Should people investigating reported ghostly phenomena and hauntings make use of a
ouija board as part of their efforts to determine what is going on?
Holly and I used a ouija board in one of our investigations. Nothing happened (so far as we know). But I've had friends who have had very odd, and scary, experiences with ouija boards, and as a result, whatever my personal experiences, I don't rule out the possibility that ouija boards might work, although not necessarily in the way that we might think.
I don't think the board itself, usually made by a mass-market toy manufacturer, is the key. Having talked to a number of psychics, they all say that the board is just the "key" that opens a "doorway" to... somewhere else. The problem comes with what might be coming through that doorway. One psychic put it to me like this - by using a ouija board, you are essentially leaving the front-door to your spiritual house unlocked. Now, if you think about your real house, most people lock the door, for good reason. Good people and friends are going to knock and wait for you to let them in; the kind of people who will be most likely to come into your house through an unlocked door are probably the very people you would want to lock your door to keep out.
In short, the psychics I've talked to all warn against using a ouija board, because you may be calling out for a particular ghost or spirit, but what you're likely to get is something else - something that pretends to be the person you're looking for, but who may well mean you harm.
This is born out by the personal experiences that have been reported to me by my friends. One of them, who is a lawyer who also holds a masters degree in english literature, and who is one of the most sensible, grounded people I've ever met, had a very frightenting experience when she was in university. She and a group of friends were playing with a ouija board when the "board" began to say some very disturbing things about this woman (who I was dating at that time). What really weirded her out, to the point where she called me at my residence and asked if she could come down to talk, was that her hands were nowhere near the board when these things were being "said", and the things that were communicated through the board were things that no-one else in that room knew except for her. When she got to my place, she was in tears. To this day, she will not even have a ouija board in her house. I have another friend, who also has a law degree as well as two graduate degrees, and is similarly sensible and grounded, who reports similar experiences, and will also no longer go near a ouija board with the proverbial ten-foot pole.
As I said, when Holly and I used the ouija board, nothing happened - perhaps because we were goofing around a bit, and not taking it quite as seriously as we could have. Given the stories told by my friends, maybe that was best! Regardless, I don't think I'll be giving it another go. As they say, better safe than sorry.
Paul Kimball
Holly and I will be appearing on The Paracast with Gene Steinberg and David Biedny on April 19th. We taped the 2-hour program last week - it's going to be a lot of fun! A discussion thread is already underway at the excellent Paracast Forums, which are always well worth a look.
