does anyone have a clue as to what makes these things work?
i have seen some pretty strange things occur which pretty well rule out the user’s subconscious.
omg the spirits took my shift key1111111
Ouija boards are toys. Nothing more, nothing less. They ‘work’ only because one or more people are shoving the little thingee around. I mean, even if you believe in ‘spirits’ and pink unicorns, do you really think that Mattel or Hasbro are mass-producing a portal to spiritworld?
Fun party game, but don’t take it seriously.
From the Straight Dope Mailbag: How does a Ouija board work?
My god, I actually agree with Brutus.
That’s right, they don’t work. The planchette moves by subtle subconscious (or conscious) manipulations by the user. Try using one with a blindfold once. All of a sudden the spirits start cranking out gibberish. That’s because there aren’t any spirits. The users just can’t see what they’re doing any more.
Perhaps this belongs in GQ?
Such as?
Btw, I strongly recommend against playing with all occult junk like this. The ouija board itself has no power, but when you invite unseen powers to present themselves you might be very unhappy with the results. Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.
Fortunately, GOM, there aren’t any “unseen powers.” The “occult” is a pretty meaningless word, but Ouija boards, seances, demon summoning, etc. all are completely harmless because none of that stuff is real, dude.
Im suprised to be saying this, but yeah Oiuja boards dont work, but who are you to tell anything that things of the occoult are fake, thats kind of like saying for sure that there will be no afterlife, unless your dead you dont know , dude.
Sure, Ouija boards work. They work by using the ideomotor effect to get the people playing with them to pick their own answers. There are no spirits or spectres involved - but it WORKS exactly the way it was originally designed to. It’s a parlor game invented to do exactly what it does.
And it’s pretty darned effective, seeing how popular it is.
cellardoorr - I’m listening. Prove to me that “things of the occult” are not fake, and I’ll take your arguments into consideration.
I oddly find myself agreeing with this. Our perception is colored by our worldview and the metaphors we choose. Start viewing the world with occult tinted glasses and occult things will happen.
And those are the unseen powers.
But then I shy away from religion for the same reason 
The same way I can say that Invisible Purple Unicorns don’t exist. If someone else wants to assert that ghosts and demons exist, it’s up to them to prove it, not to me to disprove it. They are prima facia impossible. They are, presumably, non-material manifestations of some other intelligence. Intelligence can’t exist in a non-material state, ergo ghosts and demons don’t exist.
I will assume that the impossible is impossible until it is proved otherwise. As of now, there has never, in all of human history, been a shred of verifiable evidence that anything supernatural exists.
My last post was aimed at cellardoor.
Welcome bullets.
The evidence should be presented and judged on a case by case basis. I’m willing to bet against “unseen forces” in the sense of supernatural entities having anything to do with it.
Gom,
You are an unseen force.
D the C, how DARE you say my imaginary friend, Sparkle-lilac, the invisible purple unicorn, doesn’t exist!
I know a woman who claims the ouija board correctly predicted the name of her future husband. Before they met. Then again, if she hadn’t listened to the ouija board, she might not be divorced.
Not that I necessarily disagree with the conclusion you reach, but please at least acknowledge that to a sufficiently objective standard, your statements regarding the non-existence of ‘non-material intelligence’ are just as untenable as anyone else’s claims that they do exist…unless of course you are also Diogenes the Omniscient…in which case…nevermind.
What’s “untenable” about my statements? Intelligence is a product of mass and energy. Without mass and energy intelligence can’t exist. It’s simple physics. I see no reason to posit metaphysical paradigms which are unfalsifiable, unverified and wildly divergent. Just because someone can imagine that ghosts exist does mean that the existence of ghosts deserve any serious consideration.
I mean, seriously, are we restrained by logic from proclaiming that goblins don’t exist? Or fairies? Or the IPU? What is the standard by which supernatural entities can no longer be dismissed out of hand. What is the difference between the probability of the existence of demons and the existence of pixies?
A Theosopher once expained it to me this way: there is a set of non-physical beings commonly known as elementals. They are not intelligent beings, as such, more like viruses. They crave attention and energy (as do we all) and the Ouija draws them like bait. Talking to one is much like talking to a computer thats trying to pass the Turing test. They seek to keep your attention by picking up on clues and cues, much like the common, garden variety psychic charlatan. They don’t know anything you don’t know, they don’t have the capacity for such, they are simply trying to keep you talking. Most certainly, they are not dead people communicating with the living. Trivial, but harmless.
There are rare, higher order versions of same which are positively malicious. They are much more perceptive and delight in delivering frightful and threatening “messages”. Hell’s telemarketers. Hang up. Better still, rip out the phone.
Disclaimer: you correspondent avers that he will not defend from the sneers of persons who are intent on preening thier worldly skepticism. Believe what you will.
While an interesting explanation, it renders the elementals indistinguishable from common, garden variety, psychic charlatans or even less skilled individuals who’re working the ouija with you.