Is the Ouija Board a Real Tool for Communication?

[benzun_1999]

Is Ouija Board real?

 

[FZ+]

Well, I can tap on it, and it feels pretty real to me...

The whole thing relies on natural jerks of your limbs, coupled with a subconscious effect. You can't reproduce it if you jumble up the letters and close your eyes.

 

[Jonathan]

I have wondered that too. It seem to me that scientifically, no. And yet, my mom has many stories of how the spirits she communicated with using it made unbelievable predictions that came true. I don't think she'd want me sharing them though. Suffice it to say, it seems that it was always demons she talked to, and in addition to the few predictions being unbelievable, they were bizarre, irrelevant really, and completely impossible to fake, as near as I can tell.
Of course she could be leading me on, but she has told me about these experiences many times, and the stories never change and she is always very serious about it. The only thing to make me think that she's made it up is that it is possible, but there is nothing about the way she has acted to make me think she has, nor has she ever carried any other practicle joke for this long, in fact she hasn't done many.
Oh, BTW, our family does have a history of mental illness, but she nor anyone immediate to me have had any such problems.

 

[FZ+]

Nah. Its just a case of positive feedback, through a subconscious process. Reject the negatives, use the positives to reinforce your personal beliefs, which leads you to be even more subjective in interpreting the data and so on.

 

[Jonathan]

What are you talking about? If whenever you used a Ouiji board you ended up talking to demons, how many times do you think you'd do it before you quit forever? My guess is not many, so there are not many positives and negatives to be picking and choosing from. And let's not forget that though I don't want to tell you much, the predictions were just bizarre, not something you'd think up in a thousand years, and they came true. And yet, because of their bizarreness, they really had no bearing on real life and one would be tempted to ask the spirit why it would bother to predict something so stupid.
Also, I am insulted that you think my mother is so stupid as to selectivly believe things that support preheld veiws and then use it as proof. It occurs to me now that if she had had things her way, she would have made sure they didn't come true, because it was a validaition that, for ex, she really was talking to demon, which is really creepy. Who would selectivly remember events so as to scare the crap out of oneself? I have never heard of such an occurence being diagnosed by any psychologists, and I think it is because those who are sane don't do things like that.
Your obcessive cynicism drives me nuts!

 

[FZ+]

Wait, wait, I didn't mean any offense...
(a) The aura of mysticism definitely helps. You expect it to work, and so you do give some leverage to your beliefs. If you don't do it many times, then you have few negatives to weed out, but don't underestimate the power of the mind to play into vagueness.

(b) I absolutely do not mean to imply your mother is in any way stupid. I am hugely sorry if I gave that impression. I merely say that your mother is human.

Have you ever seen a horror movie? A good one, a subtle one... That is a demonstration of this principle. In such movies, the director plays on ambiguity to generate fears. The viewer may not want to use the horrible interpretation, but subconsciously is forced to. Since I enjoy a horror movie (now and then!), I am every bit as "stupid" as your mother is. This sort of effect goes even further. Google a bit for the controversy following the discovery that some methods of therapy for "repressed memory syndrome", may in fact implant false memories into the patient. This is particularly disturbing surrounding the incident of a loving father who was suggested into "remember" than he engaged in satanic rape and cannibalism rituals with his daughter.

 

[Phobos]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Also, I am insulted that you think my mother is so stupid as to selectivly believe things that support preheld veiws and then use it as proof.

As FZ+ noted, this is normal human nature. A person has to make an effort to try to see outside their own bias.

Have you watched her use the Ouija board? Does it look legitimate to you? Have her close her eyes and try it. Take notes. Run the statistics on the hits and misses. Any different than random chance?

 

[Jonathan]

I wasn't born yet, and I doubt I could get her near one now. So, I guess the consensus is no, not real, esp. given that I can't prove she's not had a good laugh about this behind my back, though I do really doubt it.

 

[benzun_1999]

ouja board are real.

I am sure that ouja boards are real and they work. I tell you the truth though i haven't used it i am sure it works and it is nothing but talking to devil.

your mom uses it, right. ask the board "who are you?"

the result is devil. I am telling this becayse someone else told this to me and i am sure that person is trust worthy.

to add up to this there are many cases of death where ouja board is involved.

-Benzun
all for God.

 

[Phobos]

Sites debunking the Ouija Board...

