Ouija Boards

[Kemaiku]

Ouija boards are silly.

This.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Nope. The mindset is the idea that the board really can do these things when it's nothing but an inanimate object with absolutely no "powers" whatsoever. I'm not referring to imagination, I'm referring to the fact that there are kids who do become obsessed with these things because of the lore that surrounds them, thanks to a panicky and uninformed culture, particularly in the United States. That is the mindset to which I am referring.

People think that inanimate objects can do weird shit all the time. Religious relics. Holy books. Haunted houses. Lucky charms. I don't see anything different about Ouija boards compared to that.

The difference is the dual nature, that it's supposed to have all these special abilities, yet it's also game. You would have to understand the mindset of the U.S. culture on this one. I think you have a good idea, but it really is an odd one.

I'm not sure about the having to understand the U.S. culture thing, I understand the culture just fine yet I am with iguana_tonante here. Why does the mindset necessarily have to a bad one? Maybe the people thinking the board is real are using it to contact good spirits and help them pass on to a new life. How is that any different from psychics who claim to talk to the dead?

I also have heard a few people say that they think the board is totally fake, but that they still don't want to mess with that sort of thing. Either it's fake or it's real, either you believe it can summon dead spirits or you don't. And if you think that it doesn't, then what's the harm in it? If someone becomes obsessed with it and doing "bad things" (whatever that means) with it, then obviously they had issues to begin with and their crazy side would have come out eventually anyway. So I guess I'm saying, that if someone is "evil," they are going to do bad things with or without a ouija board. And if they don't have these bad thoughts in their head, a ouija board is not suddenly going to put them there.

 

[melancholymecha]

well since Im an agnostic I really dont know if it can be harmful or not. I was always kinda creeped out by them as a child. But I also wonder, if they are so evil & dangerous, why would you be able to buy them at a TrU or Walmart, & in the USA of all places?
This is the same country were Mattel was forced to recall their "Secret Spells" witch Barbies when parents complained that the dolls came with cauldrons & "powder"(actually drink mix) for casting "magic spells".

 

[Amaris]

I'm not sure about the having to understand the U.S. culture thing, I understand the culture just fine yet I am with iguana_tonante here. Why does the mindset necessarily have to a bad one? Maybe the people thinking the board is real are using it to contact good spirits and help them pass on to a new life. How is that any different from physics who claim to talk to the dead?

It's the spiritualism involved. As I said some posts back, imagination is one thing, but kids start thinking it's real. Children are easily convinced, which is why I mentioned that children are so impressionable, and why I think it's just a really bad thing to learn. I'm not a fan of psychics either. I believe it's a bunch of BS, but people fall for this stuff, and the more it's ingrained when they're younger, the more they become susceptible to believing the big boys playing that game, sans Ouija board. Again, all just my opinion on the subject.

I also have heard a few people say that they think the board is totally fake, but that they still don't want to mess with that sort of thing. Either it's fake or it's real, either you believe it can summon dead spirits or you don't. And if you think that it doesn't, then what's the harm in it? If someone becomes obsessed with it and doing "bad things" (whatever that means) with it, then obviously they had issues to begin with and their crazy side would have come out eventually anyway. So I guess I'm saying, that if someone is "evil," they are going to do bad things with or without a ouija board. And if they don't have these bad thoughts in their head, a ouija board is not suddenly going to put them there.

Oh, feh. Ouija boards don't scare me. They're just harmless cardboard. One makes all the "adventure". It's like my brother who goes "Ghost Hunting". Scares some people crapless, doesn't bother me one bit. The only thing I don't like about the dark is that I can't see where I'm going. There are no spooks or spectres to come from the night and haunt me.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I have started reading some the one star reviews on ouija boards over at Amazon. Some are really quite funny such as

I just recently got this product, and so I sat down to use it and asked it "who am I speaking with". Slowly the key moved to spell out "Billy Mays Here". Immediately after that there was a burst of cold air, and now he won't leave my house. He throws away all of the products I own that he didn't endorse, for example, all of my paper towels. I have to clean all my messes with Zorbeez, as he will not allow me to keep anything else. Its not all bad, I came home on my birthday and he had gotten me a Big City Slider Station, which actually works pretty good.

I just pimp!

 

[Lindley]

I once crossed Ouija and Monopoly. I accidentally sold Chicago to the Devil.

Better hope your soul isn't mortgaged when the Devil lands on it.

 

[Lookingglassman]

They are playthings of demons wrapped in innocence in order to fool humans. Dont buy them.

 

[DeafPoet]

When I was a kid I had a friend with one of these. A few of us used it a couple times. There's really no limit to the fun you can have with a Ouija board and a 4-pack of morons.

I manipulated it into suggesting my friend would be axe murdered that night and she freaked the fuck out. It says a lot about the mentality of your average Ouija devotee that not a single person there even investigated the possibility that one of the group was a duplicitous bastard.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Stay away from them, period. My best friend had a Oujia Board that he kept underneath his bed and when I'd sleep over at his house I was creeped out by it.

George Noory had planned to use one live on air one night and brought in a bunch of guests for protection who ultimately convinced him against doing it and he listened to them claiming that he was concerned what may happen to listeners. I didn't listen to the show that night because I was in hospital recovering from my first foot surgery. Anyone remember that show?