and real life examples of what can happen.

If Zillah really wanted to know if they are dangerous and 100% didnt believe they are he would probably be the type to just try one.

He's asking for examples for those who many be tempted to use them as a way of putting them off if they really are dangerous.

Or i could be totally wrong

6th

KittyKat is under no pressure to give details of her experiences though, she has stated enough of times that in her experiences they are very dangerous but has also said that she is not willing to disclose or discuss these experiences. We have to respect that.

Oryx

6th wrote:

KittyKat is under no pressure to give details of her experiences though, she has stated enough of times that in her experiences they are very dangerous but has also said that she is not willing to disclose or discuss these experiences. We have to respect that.

Well, were not talking nuclear reactors here. But I wouldnt want a gang of messers trying it out in case. Cos like I said, it took me an awful long time to shake it off.

stevenmu

Zillah wrote:

...? Surely you don't have to be a die hard sceptic to see thats just coincidence? They did a ouija board, the ground shook, the TV says there was an earthquake. Do you think the earthquake would not have happened if there was no ouija board?

I don't think the ouija board caused the earthquake (altough that can't be ruled out 100% ), but the effect the earthquake had on those using the ouija board at the time appears to have been far greater than the effect the earthquake had on those who were not using the ouija board. Hence it's an example of the danger of using ouija boards.

solas

just happened to be the largest earthquake in the history of the netheralnds too (is probably why I'm sensitive to earthquake's too)

The strongest earthquake in the Netherlands occurred on 13 April 1992 when a tremor registering 5.8 on the Richter scale occurred to the south of Roermond. Approximately EUR 100 million in damage was reported.

linky

The correlation between them maybe psychological, but thats the danger. Can you imagine if on most haunted live, while they were using the ouija board, along with the board shaking, the roof suddenly started falling on their heads? Without knowing there was an earthquake, I'm sure it would have freaked a few people out

Puteq

If you were in a car crash which was tramatic and hard for you to talk about
as recalling it still shakes you and takes you back to that place and those feelings would you be willing to go into intimate detail for a complete stranger
on an internet forum and open yourself up to all sorts of questions ?

Nah yer right Thaedydal it isnt really something to discuss with total strangers i guess - plus in fairness I have got enough out of this forum to have the sense not to go messing with Ouija boards without having to put anyone through recounting gory details.

solas

lol..that's funny shizzle when you think about it. But at least I can laugh, I wasn't using the board and consequently, wouldn't ever dream of doing so.

Zillah

stevenmu wrote:

I don't think the ouija board caused the earthquake (altough that can't be ruled out 100% ), but the effect the earthquake had on those using the ouija board at the time appears to have been far greater than the effect the earthquake had on those who were not using the ouija board. Hence it's an example of the danger of using ouija boards.

Solas wrote:

The correlation between them maybe psychological, but thats the danger. Can you imagine if on most haunted live, while they were using the ouija board, along with the board shaking, the roof suddenly started falling on their heads? Without knowing there was an earthquake, I'm sure it would have freaked a few people out

By that logic, Ouija Boards aren't dangerous, superstitions are.

solas

y'know what, this conversation is going nowhere. If you folk want to believe it's harmless and promote it as such, go right ahead. I think this should be the end of ouija board discussion's here.

Zillah

What the hell? You just completely ignored my point and declared the discussion over?

solas

no, just declared my end of the discussion over.

zillah wrote:

You just completely ignored my point and declared the discussion over?

you'll notice, 6th has been trying to declare this discussion over since page two, to suit his needs. I think it should be put to sleep now, as it's very obvious no one really wants to listen to others opinions about the subject. If ye want to mess around with the ouija board, who am I to say otherwise.

Zillah

Stop building strawmen. The fact that I havn't been convinced of the danger of Ouija boards does not mean I'm promoting their use.

GuanYin

Zillah wrote:

Stop building strawmen. The fact that I havn't been convinced of the danger of Ouija boards does not mean I'm promoting their use.

Read the charter. Specifically the bit about asking for proof.

Nevyn

Right there two fold aspects to the effect of the ouija boards and the not talking about it apples to both of them.

The first is the psychological aspects,
those that have used it to delve into thier own subconcious and that have had it effect them in a negative manner to recount what happened and the consequences,
is to reawaken that tought pattern and to think about certain things in a certain way and can be painful, unstablising and clearly unwise.
Certain things are unhealthy to dwell over, like self injury.

The second is paranormal/spiritualism/magic/engery/entity aspects,
Words, toughts and engery have power.
By recounting and remebering you are giving life and engery to what happened and to what ever spirits or enties were there and
we do infact draw thier notice (again) and you can end up with out meaning reinviting the litte buggers back into your life and engery to mess you about all over again, only they will be harder to get rid off;
or that you with out meaning to while thinking and talking about it snarl up your engery/chi/charkas as they were at the time when these events happened.

We can easily put ourselves in a bad place either way or both at the same time which is why if you dread to speak of such things or find you can not with out distressing yourself then don't.
Let sleeping dogs lie.

Cactus Col

I guess this is a question for the more experienced folk among us. Was reading the ouija board thread, and I think that somebody made the point that people who use the boards don't know how to deal with dodgy spirits. So, I was just wondering, how do people who do know how to deal with the creeps of the dead world do it?


should probably make it clear though, that I've no intention of putting myself in a position where I'll have to use any techniques.

GuanYin

We don't need actual ouija boards to have bad stuff happens, it seems we just have to open a thread about one.

Seriously, I know there were questionable motives surrounding the opening of the thread, but it is an interesting topic that has at times been insightful and helpful to some posters. As such I'd prefer not to lock it.

Whatever about the motives of the opening of the thread, in my experience people have strong views on ouija boards with even some of the most logical and open-minded scientists I know unwilling to participate. Having an objection to them may be a personal thing for personal reasons and not indicative of anyone taking sides here, no matter what others may say.

As I said, I'd like this discussion to stay interesting, amicable, on-topic and above all, civil. If it doesn't I'll lock it and the offending parties may take a break from talking about paranormal things here.

solas

good q. look forward to reading the reply's. In my experience aknowledging issues is the best way to resolve them. There was one occasion where I spent a long time trying to deal with particular circumstances and the reason why it took so long to do so was because I wasn't allowed to aknowledge them.

Once I did tho everything was alright. I was able to own my own space again and clear it accordingly.

Oryx

I think the dust is beginning to settle on the big rukus. Or at least the worst of it is now entertaining the Thunderdome. I dont have any problem with the discussion thats going on here, just the proof issue has me banging my head off the wall a bit.:) As always.