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mouija.html

http://skepdic.com/ouija.html

Note the references to "the ideomotor effect" and how people subconsciously spell the words out themselves, not any devil or demon.

As has been suggested, simply blindfolding the user can show that the Ouija board does not work.

 

[phoenixthoth]

they may be more related to dissociative and/or hypnotic states than external spirits.

 

[wasteofo2]

this was told to me by my friends mom:

When she was a kid, she got an ouija board. She got bored of it and threw it in the garbage one day. The day after she threw it away, it was back in her closet. She got scared and placed it in the garbage pale which is collected by the garbagemen and watched the bin be emptied into the truck, the next day the ouija board was back in her closet. She lit it on fire and watched it burn. The next day it was back in her closet, unburnt. Her parents always denied ahving anything to do with the ouija board reappearing.

So yeah, sounds fun...

 

[Jonathan]

benzun_1999: You obviously didn't read my last post...however, as the cynics have said, and am not surprised, I do know that she has before asked 'Where are you?' and obviously it said Hell. It occurs to me now that if the spirit/demon was really in Hell (and if it really exists), you'd think it'd be too preoccied by the torture/ing etc. to respond to messages asked froma Ouiji Board.
wasteofo2:(<hey, I just got that ) That's really weird, but I doubt it's validity, because of the lack of similar reports.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
That's really weird, but I doubt it's validity, because of the lack of similar reports.

You obviously haven't read Victor Cudross' studies on the molecular memory of state of being/state of surrounding found in certain rare species of oak found in south east vermont, which were highly used in production of Ouija boards in the 1970's, ignorant fool :P

 

[Jonathan]

You are joking with the ignorant fool part, aren't you? Is any of what you just said true? It doens' make sense to me that they'd allow a rare species of oak to be cut down to allow for the creation of a 'board game', and it doesn't make any sense to me that the 'properties' of this type of tree would cause a ouiji board to be indestructable and capable of self-relocation. Maybe her parents continually bought new ones to freak her out? That would be pretty funny...

 

[Bernardo]

The board is actually quite irrelevant, what's at stake here is the condition of your heart and the motives behind its use.

There are spirits, devils and so on, why take time out of your day to open your self up to them? Why make yourself vulnerable. No good spirit will ever be involved with this practice or any other, for the simple reason is that God wants you to trust Him, you know take a step of faith without all the facts. By using a board or any other occult like means you are really saying you don't trust Him. That's why devils love this kinda thing - its very seductive in its appearance of truth.

It acts like a cycle - at first it's a simple little thing that comes true then another then another and soon your hooked on the thing.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
You are joking with the ignorant fool part, aren't you? Is any of what you just said true? It doens' make sense to me that they'd allow a rare species of oak to be cut down to allow for the creation of a 'board game', and it doesn't make any sense to me that the 'properties' of this type of tree would cause a ouiji board to be indestructable and capable of self-relocation. Maybe her parents continually bought new ones to freak her out? That would be pretty funny...

The thing about that rare species of oak, is that it looks totally like your regular oak, and grows in the same forests. It also probabally doesn't make any sense to a bunch of botanists that some wacky physicists think that everything that happens has infinite possible outcomes and an infinite amount of parallel realities are created playing out each outcome...

 

[benzun_1999]

Originally posted by Bernardo
The board is actually quite irrelevant, what's at stake here is the condition of your heart and the motives behind its use.

There are spirits, devils and so on, why take time out of your day to open your self up to them? Why make yourself vulnerable. No good spirit will ever be involved with this practice or any other, for the simple reason is that God wants you to trust Him, you know take a step of faith without all the facts. By using a board or any other occult like means you are really saying you don't trust Him. That's why devils love this kinda thing - its very seductive in its appearance of truth.

It acts like a cycle - at first it's a simple little thing that comes true then another then another and soon your hooked on the thing.

i accept this.

At first it is very cool and harmless. as time passes, as you get hooked to it turns into a your leader, God and everything.

The problem begins when you realize it is wrong and get rid of it.
When You lack faith in God and are trying to get rid of it, it changes into a demon and trys to harm you going to the extend of killing you.

this is true.

-benzun
All For God.

