Mystifying and sometimes terrifying experiences
THE OUIJA BOARD continues to be a source of fascination, experimentation and concern among paranormal researchers and the general population. Our article on The Ouija Debate drew responses from readers who related their own experiences with the “talking board.” Most of the stories were of a negative or frightening nature. (To be fair, however, people who have had a benign or neutral experience with the board would be less likely to respond.)
Rasputin’s Ghost
Those who experiment with the board often claim to contact spirits, some of who divulge their names. The identity of these spirits is usually impossible to verify. Once in a while, a spirit claims to be a well-known or historical figure – or even the devil himself.
Such was John M.’s experience.
“When I was about 11 or 12 years old in the late 1960s,” John says, “I had a friend who claimed that he had a Ouija board where sometimes the planchette [the board’s heart-shaped indicator] would move about on its own if he left the board out at night. Naturally, I was skeptical, having never seen a Ouija board that did much of anything. As kind of a joke, I told him to bring it over one summer afternoon and we'd try it. Sure enough, as we started asking it questions, the planchette would move about very rapidly and provide answers, or sometimes it would just point to yes or no. Since the movement was so fast for the pressure I was applying to the planchette, I was convinced my friend was moving it himself, but every time I asked, he denied it. Nevertheless, we were having fun and continued to ask questions.
“At some point I finally asked, "Who are you?" and the board spelled out S-A-T-A-N. I just looked at my friend and laughed, now even more convinced that he was the one doing the spelling. So then I asked, "What's your last name?" and the board spelled out R-A-S-P-U-T-I-N, which meant nothing to me, but I wrote it down. After we were done, I looked up Rasputin in the encyclopedia and was stunned to see that a man by that name lived in late 19th century Russia, and was feared because of his supposed occult powers. Knowing my friend, his age, and his level of intellect, I became convinced right then and there that the Ouija was for real and that my friend had not spelled that name out.”
Even if the Ouija is capable of contacting the spirit world, is it likely that the spirit of Rasputin would speak to two teenage American boys? Or was some other entity just playing a scary trick?
The Ouija Strikes Back
On rare occasions, use of the Ouija has triggered physical manifestations and psychokinetic activity. Darryl D. claims that he and his friends were assaulted by something during a Ouija session.
“When I was about 14 or 15 years old, I had a Ouija,” Darryl says. “My friends and I would gather in a basement at my friend Doug's house. We would turn the lights off, light some candles and sit around an old table that was in the house when his grandpa lived there. (His grandpa committed suicide in the kitchen.)
“One night when we where using the Ouija, a gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew out all of the candles.
“Another time, some girls came over to Doug’s house and we started using the Ouija. We started to see strange shadows walking around the basement... and then it happened: the candles went out and we all heard this horrible scream. After we got the lights turned on, we noticed that one of the girls, who was sitting on a couch watching us, had blood coming from the back of her neck. The necklace she was wearing had been ripped from her neck and was laying on the floor about 10 feet from where she was sitting. She had two small charms on it; we found one inside of a small crawlspace under the stairs and the other was outside laying on the concrete in front of the back door. I have not used this Ouija since this happened.”
I think anyone who experienced this would also put the Ouija safely away.
The Trouble Ahead By Andrew Preston
I used to think necromancy was a kind of throat kissing featured in the Halls Soothers ads. Hearing stories about people who use ouija boards to talk to the dead always brought to mind images of a dark, smoky room above a chip shop somewhere, probably Spitalfi elds. Here, all manner of gullible spinsters and penniless merchants listen to the wailings, moanings and transcendental pronouncements of a wizened old gypsy woman gazing into a crystal ball.
But I had a nagging suspicion there might be more to it than that. So, with this in mind, and in the best spirit of investigative journalism, I thought it was time to delve into the mystic secrets of the spirit world. So much for stereotypes. A Google search on ‘psychic’ yields one and a half million hits. The tradition of consulting oracles, shamans, mystics and fortune tellers is alive and well in the world today, and if the evidence is anything to go on, becoming increasingly popular.
