# ouija boards

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 13, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477 "2000-03-13T05:01:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zornoph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a183cd/32.png) [@zornoph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zornoph)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/1 "2000-03-13T05:01:00Z")

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I once owned a Ouija board, and I would use it with friends for laughs. We would ask questions, and it would answer them. Unless I was being taken for a ride, neither me nor my friends moved the pointer intentionally. It seemed to just spell out the answers completely on its own. How does it work?

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/2 "2000-03-13T05:34:00Z")

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You may have experienced the _ideomotor_ effect.  
Let’s see if this works:  
[attp://skepdic.com/ideomotor.html](http://attp://skepdic.com/ideomotor.html)

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/3 "2000-03-13T05:35:00Z")

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Whoops! one more time with an “h”

[http://skepdic.com/ideomotor.html](http://skepdic.com/ideomotor.html)

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**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/4 "2000-03-13T06:25:00Z")

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A simple test would be to have the participants keep their eyes closed, except for a “reader” who is not touching the board, but just reading what the spirit world has to say. You’ll probably find it’s something along the lines of “jdgasdgmnbwjhyjg”

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**Author:** ![pennys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@pennys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennys)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/5 "2000-03-13T06:31:00Z")

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I had one of these too, but I should mention that nothing it wrote ever came true. After a while, my friends and I noted that it would usually write the answer that we were thinking of in our heads just beforehand. I suggest that it allows expression of the subconscious in some way.

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**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ouija-boards/8477/6 "2000-03-13T07:14:00Z")

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Uncle Cecil on ideomotor action:

(Water witching and ouija boards et al)

[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_168.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_168.html)