Ouija Board - Contacting Spirits or Our Minds?

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A Ouija board is a flat board (usually made of wood) containing letters, numbers and other symbols, which uses a movable object called a planchette to point out certain areas of the board (to spell out messages).

The first known board (for commercial purposes) was produced by Kennard Novelty Company in 1891, a design that most have copied (in some shape or form) over the years. The Ouija board displayed was created by William Fuld (in 1917) and is almost an exact copy of the one sold in 1891.

The boards were frequently used at a séance (an attempt to communicate with spirits) and a group of people would place their fingers on the planchette and watch as it moved around the board to spell out messages.

It is believed that the history of the Ouija board goes back as far as 1200 B.C. (China) and perhaps earlier, but this is not certain and might refer to something called "spirit writing."

Although many of the people who have used these boards are convinced they are communicating with the spirit world, scientists believe the users are subconsciously directing the path of the planchette to produce a word that is in that person's subconscious thought process. They are unaware that they are in fact moving the piece and assume that the piece must be moving because of some unknown force.

An experiment was conducted where the participants asked questions and received answers using the Ouija board. They were then blindfolded and the board was turned round in the opposite direction (without their knowledge). The questions continued and the planchette moved to where the "Yes and NO" areas would have been!

The Ouija board is often used as a "party" game (although not recommended) and I have heard of strange events happening during its use. On one such occasion (so I am told) a group of friends were using the board and they started to receive messages. Naturally, as they were doing this for fun, they assumed that someone was pushing the planchette (in this case an upside down glass).

Each accused the other of doing the pushing and one by one they removed their fingers from the glass, until no one was touching it, but to their amazement the glass continued to move, started spinning and eventually shattered into tiny pieces!

I was not present when this happened, but the source was a good friend who seemed genuinely afraid when he told me this story.

In a separate incident a board spelt out my name (apparently), even though I was not present in that group either, which seems to indicate that the board does not mention only dead people (unless someone is not telling me something!).

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Ouija boards are considered dangerous by many, including the famous psychic Edgar Cayce. Some believe that "evil demons" pretend to be cooperative ghosts in order to trick players into becoming spiritually possessed.

Whilst I am not sure about the "evil demons", there is certainly plenty of proof that people's minds have been affected after using the boards (I have personally met such a person), so caution should be applied.

The scientific view that users are subconsciously directing the path of the planchette is a valid one, but I have another theory on the information they are producing. As I mentioned in another section of my book "The Unexplained Explored" (Life after death chapter), I believe that our brains may hold the memories of people who have died in the past (their "souls" if you prefer). If this is true, then maybe the Ouija board is helping us in some way to "tap" into these memories? Not just from those taking part, but anyone.

This would explain some of the information which seems to be very accurate, but does not account for all the results that people have seen.

There are certainly many mysteries connected with the Ouija board, and whilst some can be explained scientifically, there are many that will remain unexplained (for the moment). However, one thing is sure, it should not be considered as a toy or party game, the dangers are real and this should be seriously considered before you experiment with it.

This was an extract from my book. If you would like to advertise in a free version of The Unexplained Explored, please click here.