So is there any truth in the matter? And if so, who’s going to win the 12:40 at Ascot? “The evidence is overwhelmingly that Tarot consultations can help with key life decisions,” says professional Tarot reader Andy Zarubica. “Increasingly, people from all walks of life, and especially prominent businessmen and fi nanciers, are turning to the cards for guidance in important decisions.” I was sold.
I got hold of a book on another occult device, the ‘I Ching’ • a 3,500 year-old tome containing the judgements of King Wen on each of 64 hexagrams, and also the commentaries of his noble son, the Duke of Chou. It recommended I sit down calmly and formulate a question clearly in my mind. I was a bit worried at fi rst. No doubt asking the oracle, “Is there any future in fortune telling?” would create a spacetime singularity which would implode, destroying both the future and myself.
Instead of risk that, I decided to ask the oracle, on behalf of our current crop of world leaders, “Should I invade Afghanistan?” Whether this counts as consulting the oracle or is merely insulting the damn thing I couldn’t say.
After drawing a sequence of marbles out of the bag in accordance with the established procedures for selecting one of the 64 Ching hexagrams, I discovered that I had chosen Hexagram number 29, ‘K’an’, which literally translates as ‘The Abysmal’, symbolised by a dangerous crevasse and a snake. The potted wisdom attached to this Hexagram says, ‘Bound with stranded ropes and sent off to the dense thorn bushes to be judged and found wanting. This is probably a bad idea.
If you go on like this you won’t get anywhere for three years. You will be excommunicated from the spirits and left wide open to danger.’ Things were getting a little apocalyptic here, so I decided to switch to testing the more mundane fortune-telling powers of PG Tips. It seems so utterly random that people actually read tea leaves in order to predict future events.
Tasseography, as it is sometimes called, is an ancient Chinese practice that spread to Europe with nomadic gypsies in the mid-1800s. And while most people don’t take the art of tea-leaf reading too seriously anymore, it is nonetheless fascinating. So I settled down with the paper and a nice cup of tea. And a packet of decent biscuits for meditative purposes. It is important to drink the tea properly, sipping it slowly and concentrating on a specifi c question.
I decide to focus on a time-old question that has puzzled many Oxford Undergraduates contemplating the mysteries of the Middle East: ‘Which is superior • Ahmed’s or Mehdi’s?’ After due consideration of this or whatever question you fancy, you take the cup in your left hand and swirl it thrice clockwise. This allows the tea leaves to cling to the sides and rim of the cup.
Peering in, I could clearly discern the letter M, which according to my brand spanking new edition of Llewellyn’s Complete Book Of Practical Magick (Ages Six and Up) would symbolise a name. I also noticed a cluster of leaves resembling a shark, symbolizing bankruptcy, and a patch of leaves near the rim which struck me as rather like a hat, apparently representing a fool. I puzzled over possible interpretations of this great revelation and pondered the correct place to lay my hands on a kebab.
It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have any money. Some talented people can communicate directly with other-worldly forces without the intermediary of cards, chai or Ching. I spoke to one such self proclaimed clairvoyant who explained his working practices. “I have to be in a very calm and precise state of mind. It is important for whoever I am talking to that I can apply what I see in my mind’s eye to the precise issues at hand.
I am always careful with sensitive problems as they are often powerful focuses of psychic energy. And I am waiting for the day when someone sits down opposite me and asks me how they can get back to Mars.” Quite. In the end, the use of oracles is a very subjective matter, and certain confi rmed sceptics such as myself may experience surprising results.
There are a couple of fortune tellers and psychics working in Oxford at the moment, and scores of charlatans out to make a quick buck all over the world. It’s interesting terrain to explore, but it could just be a load of long out-foxed traditional hokum which our civilisation no longer needs. Then again, it might just be your cup of tea.
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