# Ouija Boards - I used to think it was bull until...... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2009, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528 "2009-02-19T09:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/21 "2009-02-19T14:17:30Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Not to discount or belittle you experience, but, if it were truly that easy to contact the spirit world, we’d probably have standing direct communication channels with our dearly departed (or whatever else entity is being contacted in such a way) by now; in fact, the afterlife would probably be getting broadband right about now (and Verizon HQ would be haunted worse than all old castles in England combined). Some people do have direct channels to their departed loved ones. But like broadband and Verizon, there are procedures to follow and a price to pay for such communication. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/22 "2009-02-19T14:17:36Z")
> [@martin2588](#): > > it was also in my house, so I know not rigged. > > HELP!!! It’s absurd to think that it can’t be rigged because it’s in your house. Whatever gave you that notion? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/23 "2009-02-19T14:17:53Z")
> [@martin2588](#): > > I need your help, Please do not just say, they are fake etc, without providing fact as what has happended cannot be explained or can it? > > As a group of friends we were using a ouija board or talking board (I understand ouija is just a trademark) We are all in our 30s so not teenage kids messing around. Anyway, we got the glass moving and answering any question we asked (I know idoemeter effect, Ive already researched it) However then we did something that no-one has yet be able to explain. > > One person left the table and wrote or drew 5 or 6 things on a piece of paper in another room of the house. We then asked the board. What is the first word or picture and so on so forth. The board got every single one correct. We repeated this 4 or 5 times (roughly 25 pictures or words 100% correct) > > There was no verbal or signed communication between the person with the paper and those on the board, in fact they couldnt see each other. The strange thing was when we said whats on the paper, the glass went still for a few seconds, as if it was was there was actually going to have a look? > > Secondly and just as bizarre, knowing Penn and Tellers comments regarding ideometer effect have just been debunked with the above experience, we all then closed our eyes and yes the board stopped. But then we asked the board why and it amazingly said it couldnt see thats why! We then went around the table one by one with one person open eyes and the rest shut. Same thing happend until it got to a particular friend. Whilst their eyes were open and the others were shut, we could still get clear answers. We could even get answers to questions from people with their eyes closed that only they would know > > We are not wierdos or stupid, please dont just reply with their evil or they dont work or your lying etc.. This is 100% genuine 100% fact, we just want answers if anyone knows them? > ??? Well you either are stupid (not in the name-calling sense; I am referring to the literal sense of the word) or you are the naive victims of a trick. These are not mutually exclusive. If you got yerself a board that gives legit answers which supercede scientific law, hurry and ask it one question: “What’s the big gainer stock for tomorrow’s market?” Prior to asking the question leverage every dime you have and buy the stock suggested on the following day. Repeat until filthy rich. Then do what you want for the rest of your life. I am certain someone (whoever is rigging the board, usually) will produce some sort of bs answer why proximately testable questions aren’t the right type. Take that as your first clue. Right now it appears you have no clue at all. The best test for nitwits believing in the paranormal is not to try to talk them out of it. It’s to ask why Mrs PalmReader Fortuneteller lives in a trailer about to be repo’d. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/24 "2009-02-19T14:18:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > planchette. I had to look up this word. I cannot believe there is a word for just this. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/25 "2009-02-19T14:22:25Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Great. Could you ask my mother a few questions for me, then? I no longer involve myself with such communication with demons, it was miserable breaking away from that. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/26 "2009-02-19T14:25:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve heard lots of weird stories about the World Trade Center being destroyed by demolition charges, and moon landings being hoaxes, and people having probes jammed up their asses by space aliens. Doesn’t mean there’s anything to them. > > Ouija boards are toys. The Ouija board was invented as a toy, is sold as a toy, and every one ever built or that will ever be built is a toy. They move in two ways; by deliberate manipulation or the ideomotor effect. No Ouija board in the history of the toy has ever been moved in any other way. They are not moved by spirits, demons, possession, ESP, or anything else. They’re moved by the people with their hands on the planchette. That’s it, end of story. Why does this seem like what Satan might say: “Yes, it’s just a toy, there are no demon, just people with their hands on the planchette.” ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/27 "2009-02-19T14:26:26Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I no longer involve myself with such communication with demons, it was miserable breaking away from that. …wait, did you just pull a supernatural yo’ momma-joke on me? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/28 "2009-02-19T14:26:37Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > I had to look up this word. I cannot believe there is a word for just this. Didn’t she play the wife on the Bob Newhart Show? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/29 "2009-02-19T14:28:09Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Why does this seem like what Satan might say: > “Yes, it’s just a toy, there are no demon, just people with their hands on the planchette.” Because in your construct, everything is part of the demonic conspiracy. This is how all conspiracy theories thrive. Devilishly clever. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/30 "2009-02-19T14:29:29Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The answer is you are getting answers from spirit guides a.k.a. guides of human destiny which is from the Greek word daemon or demon which Jesus spoke of. They are not there to help you, but themselves. If you want you can believe there is some scientific explanation, but none can be proven because it’s not physical, but spiritual. It is your spirit/soul in contact and communication to these spirits. So, you wouldn’t even consider there might be a simpler explanation in that it might be a friend or two deceiving him; but automatically conclude it’s from spirit guides in the form of demons based on what little he has told us, and not even being there? razncain ---
