Ouija – “It’s just a game, isn’t it?”

The Ouija (Ouiji) board comes from more modern spiritual circles. Though there are many tales of its origin, none have been proven, other than the fact that they were designed and produced during the early 1900s. The rights currently belong to the game giant Parker Brothers.

The name ‘Ouija’ is just as much of a curiousity, though the board is known as a planchette, meaning ‘little plank’ in French. More than likely the board’s history has mostly modern roots, though many mediums for contacting the spirit world have been used throughout history.

Is Ouija child’s play? That’s a good question… You’ll find many tales about the use of the board. I have my own, which I will get to in a minute. Think of it this way: if spiritual mediums are real, then do they really use tools to contact the netherworld, or are they the tool? Now how do we determine who has that capability, if it is indeed real?

Studies indicate that children entering their adolescent stage tend to exhibit unusual behaviour – like we haven’t noticed, right? Okay, really. For instance many cases of what would be know as poltergeist activity take place in the home of a child that is of adolescent age. Why? Is it because their minds, like their bodies, are in an extreme state of change? Is it possible that, without their knowledge, they are capable of manipulating things around them, or interacting with unseen forces?

By the time we grow to be adults the majority of us have ‘learned’ that the supernatural is a figment of our imagination. That is we have taught ourselves, or have been taught, that things like ghosts don’t exist. Modern religion tells us that anything of the sort are angels or demons.

Though I will not share my beliefs, for that is up to you to determine your own, I will share my experiences. One of those resides with the well-known Ouija board that I owned as a child, and that I still possess to this day, though it is put away, never to be used again. When I was about the age of twelve or thirteen my brother, cousin, friend and myself were sitting aroung my grandmother’s kitchen table, lit by a small night light that was on the stove. We were using the board, but nothing interesting took place, at least nothing memorable. it was around midnight. We finally gave it up and walked away from it. Not more than ten minutes later a cassette player, which had been turned off and was in the other room, began to play (and quite loudly at that time of the morning). We have never been able to explain why the cassette deck started playing, as it had an old manual push button, not a soft electronic button.

For several years following strange things took place, and then finally stopped. Were they related to the Ouija? Did we make contact with someone or something? I have my own beliefs, but as I said – my Ouija board has not been used since.

Theory has it that once such a board has been used, it has an owner. It cannot be burned or thrown away. It can be sold or given away to a new owner. What I brought upon myself I will never bring upon anyone else.

It’s just a game, isn’t it?

Museum of Talking Boards
Skepdic’s Veiw On Ouija
How to Use the Ouija
Ouija Pros and Cons