# 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:** 38
**Author:** ![cedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cedman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/741 "2011-02-16T14:19:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, deaths come in trees, after all. I thought that Marc Bolan died of cancer?šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/742 "2011-02-16T14:31:29Z")
Donā€™t you mean James Dean? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/743 "2011-02-16T14:58:26Z")
cedman, just click on the link in my post. It will link to the article about the memorial set up around the tree the Marc Bolanā€™s car hit. If you click on the name ā€œMarc Bolanā€ in that article, it will llink to article about Marc Bolan. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/744 "2011-02-16T20:56:55Z")
> [@martin2588](#): > > This is 100% genuine 100% fact, we just want answers if anyone knows them? > ??? I want answers, too. My first question is, after the first two or three successes, why did you waste your time on more stupid pictures, instead of asking it where Osama Bin Laden was, or what plants contain a chemical that will cure cancer, or even what Powerball numbers will be this week? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/745 "2011-02-16T21:10:08Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > He hit the same tree as that Alan guy, apparently. Didnā€™t they make a movie about him? _The Other Bolan Guy_ or something like that? ---
**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 16, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/746 "2011-02-16T21:18:31Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > I want answers, too. My first question is, after the first two or three successes, why did you waste your time on more stupid pictures, instead of asking it where Osama Bin Laden was, or what plants contain a chemical that will cure cancer, or even what Powerball numbers will be this week? You are responding to someone who hasnā€™t posted in two years. Maybe if you tried again using a Ouija Boardā€¦? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/747 "2011-02-17T07:38:44Z")
I have a spirit that follows me around whenever I use an Ouija board. The first time i met the spirit was ~1983. The last time was around 1993. I might get an ouija board just for kicks and see if the spirit is still around. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/748 "2011-02-17T15:28:44Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I have a spirit that follows me around whenever I use **an Ouija board**. ā€œAnā€ Ouija board? How the hell do you pronounce ā€œOuijaā€? Iā€™ve always heard it pronounced ā€œwee-jahā€ or ā€œwee-jee,ā€ neither of which would get the ā€œanā€ article. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/749 "2011-02-17T16:07:08Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Am I the only one who used to use them at slumber parties to ask, ā€œWho likes me?ā€ and questions like that? That reminds me of Robert Heinleinā€™s comment about the real purpose of Tarot cards (and perhaps Ouija boards as well) ā€“ they provided a dodge for a proper young lady to obliquely suggest things to a proper young gentleman that proper young ladies simply did not say to proper young gentlemen. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/750 "2011-02-17T16:16:21Z")
If Ouija boards really worked, they would move _without_ hands on the pointer. After all, are we to believe that the Spirit can move physical hands but not a physical pointer? ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/751 "2011-02-17T16:20:02Z")
That reminds me of the joke: If those phone psychics truly had ability, theyā€™d be dialing us with what we need to know! ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/752 "2011-02-17T16:48:40Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > If Ouija boards really worked, they would move _without_ hands on the pointer. After all, are we to believe that the Spirit can move physical hands but not a physical pointer? The idea seems to be that the spirit or spirits work through the human subconscious or something. Otherwise they could just send us e-mail. Years, maybe decades ago, there was a fad using tape recorders to contact the Other World (Whooooh!) You left a tape recorder recording in a quiet room for an hour or two, and when you played back the tape you were supposed to hear the very faint voices of the spirits in the tape hiss. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/753 "2011-02-27T05:36:58Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > ā€œAnā€ Ouija board? How the hell do you pronounce ā€œOuijaā€? > > Iā€™ve always heard it pronounced ā€œwee-jahā€ or ā€œwee-jee,ā€ neither of which would get the ā€œanā€ article. Iā€™ve always pronounced it oo-we-jah. No clue if this is correct, or not. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/754 "2011-02-27T07:03:33Z")
> [@martin2588](#): > > I need your helpā€¦ Hereā€™s all the help you need: Thereā€™s one born every minute. Double check whether youā€™re one of them. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/755 "2011-02-27T07:23:22Z")
The real question is, can you use a Ouija board to summon zombies, or just evil spirits from beyond the grave? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/756 "2011-02-27T16:42:37Z")
You can, but youā€™d better have a supply of chips and brain dip on hand. ---
**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 28, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/757 "2011-02-28T15:42:44Z")
For 20 years Ouija boards were parlor games until someone decided they were (spirtually) legit. I shoulda mentioned that a couple years ago when this thread was started and I was mocking believers. Whatā€™s the explanation for the first two decades of spiritual dysfunction? ---