**Author:** ![Roulette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Roulette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roulette)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/31 "2009-02-19T14:30:06Z")
Put me down in the "one or more of your friends probably played a elaborate prank on you’ category. In all likelihood, that person or persons is laughing at how gullible you and / or others in the group were. I’m sorry about that, and I don’t say it to be insulting. Just working backward from the basic premise that Ouija boards don’t actually work. As an additional point, who suggested this activity for the evening? Often that’s the best place to look for your prankster. Maybe it’s just me, but my circle of 30 somethings would have to be pretty drunk in order to suddenly get out the Ouija board. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/32 "2009-02-19T14:34:01Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > So, you wouldn’t even consider there might be a simpler explanation in that it might be a friend or two deceiving him; but automatically conclude it’s from spirit guides in the form of demons based on what little he has told us, and not even being there? > > razncain If it were a attempt to deceive, I would suspect that attempt was not done in a spirit of Love of God, as such that would have it’s origins in the demonic. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/33 "2009-02-19T14:36:13Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > …wait, did you just pull a supernatural yo’ momma-joke on me? Thank you, I got a great laugh at that. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/34 "2009-02-19T14:40:18Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > If it were a attempt to deceive, I would suspect that attempt was not done in a spirit of Love of God, as such that would have it’s origins in the demonic. I see. Practical jokes are demons at work. But if you’re a Christian, the scriptures show where the biblical god deceives as well, so how to you determine the origins of where it is from your God or a demon? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/35 "2009-02-19T14:44:19Z")
When I was about 12, we asked the Ouija when my friend would die. It said 1969. She is alive and well, and that was 40 years ago. I think confirmation bias is a factor as well; users forget all the bad readings, and focus on what they can constue as accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/36 "2009-02-19T14:46:39Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > If it were a attempt to deceive, I would suspect that attempt was not done in a spirit of Love of God, as such that would have it’s origins in the demonic. What a sad, pathetic little paranoid world you live in. I can just imagine the potential friends you’ve driven away with accusations of them being either possessed by demons or actually being demons themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/37 "2009-02-19T15:02:59Z")
Your choices are: A) Your friends are goofing with you. B) The only person the board worked for when you all were closing your eyes wants to appear special/mystical and so deliberately or subconsciously moved the planchette. C) Powerful spirits from another realm that we can only communicate with through a plank of wood or cardboard have decided to play parlor games with you. Personally, I would pick A or B because to think that the afterlife consists of waiting around and hoping to answer inane questions or scare preteen girls via the medium of Hasbro is depressing. If it’s some demonic force I can only imagine what kind of shit duty that must be. The other guys are all off sowing seeds of famine and pestilence while you’re stuck chatting with a bunch of suburbanites through a mass produced piece of cardboard covered in chip crumbs. It’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/38 "2009-02-19T15:13:17Z")
I think it’s interesting that no one has thought of a THIRD option, besides practical joke or real spirits. The third option is deliberate deception by the OP, toward us. Not that I’m outright accusing the OP of lying. I’m only noting that it IS a viable third option in this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/39 "2009-02-19T15:14:35Z")
You can buy Ouija boards at Toys R Us. Do you _really_ think that tools used to contact the deceased could be mass produced by the same people who make Scrabble and purchased for $12.99 in the game section of any store? If it really were that easy to contact the dead we would be able to talk to them all the time whether or not we had a cheap piece of plastic and some particle board. Step back from the spooky experience and think about this logically for a moment. Does the board game Clue allow you to solve actual murders? Does the board game Life predict how many children you will actually have? Why would this particular board game be any different? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/40 "2009-02-19T15:22:31Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > You can buy Ouija boards at Toys R Us. Do you _really_ think that tools used to contact the deceased could be mass produced by the same people who make Scrabble and purchased for $12.99 in the game section of any store? If it really were that easy to contact the dead we would be able to talk to them all the time whether or not we had a cheap piece of plastic and some particle board. Step back from the spooky experience and think about this logically for a moment. Does the board game Clue allow you to solve actual murders? Does the board game Life predict how many children you will actually have? Why would this particular board game be any different? If you want you could use a chicken with it’s head cut off, though some media seem to have more consistent ‘results’ then others. Also step back once again and could you think of a better place for Satan to put such a thing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528.md?page=3)