 

[benzun_1999]

Originally posted by Jonathan
benzun_1999: You obviously didn't read my last post...however, as the cynics have said, and am not surprised, I do know that she has before asked 'Where are you?' and obviously it said Hell. It occurs to me now that if the spirit/demon was really in Hell (and if it really exists), you'd think it'd be too preoccied by the torture/ing etc. to respond to messages asked froma Ouiji Board.
wasteofo2:(<hey, I just got that ) That's really weird, but I doubt it's validity, because of the lack of similar reports.

I support wasteofo2. I do not doubt its validity because i have heard many similar things such as this.

The fact that many havn't heard such reports is because a very few survive such events. Many become insane because of Ouja board.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by benzun_1999
I support wasteofo2. I do not doubt its validity because i have heard many similar things such as this.

The fact that many havn't heard such reports is because a very few survive such events. Many become insane because of Ouja board.

None survive the wrath of a wooden plank!

And by the way, I was just recounting what my friends mom has said, not saying I nessicarily believe her.

 

[Bernardo]

Found this on the history of the board.

Remember the issue here isn't the piece of wood - it's just wood. You could make one out of lasagna noodles and alphabet soup.

It's the opening yourself up that's the danger not the wood. So much of this is just urban legend anyway - but all legends come from something (less dramatic but still signifigant).

At least you could just eat my board if it got weird.


my 1st attemt at hyperlink - hope it worked

http://www.prairieghosts.com/ouija.html

 

[Jonathan]

Yo've either got to put [ url]www.something.com[ /url] (without the spaces) or select "Automatically parse urls" in the options section below the body of your post before you finish posting. Here:
http://www.prairieghosts.com/ouija.html

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by benzun_1999
Is Ouija Board real?

No.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by Jonathan Oh, BTW, our family does have a history of mental illness, but she nor anyone immediate to me have had any such problems.

I'll bet the mental illness is a misdiagnosis and that your family actually has an undiagnosed history of complex partial seizures.

 

[Jonathan]

I hope you're joking, because I meant to write 'doesn't'. Dang it, did I write it that way, or did you quote it that way for a joke...ah cheese I bet I did...

 

[Jonathan]

I did! :P

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by wasteofo2
You obviously haven't read Victor Cudross' studies on the molecular memory of state of being/state of surrounding found in certain rare species of oak found in south east vermont, which were highly used in production of Ouija boards in the 1970's, ignorant fool :P

Actually, I'm quite familiar with this work and what he says about the oak would in no way account for the story you were told. What the wood of these oak trees always seek to do is to return to the forest whence they came. Therefore what must actually have happened is that the ouija board kept trying to escape the house via the garbage, and she had to retrieve it. Eventually the board must have tried to commit suicide by jumping into a fireplace. These things always get garbled in the retelling.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by Jonathan
I did! :P

And you meant to, but now you're thinking "Oh oh, too much information."

Doesn't matter because like I said, I'm pretty sure it's a misdiagnosis.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Actually, I'm quite familiar with this work and what he says about the oak would in no way account for the story you were told. What the wood of these oak trees always seek to do is to return to the forest whence they came. Therefore what must actually have happened is that the ouija board kept trying to escape the house via the garbage, and she had to retrieve it. Eventually the board must have tried to commit suicide by jumping into a fireplace. These things always get garbled in the retelling.

Nope, she kept putting it in the garbage can and she burnt it.
Only thing i can think of is that her closet was closer to the woods than teh garbage can was and that it led there some way through a hole in the floor or something.

 

[Jonathan]

First of all, you must post a link explaining why any wood would move of it's own accord to get back to the original forest, which sounds patently absurd.
Second of all, zoobyshoe, you can't know what I meant to say you are not in my head. And no, not a Freudian slip, Freud was nuts himself, all his theories are nonsense.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by wasteofo2
Nope, she kept putting it in the garbage can and she burnt it.
Only thing i can think of is that her closet was closer to the woods than teh garbage can was and that it led there some way through a hole in the floor or something.

You may want to come join us folks in reality...wood doesn't do that.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by wasteofo2
Nope, she kept putting it in the garbage can and she burnt it.
Only thing i can think of is that her closet was closer to the woods than teh garbage can was and that it led there some way through a hole in the floor or something.

