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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand ouija boards?

153 replies

FairyPig · 07/08/2014 10:30

So I've been reading on here (and other places) how these things aren't to be messed with, they're dangerous, they bring unwanted things into the house, how they're scary, etc.

I'm not wanting to dispute people's experiences but I honestly don't get it. It's a board with letters on and a glass in the middle. How does a board with numbers on and a glass enable ghosts and evil spirits to get through? How does a board enable a portal to be open to all sorts of evil spirits? What make an ouija board different to any other board to make them 'dangerous', 'scary' and 'not to be messed with'?

Speaking of ghosts and demons, why would they even need a portal to get through, can't they get through themselves?

Again not trying to dismiss anyone's experiences but I am seriously baffled how a board with numbers on and a glass can be magical and be able to do these things.

I've also recently learned that Toy's R Us in the US sell them, not sure if they sell them in UK branches, but that did make me go considering how many adults take them seriously and seem scared of them.

That aside, even though logically it seems silly to me I would still never use one. You know, just in case...

OP posts:

SirChenjin · 07/08/2014 19:14

There's loads on Darren Brown and how he does it online - I've seen stuff of his on TV and he does amazing things, but this spiritualist was completely different. He didn't start off with vaguer statements and work to the specifics - it was just a stream of words, and he didn't stop to check for validation, or ask any questions. It was also very specific, as opposed to the "you are a sensitive person and I see travel this year" type BS.

If he used the same techniques as DB then he is the one who should be on the TV, because he was far, far better than DB!

noblegiraffe · 07/08/2014 19:22

SirChenjin then if he is that good, why isn't he on TV earning a fortune or whatever?

He got the information either from your friend, using cold reading, or otherwise, or from elsewhere. Not from the dead.

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 07/08/2014 19:25

Sorry to go back, on the 'intelligent parapsychologist' debate, it didnt say anywhere that she believed in that post (she may well do, but its not in the post!). A lot of parapsychologists study it to find the scientific reasonings for whatever, not to look for 'real' ghosts.

I've done a ouija board so many times i cant count. Nothing happened.

Hakluyt · 07/08/2014 19:26

Noble giraffe- for the same reason nobody's claimed the JRF dollars- because they don't take money for their gifts.........

Or because their gifts are so very special they are not suitable for double blind trials.

Hakluyt · 07/08/2014 19:27

Beyond- she said that ouija boards were dangerous.......

Flowerfae · 07/08/2014 19:28

its just psychological most people who do a ouija board want the glass to move so it will, even though it doesn't seem like they are pushing it they are. Spirits do not need a portal but sometimes there can be activity after someone has used a ouija board but i'm not convinced its the board, it could be that it is a spirit who has been given permission etc but it could just as likely be because the people doing the ouija board are wanting it to happen. Human's only use a certain percentage of their brain, maybe we can make things happen if we want it enough, I don't know though just an idea :)

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 07/08/2014 19:29

But they are dangerous, because they mess with suggestible peoples heads though, not because the antichrist has decided to talk only to becky and her friends

Flowerfae · 07/08/2014 19:31

I've heard about Toys R Us selling them and don't agree with it, not because I think some kids head is going to spin 360 degree's and start spewing ectoplasm :) but because I think it could cause some psychological damage if taken too seriously by some people, especially some younger people. Its not appropriate to be a toy.

carlywurly · 07/08/2014 19:37

I was highly sceptical but did it last year with a couple of woo friends and the glass genuinely seemed to hover and dart around the board. It was really bizarre. You couldn't have pushed it the way it was moving.

OneEggIsAnOeuf · 07/08/2014 19:38

I believe that the Colin Frys of this world do not speak with the dead. the spirits show them things.

Many mediums including Colin Fry claim to be clairaudient, in which case they should be able to hear spirits as well as see them. Colin Fry was exposed as a fake quite some time ago - during a seance when he was supposed to be tied to a chair, the lights were inadvertently switched on and he was found on the other side of the room, holding up a trumpet that was supposedly levitating by itself.

BiscuitsAreMyDownfall · 07/08/2014 19:43

I read The Exorcist when I was a teenager. Put me off for life. Yes I know its a story, but what if.......

Dont believe, but dont disbelieve either. I want to believe in that sort of thing, but I can totally understand the whole science way of thinking ie its a load of BS.

MollyHooper · 07/08/2014 19:47

Of course you get audience members who go away remembering the incredible 'hits' and forgetting the inexplicable numerous misses, or ascribing their own meaning to vague statements or even who just go along with what the psychic says because they are too embarrassed to call them out in public. I bet Facebook and the internet has made a psychic's job a lot easier too.

I absolutely agree with you here 100%. I've even witnessed psychics being quite pushy with audience members when they are not going along with things. As in 'No? Are you sure there is no George? Well there is a George here. You may not remember now but it will come to you when you later, this is relevant to you'.

It's like oh yes, that person will go home and be like 'Fuck me! George, of course my dad! I forgot he was called that'

Also, I know for a fact that the horrible psychic who is now making money out of my family member got his information through social media.

