Ouija Board

When I was a child my family moved to Washington, where we rented an old two-story house. I will not go into detail, suffice it to say that there were many frightening and unexplainable occurrences. Voices speaking from the closet, objects moving around by themselves, lights turning on and off, etc...1

The worst of the activity seemed to be centered in my bedroom, and I, while frightened, was also very curious. After one particularly disturbing incident (involving the sudden appearance of blood on my walls), I decided to learn more about the entities which seemed to inhabit my room. Ignoring the advice of friends and family, I purchased a ouija board.2

I had heard awful tales of people being possessed by spirits while using the board alone, and while I did not quite believe the stories, I was not willing to try it by myself. I talked my brother Greg and my boyfriend at the time, Dave, to use it with me. My brother had seen many strange things in the house and was also curious, but Dave did not believe in the supernatural. He was a Roman Catholic and refused to accept the possibility of spirits or ghosts. He considered the ouija board a silly game, but played along to appease me.3

We placed our hands on the planchette and asked if anyone was present. The planchette immediately began to move, spelling out Y E S. We asked some basic questions (who are you, why are you here?) and received an answer everytime. We ended up speaking to three ghosts in all, a man, a young boy, and a little girl. The man had been killed in a fight, the boy in an accident while chopping wood. The little girl was very young and could not tell us much besides "Mommy mad me cry".4

Greg and I were very excited, but Dave seemed not at all interested. We used the board for nearly an hour and learned as much as we could about our invisible house-mates. We finally said goodbye, and promised to talk to them again, as they seemed very lonely. I wrote down all the names and dates which had been mentioned, meaning to look up the information at the local library. Greg went to bed, leaving Dave and I alone in my bedroom.5

"Do you believe us now?" I asked, thinking he could not possibly deny the existence of spirits after what he had seen. He laughed scornfully and shook his head. "There's no such thing as ghosts, that proves nothing." I was shocked, he had placed his own hands on the planchette, he had seen it moving around the board! I demanded to know what had caused the movement, if not supernatural forces.6

"Your brother was moving it, that's what." He gave me the look he reserved for total idiots, that look which always pissed me off. I was deeply offended that he would even consider such a thing, and told him so. My brother was not a liar. He backpedaled quickly, claiming Greg must have been moving it subconsciously. He insisted there was no other explanation.7

Very angry, I insisted that he and I try the board, without my brother. Once again, the planchette moved, spelling H E L L O. I looked at Dave in triumph. "There, you see? You can't say it was Greg this time!" I waited for him to admit his mistake. Instead, he snorted, "Then you're doing it. There's no such thing as ghosts!" It began veering wildly around the board, moving faster and faster, until I lost my grip, leaving only Dave's fingers touching the planchette. 8

Sitting with my hands in my lap, I giggled at the horrified look on his face. The planchette still flew around crazily, and Dave was terrified. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and he begged me to make it stop. "Why don't you make it stop, it must be you moving it, right?" I laughed again, savoring my revenge. "Maybe you're doing it subconsciously", I said sarcastically. "There's no such thing as ghosts!"9

Dave jerked his hands away from the planchette, as if from something hot. He wiped his eyes roughly and gave me a dirty look. "Just put the damn thing away" he growled. Smugly, I boxed up the ouija board and put in a dresser drawer. I knew he would never admit that my house was really haunted, but the fear in his face said what he would not.10