**Author:** ![James501](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@James501](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James501)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/758 "2013-03-12T07:01:38Z")
Like everything people donā€™t understand, there is a lot of fear associated with Ouija boards - until you have some practice working with them. Now donā€™t get me wrong, I donā€™t encourage the practice, but not for the reasons others give. Not because I fear it. I donā€™t encourage it because I feel it retards the progress of souls in the next world by asking them to focus their attenton back on this one. That said, contrary to whatever anyone wants to believe, there is nothing fake about the experiences of those who have used it. Those who feel the ouija board should be put to the test, will find that the spirits on the other side have no need to prove themselves to anyone in that way, and like anyone else, take objction to such testing. Generally they wiill simply stop working unless they feel the testers are simply, honestly and unjudgmentally trying to verify that they work as in the case of the first poster. People also need to know that the living who participate in ouija board sessions, themselves affect the outcome because their thoughts and feelings can be and typically are channeled through to affect the movement of the planchette, even if they are not actually touching it. The reason the first poster said that one personā€™s eyes had to remain open for one or more of the spirits to ā€œseeā€ is because the spirits still do need some of our physical powers and energy to interact with us. While they are not in bodies of their own, they need our own bodies to help them interpret this world. The next world is not free of evil. However most of the spirits that would seek to communicate with us are good. There may be the odd prankster or joker among them, just as you would find among the living. So by and large the negative readings shoud just be ignored as spurious, and they will eventually stop. The first poster on this thread did not sound like he was tricked or duped by someone else in the group. Iā€™ve used the board just on my own and had similar kinds of readings where accuracy was being put to the test. One thing that should be noted, however, is that because of the fact that those who take part interact with the board, those readings will be affected accordingly, and inaccuracies can and do creep in as a result, unless they keep their minds very blank and make sure they donā€™t occasionally ā€œleadā€ the movement of the planchette. Then again the spirits can just simply be wrong sometimes. Just like everyone else, they are not perfect. They may well have a birdā€™s eye view ā€œup thereā€, but they are not all-seeing and all-knowing. Most importantly of all, one must be aware that there is nothing to fear about a thing when you understand it. The only thing to fear is fear itself, and knowledge is the antidote to that fear. This is true of the ouija board as much as it it for anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/759 "2013-03-12T11:07:03Z")
James501 writes: \> Those who feel the ouija board should be put to the test, will find that the \> spirits on the other side have no need to prove themselves to anyone in that \> way, and like anyone else, take objction to such testing. Generally they wiill \> simply stop working unless they feel the testers are simply, honestly and \> unjudgmentally trying to verify that they work as in the case of the first poster. I use the same technique in my scientific experiments and publications. I, of course, know what the real outcome of those experiments should be. The ones that produce other results only occur because someone has failed to believe in them, so I ignore those particular runs of the experiments. This technique has allowed me to produce far stronger results in my experiments and more publications, whereas before realizing what I had to do my papers were rejected because the reviewers claimed that my experiments failed to prove my hypotheses. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2013, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528/760 "2013-03-12T11:44:20Z")
> [@James501](#): > > Like everything people donā€™t understand, there is a lot of fear associated with Ouija boards - until you have some practice working with them. > > Now donā€™t get me wrong, I donā€™t encourage the practice, but not for the reasons others give. Not because I fear it. I donā€™t encourage it because I feel it retards the progress of souls in the next world by asking them to focus their attenton back on this one. > > That said, contrary to whatever anyone wants to believe, there is nothing fake about the experiences of those who have used it. > > Those who feel the ouija board should be put to the test, will find that the spirits on the other side have no need to prove themselves to anyone in that way, and like anyone else, take objction to such testing. Generally they wiill simply stop working unless they feel the testers are simply, honestly and unjudgmentally trying to verify that they work as in the case of the first poster. > > People also need to know that the living who participate in ouija board sessions, themselves affect the outcome because their thoughts and feelings can be and typically are channeled through to affect the movement of the planchette, even if they are not actually touching it. > > The reason the first poster said that one personā€™s eyes had to remain open for one or more of the spirits to ā€œseeā€ is because the spirits still do need some of our physical powers and energy to interact with us. While they are not in bodies of their own, they need our own bodies to help them interpret this world. > > The next world is not free of evil. However most of the spirits that would seek to communicate with us are good. There may be the odd prankster or joker among them, just as you would find among the living. So by and large the negative readings shoud just be ignored as spurious, and they will eventually stop. > > The first poster on this thread did not sound like he was tricked or duped by someone else in the group. Iā€™ve used the board just on my own and had similar kinds of readings where accuracy was being put to the test. > > One thing that should be noted, however, is that because of the fact that those who take part interact with the board, those readings will be affected accordingly, and inaccuracies can and do creep in as a result, unless they keep their minds very blank and make sure they donā€™t occasionally ā€œleadā€ the movement of the planchette. Then again the spirits can just simply be wrong sometimes. Just like everyone else, they are not perfect. They may well have a birdā€™s eye view ā€œup thereā€, but they are not all-seeing and all-knowing. > > Most importantly of all, one must be aware that there is nothing to fear about a thing when you understand it. The only thing to fear is fear itself, and knowledge is the antidote to that fear. This is true of the ouija board as much as it it for anything else. Knowledge: It is a mass-produced toy made in factories. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528.md?page=37) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards-i-used-to-think-it-was-bull-until/486528.md?page=39)