You're completely ignoring Cudross, chapter 7, where he reports no fewer than 4 ouija boards attempting to commit suicide by jumping into firplaces when they couldn't get back to Vermont for one reason or another. I'm sure this woman told you what she believed to be the truth, but it is at odds with what Cudross says about this interesting species of oak, and who knows it better than him?

 

[Jonathan]

Well, I'd say that even Zero knows better than him. Wood doesn't move by itself. I can't believe I even have to say it.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by Jonathan
First of all, you must post a link explaining why any wood would move of it's own accord to get back to the original forest, which sounds patently absurd.

This isn't any old wood. This is ouija board wood. Demons speak through it. You think it's a stretch from there for it to be hopping trains back to Vermont?

Second of all, zoobyshoe, you can't know what I meant to say you are not in my head.

A ouija board told me what you meant.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Johnathan, I hope you realize we're just yanking your chain.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Well, I'd say that even Zero knows better than him. Wood doesn't move by itself. I can't believe I even have to say it.

Look, I'll try to explain it, it's really not that complex.

This species of oak has an unusual process of absobtion of minerals through it's roots which isn't as discriminate as other tree's processes of absorbtion of minerals. There is a large supply of iron ore in the groudn where this species of oak grows. Due to this, and the fact that the trees are usually left undisturbed for hundreds of years, they trees develop a very specific magnetic orientation in relation to the magnetic north pole. Imagine a kind of longitude line coming from the magnetic north pole, that is what develops in these trees. They have a very strong bond with this specific "magnetic longitude line" for lack of a better term. When they are cut down, the weight of the whole tree is far too much for the magnetic iron in it to do anything along the lines of moving it, but once it's cut up into smaller pieces, it can get to a light enough weight where it can actually move back to it's original "magnetic longitude line"

Understand now, mister skeptic?

 

[Jonathan]

zoobyshoe: Do you me 'we' as in both of you? then why is he still going on with it?
wasteofo2: Yes, and it is complete BS. BTW I just got a PM and if it is you trying to talk to me, I don't know yet what you've said, I'm going to finish this post first.
If we make the assumption that the magnetized mineral in the wood is perfectly evenly distributed, then it doesn't matter what size the wood is, if it won't move it at a certain size, it won't move at any size. If it is disproportionatly distributed, then I'll allow the possibility that certain parts, when small enough, could very slowly move themselves, just for the sake of arguement. I mean slowly like 1cm/month, if that, which is so slow that the phenomenon wouldn't be noticed and we wouldn't be talking about it. Regardless, as per the working of magnetism, it will not be drawn to a particular longitude (not to mention that it won't be drawn to any particular latitude, even by your convoluted explanation, so it could end up anywhere in line with the forest and the nearest pole), it will be drawn to rotate to line up with the poles of the earth, and then it will be drawn to which ever pole is closer. But these forces are so incredibly weak that they wouldn't noticably effect a piece of magnetized dust as it floats about. (It would rotate it to stay lined up, but it wouldn't move any an direction more than any other.)
I can't believe anyone belives this!

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
zoobyshoe: Do you me 'we' as in both of you? then why is he still going on with it?
wasteofo2: Yes, and it is complete BS. BTW I just got a PM and if it is you trying to talk to me, I don't know yet what you've said, I'm going to finish this post first.
If we make the assumption that the magnetized mineral in the wood is perfectly evenly distributed, then it doesn't matter what size the wood is, if it won't move it at a certain size, it won't move at any size. If it is disproportionatly distributed, then I'll allow the possibility that certain parts, when small enough, could very slowly move themselves, just for the sake of arguement. I mean slowly like 1cm/month, if that, which is so slow that the phenomenon wouldn't be noticed and we wouldn't be talking about it. Regardless, as per the working of magnetism, it will not be drawn to a particular longitude (not to mention that it won't be drawn to any particular latitude, even by your convoluted explanation, so it could end up anywhere in line with the forest and the nearest pole), it will be drawn to rotate to line up with the poles of the earth, and then it will be drawn to which ever pole is closer. But these forces are so incredibly weak that they wouldn't noticably effect a piece of magnetized dust as it floats about. (It would rotate it to stay lined up, but it wouldn't move any an direction more than any other.)
I can't believe anyone belives this!