SirChenjin · 07/08/2014 19:48

I have no idea why he's not on TV noble - or maybe he is now, it was about 15 years ago. He obviously got the information from somewhere - but whether that was cold reading, or from my colleague (I'm going to discount that, he was genuinely very shocked and upset), or from another source I'm not going to speculate - I'm far too intelligent for that

SirChenjin · 07/08/2014 19:52

But just before I'm accused of believing in mumbo jumbo generally, one of my friend's mother's is currently being fleeced by a medium who has persuaded her that her dead son's dog is channelling him, and she whiles away expensive evenings talking to her dearly departed son. Don't know about you, but that seems a bit odd to me...

SeaTurtleVomit · 07/08/2014 19:57

Every time I've used a Ouija board it's freaked people out.

I'm the one controlling the messages. Thought it was funny to tell a friend he was going to die. He's still alive. This was a party though, and you know how kids like to gossip. So I knew a bunch of random shit, and made the Ouija board hint at personal stuff to give creepy stuff more credit. Everyone was good and freaked. A few friends took notes because they were convinced spirits were in the house. Another friend must have been in on it, because I got off and it was still saying stuff.

Or were they?

My bf at the time was upset when I fessed up two years later because he believes in woo stuff and took the messages seriously. I had to. The date of friend's death prediction was coming up, and he (bf, not friend) was actually worrying about it.

Anyway they're fun. But they're only "dangerous" if you let them get in your head space. Not because there's actual demons coming through a silly game board.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 07/08/2014 20:15

Does cold reading work on the same way as intuition then? Or is it along the lines of noticing something like a wedding ring and asking leading questions to find out probable family issues?
It's fascinating.
Anyway, no I wouldn't use a spirit board. I am fairly woo (Pagan so it comes with the territory) but have no belief in clairvoyants or party tricks to speak to the dead, however like other PP's I do believe they can be dangerous if used by the wrong people.
An old colleague of mine unexpectedly died about a month after using one despite being as non woo as you can get. Everybody else was totally freaked out but completely missed the fact that he was a walking heart attack due to diet, smoking and drinking anyway.

MollyHooper · 07/08/2014 20:16

You know that makes you an Ouija troll, don't you Sea?

So mean. :o

Sallystyle · 07/08/2014 20:18

Well, apparently, the good mediums I have seen said they don't want to make money from it. None of the good ones I have been to charged a penny and they thought it was disgusting to take money.

I have seen cold readers, plenty of them in fact and I know the difference.

I am not claiming there is such a thing as spirits but I believe the people I saw believed there was. I don't know, but the old lady who was 80 didn't seem like she had it in her to purposefully fleece anyone when she paid her own travel expenses and didn't earn a penny. Who was she fleecing? she got nothing at all from it financially and that is the norm for the most part in spiritualist churches.

I am not going to rule out any explanation, except that they were told things about me, because that is simply not true. I just don't think we can know either way, while there certainly are crappy ones who pray on the vulnerable for money there are also many mediums who don't.

I did pay to see a medium once at a fete. Only cheap but he was meant to be great. You know what he told me? to buy sexy knickers and have more sex! I kid you not! my mum went to him after, but before I had a chance to tell her not to, and he told her the same thing.

So there are mediums who aren't out to fleece people and perhaps it is just a magic trick which they believe is real, because I can't see why they would go to great lengths for no financial gain.

I left spiritualism because I could no longer agree with their views on life and my logical side of my brain kept questioning things which had no answers.

I lean on the side that there is a logical explanation for it, but I disagree that all of them are cold readers and out to fleece people.

MollyHooper · 07/08/2014 20:20

Some info on it here Idontseeanyicegiants.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 07/08/2014 20:20

Thanks Molly.

BiscuitsAreMyDownfall · 07/08/2014 20:32

U2 Ive also heard that the 'real' psychics and mediums dont charge, but how do you find them then? I went through a stage of seeing psychics and going to psychic fairs (for a fee). I only ever saw it as a bit of fun and just to see what was said. I never heard about any that were free.

Idontseeanyicegiants · 07/08/2014 20:34

Bloody hell. That was actually quite shocking, the lengths people will go to in order to convince possibly vulnerable people that they can help them!
I've only ever seen one 'psychic' if Derek Acorah counts, he was actually quite funny up to the point where he brought a suicide into his show , the people were obvious plants though and I saw a clip of him at another venue not long after 'contacting' the same dead person with a different name ...

Sallystyle · 07/08/2014 20:37

I just went to spiritualist churches. You weren't guaranteed to have anyone come to you and some times I went months without people talking to me. I have been to a few fairs organised by the church as well.

Some were complete crap but others were good.

I haven't been for years, but I think I might go again on Sunday just to see how I feel about it now through an agnostic's eye instead of the spiritualist that I was at the time.

CarryOn90 · 07/08/2014 20:38

My dad is very logical and straightforward but wouldn't have one in the house, even. He had a friend who used one and it really disturbed him. But it's in people's minds. It's a placebo effect type thing I think.

alemci · 07/08/2014 20:47

why would you want to bother, I think it is best to stay away

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