# Have you ever screwed around with the paranormal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471 "2013-01-17T05:04:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/21 "2013-01-17T08:43:47Z")
Iv’e talked to the fools who think there is paranormal anything. That was more interesting than finding eye of newt and skin of snake, or changing Anil nath drac unth vas besoot doth diel nim ve, or something like that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/22 "2013-01-17T12:25:49Z")
I dabbled with a ouiji board as an adolescent and deliberately failed to reject Satan in church for many years but have since renounced all of that–pretty tame stuff in the first place, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/23 "2013-01-17T12:32:55Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > To be honest, I’d feel quite ookie about people casting spells on me, not because I think it will do anything, but the intention. Health spells, or luck spells, whatever, I guess, not much different from a prayer. But anything meant to change my behavior (whether it be a love spell or a “confidence spell”) starts getting into “you want to change the way I think/act :dubious: territory”? Yeah, that’s pretty much been my mindset as well. While I don’t believe things like that work, it reveals a bit about their intentions that makes me uncomfortable. If things need to change, work with me to change together; don’t attempt to modify me on the sly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/24 "2013-01-17T12:47:30Z")
No. Never. Because it’s bollocks. ---
**Author:** ![midnight-dreary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@midnight-dreary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnight-dreary)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/25 "2013-01-17T13:45:19Z")
Someone once cast a spell that was supposed to kill me. Well, here I am… ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/26 "2013-01-17T13:49:02Z")
Witchcraft, spellcasting, ghosts, spirit communication? No. My teenage area-of-lunkheadedness was UFOs and cryptozoology (Bigfoot, Nessie, etc.) Science, not Superstition! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/27 "2013-01-17T14:23:27Z")
It has been the paranormal screwed around with me instead of the other way around. Hearing what you tried I can’t imagine what weird stuff they have to, but I can confirm that it does work because here I am. Peace ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/28 "2013-01-17T14:54:57Z")
While on a hike in Haiti I found myself standing next to the hut of a voodoo priest. I only found out when I asked the significance of the two flags flying high above. I absolutely do not believe in magic or spell casting, but I do admit to feeeling quite uneasy to be accidentally trespassing there. > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Some of us made black cats in the garage… I hope that involved spray paint and not bestiality!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/29 "2013-01-17T15:15:32Z")
I tried a bunch of stuff. I once made a voodoo doll of my brother. The instructions said to stick a pin into the doll’s heart. I didn’t want to kill him, just get a little payback from all of the wedgies. So I stuck the pin through its right hand. When I went downstairs to breakfast, I saw that my brother’s right hand was in an ace bandage. Oh shit oh shit oh shit! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/30 "2013-01-17T15:31:05Z")
Once I was standing on the left side of the paranormal, then with my right hand reached behind it’s back and tapped it on the right shoulder. Of course the paranormal looked over like someone was there. Boy did I get a laugh out of that. Also I put shaving cream in the paranormal’s shoes while it was sleeping. It’s fun to screw around with paranormal. But watch out, it has no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/31 "2013-01-17T17:29:24Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > No. Never. Because it’s bollocks. Watch it. You’ll get scolded. > [@kanicbird](#): > > It has been the paranormal screwed around with me instead of the other way around. Hearing what you tried I can’t imagine what weird stuff they have to, but I can confirm that it does work because here I am. > > Peace See the paranormal is real! You made a thread about it and magically summoned Kanic. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/32 "2013-01-17T18:45:05Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I tried to sell my soul on several occasions. It’s very disheartening when you finally work up the nerve to perform the ritual, and you’re actually ready to sell your soul…and nobody is willing to buy it. I know, right??? I even offered a coupon for mine - still no-go. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/33 "2013-01-17T18:59:11Z")
My friends and I messed around with a Ouija board a few times as teenagers. I asked the board one time for the name of the man I would marry, and it gave me the name of our bus driver. Who was about 90 years old. :eek: We decided to test the board one time by asking it something we could verify. We asked what song we’d hear on the radio when we turned it on. It answered “Debbie Gibson” or some slightly mispelled variation. So we turned on the radio and “Shake Your Love” was playing. Freaked us the heck out. Of course this was the late 80’s and you couldn’t fart without hearing Debbie Gibson, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/34 "2013-01-17T19:19:22Z")
Never screwed around with it, but once, when I was a teenager, I felt the paranormal’s tits. They were nice. I do like to type complicated string of text while my computer is turned off. Sometimes I up the difficulty and type with my left hand, or behind my back, or during certain phases of the moon. Other times I look up obscure commands in obsolete programming languages and type those instead. Or the Konami code. Of course, I know that nothing will happen, because nothing can happen, since computers don’t work that way. It’s not like I believe in computomancy. It’s just much more exciting and pleasant to engage in pointless mind-numbing rituals that I don’t care about than to do actually fun things. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/35 "2013-01-17T19:50:09Z")
Many years ago I was dating a girl who wanted me to try a Ouiji board with her. After 3 minutes I got bored and started secretly but purposefully spelling out words to freak her out. She was visibly shaken for about a week after. And speaking of selling souls, I remember a debate about 5 or so years ago about E-bay not letting people sell their souls on their site because they had a “no selling body parts” rule and the skeptics were digging into them because they said that logic meant E-bay endorsed the existence of souls. I don’t recall the outcome of the debate though. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Like\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I\_Like\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Like_Pie)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/36 "2013-01-17T20:45:35Z")
A few years ago I got really interested in the paranormal after seeing and hearing a lot of strange things in my house. I hooked up a usb microphone to my computer and let it record in the den downstairs, while I was upstairs doing other things. When I listened to the recording later there was a distinct sound like a player piano, like you would see in an old west saloon. It went on for about ten seconds. Proof that my house is haunted? No. Really strange? Hell yes. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/37 "2013-01-17T21:02:08Z")
Heh. Back in my old high school days, I and some of the other nerds did a “Satanic Mass.” Skulls, candles, reading the Lord’s Prayer backwards, etc. No blood sacrifice, though; that may be part of why nothing happened. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/38 "2013-01-17T23:04:49Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Many years ago I was dating a girl who wanted me to try a Ouiji board with her. After 3 minutes I got bored and started secretly but purposefully spelling out words to freak her out. She was visibly shaken for about a week after. It you had thought it through you should have had it spell blow job over and over. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/39 "2013-01-17T23:39:04Z")
A few times: - Friend and I tried out a ouija board once. At least the…what is that thing called? Stylus, curser, whatever…moved around the board. But it was talking Urdu, or pashto, or Sanskrit, or something and the message kinda got lost in the translation. - I once got out of bed stark naked sometime after midnight and went chasing after a ghost that was tromping around noisily in the old farmhouse where I was living. Never found anything, probably because I scared it off by turning on every light in the place. And leaving them on for the rest of the night. - I prayed a _very_ strong imprecatory prayer at my ex-wife. Apparently God wasn’t listening…she’s still very much in the pink and nasty as ever. Come to think of it though, she _has_ gained a lot of weight lately, so maybe it kinda worked after all. SS ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471/40 "2013-01-17T23:49:21Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > …dumb kid will actually summon a Succubus and get his soul sucked out through his dick." I’m not really using my soul all that much. Hmmm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-screwed-around-with-the-paranormal/647471.md?page=3)