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Original poster

To have refused to let them use a ouija board in my house

234 replies

FrankWelker · 07/01/2015 12:19

We had some friends over for new year and one night they got out a ouija board. I'm scared off them (never done one so don't know why) and point blank refused to let them play it in my house (nicely). I was telling my cousin about this today and she said I'm a right wuss! I know it's my house and I can refuse but do other people have the same kind of fear with this sort of thing?

OP posts:
middleagedbread · 08/01/2015 16:37

YWNBU OP, there are loads of great games around for groups of friends to play and have fun with. This isn't one of them, particularly as it makes you feel uncomfortable. It's the kind of daft game that young teens play I did to scare the sh1t out of themselves. I recommend you invest in a pack of UNO cards for a start Grin...

nunkspugget · 08/01/2015 16:51

Thegreylady.....care to actually tel us or just leave it hanging mysteriously with no details to be refuted discussed?

fluffyraggies · 08/01/2015 17:12

Why is it so hard to understand that 'it's a load of shit' doesn't negate the opinion of posters who are saying they wouldn't want this done at a social gathering at their house in case it scares someone.

It's a fact that a lot of people do worry about ouija boards, and some perhaps wouldn't admit it for fear of being mocked. A good host is simply doing her job to disallow this.

It's similar in a way, i suppose, to steering clear of conversation which might upset someone, in a group social setting.

Sallystyle · 08/01/2015 17:14

You can't prove spirits don't exist or that they do.

I don't believe they do and I am an atheist, but until it has been proven 100% that they don't exist I wouldn't mess with a ouija board just incase I am wrong.

specialsubject · 08/01/2015 17:15

no ouija board in this house, but we regularly get strange creaking noises and shuffling sounds. There are also strange small spherical objects in places in the attic.

so what do we think? Occult, or a windy day and mice? Your votes please..

SunnyBaudelaire · 08/01/2015 17:17

tbh the creaking and shuffling sounds could be wood expanding and contracting with temperature. One of the 'scariest' houses I lived in was made of wood.
the objects? any chance of a pic?

JanineStHubbins · 08/01/2015 17:26

I had a weird experience in my early 20s with this. A group of people who didn't all know each other terribly well played. We were all v sceptical, and insisted on asking the 'ghost/spirit/whatever' detailed questions about personal lives/grandparents' maiden names etc, that the others simply couldn't have known. Also, the subject of the question did not participate in the answer (took hands off the stone, moved away from the table). Correct answers were given.

I don't really believe in woo, so I now think there must have been some unconscious level on which we communicated with each other and so the right answers were produced. But it freaked me out at the time.

QueenTilly · 08/01/2015 17:29

HolyTerror I don't think Emmeline believes in spirits, you know. I expect she's just got enough life experience to know that people do react differently to people like Gavin from how they do a ouija board. A far greater number of people wouldn't be able to laugh off "you'll be struck by lightning" from a ouija board.

And, actually, some people would take Gavin seriously, which is why he keeps doing stuff like that. I have known both Gavins and the victims of their successful pranks. So I'd certainly tell a Gavin to put a sock in it if I thought he was scaring my guests, too.

ThePinkOcelot · 08/01/2015 17:39

YANBU. I wouldn't have allowed that in my home either.

Galaxymum · 08/01/2015 18:01

OP YANBU. People can say oh it doesn't exist if they haven't experienced anything supernatural. My mum had a lodger who was very talented with the oija board. As a group they became addicted to find out the future and secrets about each other. My mum had a horrific experience and the vicar blessed and exorcised our house. I know all the things that happened in that house and my dad was a practical Scilly till he had experiences of a distressed baby and her crying mum in the room when I was fast asleep. I would never mess with these things. I don't care if people don't believe.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 08/01/2015 18:14

Yes, Galaxymum. That's what people are talking about: all the people saying they've had bad experiences haven't really described exactly what happened. Just alluded to it. "My mum had a horrific experience." "- distressed baby and her crying mum" - what does that even mean?!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 08/01/2015 18:22

I wouldn't have wanted it either, not sure if it's just woo, or if there really is more to it, same with horoscopes. I also think there are vulnerable people who can be badly affected by this sort of stuff, also people who take advantage of those people so I give it all a very wide berth.

nunkspugget · 08/01/2015 18:30

U2, you can't call yourself an athiest and say you're not sure about an afterlife. You're agnostic.

bigbluestars · 08/01/2015 18:47

"U2, you can't call yourself an athiest and say you're not sure about an afterlife. You're agnostic"

Why not? Atheism is to do with veiws about god, not the afterlife. You could argue that Bhuddists are atheists who believe in reincarnation.
I am a witch and atheist.

53Dragon · 08/01/2015 18:56

I wouldn't - not because I'd be scared (I'm an atheist) but because I think all these spiritualist things are a load of old tosh and I object to anything that perpetuates the myth. I wouldn't let people hold a religious service in my house, either, though I guess if someone wanted to say a few Hail Marys or bow down and pray to Mecca then I wouldn't object as long as they went off and did it on their own.

Hakluyt · 08/01/2015 18:56

"People can say oh it doesn't exist if they haven't experienced anything supernatural. My mum had a lodger who was very talented with the oija board."

Two things here. One- yes I can, there is nothing to experience. And two, if it's the spirits of the dead talking, why would you need to be "talented"? All that means is that he was very good at manipulating the board.

Hakluyt · 08/01/2015 18:58

Oh, and atheists belive in all sorts of bullshit. THe only thing we can't belive in is a god or gods.

CrispyFern · 08/01/2015 19:01

My friends bring round wine and cocaine thank heavens.

JanineStHubbins · 08/01/2015 19:01

I detailed my experiences, but nobody seems to have noticed Sad

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 08/01/2015 19:03

I would let friends use one in my house. To me it's all a load of old tosh anyway.

Hakluyt · 08/01/2015 19:04

Janine- I am as sure as I can be that if you had a recording of that event, there wouldn't be anything like as many "hits" as you remember. That's always what happens. We remember the hits and forget the misses

FightOrFlight · 08/01/2015 19:11

YANBU

I am very 'woo' Blush

JanineStHubbins · 08/01/2015 19:14

Perhaps, Haklyut. I don't remember any 'misses' to be honest.

YoullLikeItNotaLot · 08/01/2015 19:34

This thread has made me Grin

If my friends turned up with a ouija board I'd look at them exactly the same way as I would if they turned up with an Olly Murs Live DVD, twiglets or alcohol free wine.

My friend recently tried to explain why she thinks her kitchen is haunted. Only the kitchen mind. It centred round an unplugged plug and a boiled kettle. I thought she was joking. When I realised she was serious I can't deny I hadn't been so disappointed in her since she admitted buying Blur's Country House during the great Blur V Oasis battle.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 08/01/2015 19:49

So your friend says her kettle boiled water when it wasn't plugged in? In front of her eyes?