to think any sort of Séance is a load of bollocks

[complexnumber]

Has anyone actually been to a séance where cups have moved of their own accord and spelt a dead aunts name, or windows have blown open and all the lights gone out?

Just asking.

I think that Séance are evil in that they are dabbling with people's pyschology and mental health. Whether there are evil spirts invovled or not I don't know. I do believe in the existance of pure evil though. All you have to do is turn on the TV and watch the news if you don't believe me.

There is strong evidence that people can experience negative effects from ouji boards that could convince most scientists. I think it screws up people's mental health, but it is other humans who have messed with each other rather than evil spirts.

Certainly from a mental health point of view a Ouji board is not safe.

Certainly from a mental health point of view a Ouji board is not safe.

I think it depends how people approach them, - as a bit of spooky fun but not actually 'real' I can't see that it would do much harm.

But actually believing that spirits are in your body, moving your finger, AND have special knowledge of future events, then taking the 'advice' given seriously, and really, really freaking yourself out, - I can see that that would be bad for your MH.

On the extreme end, people waste hundreds of pounds visiting 'psychics', calling phonelines, attending rallies and giving strangers huge amounts of power over their lives. That IS very damaging.

" All you have to do is turn on the TV and watch the news if you don't believe me."

Really?

Seeker, don't you think some of the awful things in the world absolutely beggers belief. Ie. Watching young children starving to death in some part of Africa or the fact that some people are born with hideous disablities or animals suffer in horrible ways in wild life films.

How would you describe such events? I would describe the cruel side of life as the existance of evil. Surely even the most ardent of athetists believe that life can be very nasty at times.

Personally I think the dead are dead and don't interfere with the living world.

Psychics are at best deluded and at worse frauds. I do not believe that evil spirits do anything or exist in this world. I do believe people get conned and their imaginations get carried away. Letting your imagination get the better of you can even happen when Séance starts off as a bit of fun.

How would you describe such events? I would describe the cruel side of life as the existance of evil. Surely even the most ardent of athetists believe that life can be very nasty at times.

I think it depends on how you define 'evil' - most definitions include the idea of some form of agency or decision to commit a moral wrong, and therefore only something with a personality (for want of a better word) can be evil.

So, an earthquake which kills people is not 'evil', - there is no agency behind the earthquake which has elected to do something bad. Ditto animals (not possible for them to be evil) diseases, acts of nature, - none of these are evil. The world is certainly full of suffering, casual cruelty, unfairness and distress, - but only people can be evil.

The affects of an earthquake are certainly cause suffering. I think there is a difference in the definition of the word "evil". There is a degree of randomness or probablity whether someone is killed in an earthquake.

I think the affects of earthquakes, disease, etc are evil. I also agree with you that there is no agency that has done moral wrong. There is certainly unexplained suffering and how you choose to describe this is up to you.

Any back to the Ouji boards. I think its easy for people to be fooled by other people or put significants on totally random minor events. When trickery leads to people having damaged mental health then it is seriously wrong.

I believe that when we die we become spirits, but I am a bit skeptical about seances and such. It's interesting reading everyone's opinions. We're all entitled to one after all.

The scenario was as follows;

5 people in caravan (were on rainy holiday), me, two other kids and 2 totally blind mothers (Both have guide dogs and zero vision). Other kids were younger than me.

Kids wrote out letters a-z, mixed them up and placed them in a circle. Glass was placed on table, mothers hands were guided on to glass, then left there. We asked a joking question "Is there anybody there?"(were not taking it at all seriously)Glass moved to spell exact letters CANCER in order.

We freaked, threw the letters away and the rest was as described.

No magnets, no memorising of letters (impossible, as were mixed up and the mums COULD NOT SEE THEM) nothing.

Incidentally I am not a believer in Woo, any trace on my past posts will confirm. But this happened. Also am no liar, why would I lie about something so horrific?

Katie, to clarify, I never thought you were lying. Or that your Mum would have played a trick like that on you.

Well I did wonder about that seeker (I'm not stupid!) but quite how she could have done it is a total mystery to me. This was someone who was a member of the spiritualist church - not some end of the pier 'cross my palm with silver' type.