Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask what is so scary about ouija boards?

100 replies

OTheHugeManatee · 23/06/2011 10:38

Inspired by the 'paranormal experiences' thread.

I've never done a ouija board. But it's been mentioned several times on the 'paranormal' thread as dangerous, scary, and something you should never, ever do. But always in hushed tones, and without much detail of what actually happened to make people think they're so dodgy.

Can anyone who's used a ouija board and then vowed never to do it again please explain to me what's so creepy or dangerous about it, and what happened to make you think that?

OP posts:
IDrinkFromTheirSkulls · 23/06/2011 18:54

Marks place so I can read when not alone in the house....

Ripeberry · 23/06/2011 18:58

I've never done the board, but I'm thinking of and in the process of joining a local 'ghost hunting' team and one of their questions is about ouija boards.
I'm going as a half sceptic and half believer Grin

Should be fun if anything.

BeerTricksPotter · 23/06/2011 19:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Purplebuns · 23/06/2011 19:09

My only experience of a Ouija, was my step sister had a friends board and put it near her bookshelf, as soon as she put it down, books fell off the shelf and the voile on her window fell down. I didn't see it happen she just ran and found me terrified, I don't see how she could feign the emotion or why books would suddenly fall off the shelf for the first time? Hmm

PrettyCandles · 23/06/2011 19:15

In my teens I went to a Haloween party, where I knew we were going to try a Ouija board. A spiritualist friend of my parents persuaded me not to participate in the seance. So I sat out and watched. Which was possibly quite lucky, because one of the jack-o-lanterns caught fire, and none of the others noticed. It was just in front of a floor-length curtain, so I chucked my (non-alcoholic) drink over the pumpkin, grabbed it - still flaming - dumped it in the basin and turned the taps on. The others were furious with me for spoiling the mood, until they saw the scorch marks on the curtain, whereupon half of them went into hysterics "OMG the spirits did it!"

BupcakesandCunting · 23/06/2011 19:44

I am pretty level-headed. Don't believe in the paranormal etc. I was part of a group that did a ouija board in a derelict house. Never been so frightened in my entire life. No way could any of the stuff that happened that night have been faked.

Pumpernickel10 · 23/06/2011 19:51

It's utter clap trap in my opinion.

ruddynorah · 23/06/2011 19:53

me too bupcakes.

TheBolter · 23/06/2011 19:54

I did one once when I was about 15 with my friend. We were told that the spirit visiting us was buried in the graveyard down the road, the date, and his name.

It completely freaked us out to find his grave, somewhere near the back of the graveyard, with name and dates correct. My friend didn't live anywhere near me and i had certainly never noticed his grave before. Freaky or what?!

TheBolter · 23/06/2011 19:55

I meant to say - the dates he was born and died!

DirtyMartini · 23/06/2011 20:04

Never tried one, always assumed they were nonsense. But that is quite intriguing, Bolter.

Bupcakes: g'wan then, spill!

WhipMeIndiana · 23/06/2011 20:23

there's a local urban legend round these parts about kids who did a ouija board...and an apple slowly rolloed downstairs and across the lounge floor up to their table...presumably that was signifying the devil was there or something.

onagar · 23/06/2011 20:24

A good question would be "why would spirits wait around for you to use an ouija board when they could presumably come and knock things off the shelves now?"

Are there perhaps signs in 'heaven' saying "no interfering with living people unless they have their finger on a glass"

WhipMeIndiana · 23/06/2011 20:24

shit- it didnt rollo it rolled

WhipMeIndiana · 23/06/2011 20:24

we did one, someone def. pushed the glass.

Riveninside · 23/06/2011 20:31

When i pop my clogs im going to hang round ouija boards pretending to be Cleopatra

largewhitewine · 23/06/2011 20:33

Ive tried one recently with some friends who'd moved into. Flat in a converted church. They had experienced some really really odd and frightening things in the flat.

We started doing the board and straigt away got some very perceptive responses.

I was highly sceptical until my equally sceptical dp asked the 'spirit' to add up the number of cigarettes in the pack in his pocket, the number of satsumas in the fruit bowl and the number of spare toilet rolls in the bathroom.

The number was spot on, I shit you not. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

BeerTricksPotter · 23/06/2011 20:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Riveninside · 23/06/2011 20:42

You reckon the spirits get bored with stupid questions?

Empusa · 23/06/2011 20:43

Nah, sod hauinting a ouija board. I'm haunting boggle

BeerTricksPotter · 23/06/2011 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TigerseyeMum · 23/06/2011 22:23

I used to do a trick with patients whereby I could get them to spin a pendulum 'without moving their hands at all'. Most were amazed to see the pendulum spinning, then when I give the command for it to change direction, it stops and spins the other way instead.

Spooky stuff. Their faces were priceless Grin

It is in fact a way of demonstrating the unconscious power of the mind. What we think and believe has an effect on the external world. This is exactly what happens with a ouija board.

And yes it was orginally a hasbro board game.

KeepErLit · 23/06/2011 22:35

I used to do the Ouija Board with my mates all the time...even in the toilets at school. Someone was always pushing the glass (or sharperner...you work with what you have in a school toilet block) but then one time...

We were in my bedroom and messing about with the Ouija Board. I had stopped participating as I'd gone for snacks and drinks but my friends continued. When I came back in the room, my friends were in 'conversation' with a spirit. The spirit spelled out his name....James. Then the next thing he spelled was 'can't breathe'. I had a cousin called James who died during a severe asthma attack 7 years previously. My friends didn't know me when James died and I'd never spoken about him to them.

I'm still a sceptic, though.

NoWayNoHow · 23/06/2011 22:43

Haven't read thread, but you asked about experiences with ouija boards, and I have one.

Myself and a few others were in our classroom at lunch, and we created a "homemade" board with squares of paper with letters on and a glass for moving around.

We all asked some silly questions for a laugh, and nothing really happened except the glass sort of wobbled a little - I wasn't convinced!

Then one of the girls asked something about a family member (can't remember the exact question) and the glass moved to "NO". She asked another time times, and it moved to "NO" again, but more violently. She asked a third time and we all watched as the glass literally shattered. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but it scared the living crap out of me and I've not touched a ouija board since.

HipHopOpotomus · 23/06/2011 22:53

I had a go when a teenager. The glass moved all over the place with some force. Nothing that made sense was spelled out, but something was moving the glass. Not possible for any of the participants to move it like that. Nothing bad happened but it was freaky. I was sceptical - really hadn't expected that anything would actually move. Someone flipped the glass over and we decided not to proceed further.