HAHAHAHAHA

Oh man, you really allowed yourself to be taken farther with this than you should have. Of course it was all BS and I was making it up as I went along, but the fact that you actually came up with an intelligent rebuttal to my "wood can move and repair itself after being burnt due to magnetism" argument shows you need to chill out a bit. Tommorow afternoon: get a box of cookies, a tall glass of milk, smoke a joint and watch spinal tap or something.

 

[benzun_1999]

wierd!

This ouja board is becoming more wierd. First and fore most is there anyone who really has used this ouja board here?

I don't accept with anyone who tells that ouja board isnot real because many have used it.

Wheter ouja board is real or not it is dangerous and i dare not use it.

The true lord my God has warned not to use it at any coast.

Wasteofo2 don't tell us your own theories.

Tell me weather this board thing is true. All that matters is that it works that is why it was more sold than monopoly in the 1970's

Benzun
All for God

 

[Jonathan]

How did you get zoobyshoe in on it?
Now, I'm sorry for being seemingly stupid, but Zero fell for it too(though that doesn't say much ), and I have to deal with people like Zero, who say the most bizarre off-the-wall things with a straight face, all the time. I'm actually looser than you'd think, I guess I need to be more liberal with those smilies, huh Zero?



No, I don't think it works, and you shouldn't buy one, ever.

 

[zoobyshoe]

He didn't do anything to get me into it. When I read the cr8p about the book and special oak trees for ouija boards I knew he was yanking your chain, so I just played along. I was kinda surprised Zero thought we believed what we were saying, too.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by benzun_1999
This ouja board is becoming more wierd. First and fore most is there anyone who really has used this ouja board here?

I don't accept with anyone who tells that ouja board isnot real because many have used it.

Wheter ouja board is real or not it is dangerous and i dare not use it.

The true lord my God has warned not to use it at any coast.

Wasteofo2 don't tell us your own theories.

Tell me weather this board thing is true. All that matters is that it works that is why it was more sold than monopoly in the 1970's

Benzun
All for God

As far as I know, neither testament has mention of an ouija board...

I've used it with some friends, nothing happened, it just stayed static until I decided to spell out "Elephant tusk" and see who the first one to realize it was me would be.

And Benzun, first of all, it was a joke. Second of all, I'm allowed to come up with and display theories here if I want to, "this isn't stalingrad".

 

[Jonathan]

wasteofo2, you know what he means: the Bible warns against soothsayers, false prophets, etc.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Benzun lives in Oman. He is almost assuredly a Muslim. He would not be referring to anything in the old or new testament.

 

[Jonathan]

Oh, sorry, that didn't occur to me, I was going by wasteofo2's post's mentioning of testaments. However, I bet the Quran also warns against soothsayers, etc., esp. given benzun_1999's opinions.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Benzun lives in Oman. He is almost assuredly a Muslim. He would not be referring to anything in the old or new testament.

Ahh...
In that case, I know exactly what part of the koran warns against ouija boards...

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
wasteofo2, you know what he means: the Bible warns against soothsayers, false prophets, etc.

Ok, but come on, if an apostle came up to jesus with a wooden board with some letters painted on and a triangle with glass in the middle screaming that it spoke to him, do you think jesus would have done anything other than laughed and told him to calm down and have a glass of his blood?

 

[Jonathan]

That is one of the most bizarre comments, I don't even know what to think of it. But if we take the position that ouiji board phenomena are all in the head of the player, then Jesus would've known this and said so, but it was my understanding that he never laughed. Then again, if the ouiji board really is a method of communicating with spirits, and they are almost certaintly going to be demonic, then I think Jesus would have warned against them very seriously.

 

[wasteofo2]

Originally posted by Jonathan
That is one of the most bizarre comments, I don't even know what to think of it. But if we take the position that ouiji board phenomena are all in the head of the player, then Jesus would've known this and said so, but it was my understanding that he never laughed. Then again, if the ouiji board really is a method of communicating with spirits, and they are almost certaintly going to be demonic, then I think Jesus would have warned against them very seriously.

Look dude, it's a wooden board with letters painted on it, nothing more, just a wooden board with letters. If demons want to communicate with you and they can only do so through this little piece of wood then they're pathetic demons to begin with and shouldn't be feared in any way.

 

[Jonathan]

Any demon should be feared. And how do you know that there are not many other ways to communicate available to all demons, and that they often choose this one because it seems so innocent and stupid? They're tricky you know...you can't be too cautious.