The Ouija Board - A True Story

I suspect that most people these days will have heard of the Ouija Board and will also have some idea as to what it is used for.

The 'Most Haunted' crew who appear on 'Living TV', conducting paranormal investigations sometimes use something similar.

For those of you who haven't, here is a quicky explanation:

A Ouija board is usually rectangular, has the letters of the alphabet suitably arranged in a semi circle and also has the numbers 1 - 10, and the words 'yes' & 'no' printed on it.

On the board is placed either a three legged plastic pointer or a glass tumbler.

The object of the Ouija board is, (supposedly), to communicate with the dead, (or spirits), on the 'other side'. This is achieved by having those who wish to participate place a finger tip lightly on the plastic pointer or the glass tumbler, (whichever is being used), after which a question is asked.

In response to the question, the pointer or tumbler will eventually begin to move, seemingly of its own volition, and point to individual letters, slowly spelling out an answer.

And that is roughly it!

Now, before I begin, a very serious word of warning.

The Ouija Board is most definitely not a fun game or something to casually dabble with. It can be extremely dangerous so please do not play around with this device under any circumstances unless you are truly experienced in such matters and know exactly what you are doing. I really cannot emphasise this enough!

Okay, let's begin my story:

(Note: I have changed the names of those involved in this story for obvious reasons.).

For as long as I can remember, (very much like my character 'Quentin Greely' who I feature in my short horror tale; 'The Short Cut'), I have had an interest in ghosts, spirits, horror stories and films. In fact virtually anything to do with the supernatural.

I enjoy most horror/suspense movies, old and new, but particularly the Hammer House of Horror series of films featuring Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee!

My favorite occult author of all time is the late, great Dennis Wheatley who wrote such classics as, "The Devil Rides Out"; "The Ka Of Gifford Hillary" and "To The Devil A Daughter".

I used to love reading the old 'Pan Books of Horror', too, packed with wonderfully scary short horror stories. (Whatever happened to them?)

Steven King, (the master), is also a favorite of mine.

And I would sit glued to the goggle box, (TV), whenever 'Tales of the Unexpected'; 'The Twilight Zone'; 'The Outer Limits' or the ripping 'Hammer House of Horror' TV series flickered on the screen!

Despite this cornucopia of terror tales and films, I had never heard of, or seen a Ouija Board until I first came across one in 1970 .

And I very soon wished that I hadn't!

In 1970, I was 2 years married and had 2 lovely children, a toddling girl and a baby boy. I was at that time working as an Admiralty policeman in the Portsmouth Royal Naval Dockyard.

Not a great job, (hated the shifts), but pretty well paid on a monthly basis.

My wife, Fir, was also working a few hours a week as a part time checkout cashier at a local supermarket.

In those days, me and Fir were very keen on playing board games such as; Monopoly, Cluedo, Draughts, (Checkers), and even Snakes & Ladders!

Anyway, one particular saturday, we were doing our usual monthly shop.

After purchasing our essential provisions for the month we found we had, unusually, a little cash left over so decided to treat our two bundles of joy to a toy each and a new board game for ourselves.

There was, (and still is), a shop we used to frequent that sold all manner of - to me at least - exciting goodies including; Halloween costumes and masks, magic tricks, jokes, string and hand puppets, ventriloquist dolls and of course, toys & games.

Often short of money we would generally make a visit to the shop simply to browse around.

This time, however, we would be buying!

We first - as always - looked in their display window to check out what games were currently available and, there, on the top of a display unit, right in the middle of various other well known boxed games was a brightly coloured box bearing the legend: "Ouija". 

Written just above the the word "Ouija" was the phrase: "The Mysterious Mystifying Game!".


For some reason or other, it really caught my fancy and so we entered the shop to take a closer look.

Well, when I saw the box close to and read the following written instructions:

'You will be amazed! Just place the plastic pointer on the Ouija board and ask a question - any question - and your question will be magically answered! '.

I was hooked and just had to have it!

And so we bought it!

That evening, with the kids safely tucked up in bed, we opened "The Mysterious Mystifying Game!" and set it up on our coffee table.

Following the very simple instructions, (which incidentally made no mention of contacting dead people and/or spirits), we positioned the plastic pointer on the board and placed our fingertips lightly upon it.

Feeling just a tad foolish, we asked a general question, (what the original question was I honestly cannot recall), and to our amazement, the pointer actually began to move from one letter to another spelling out the correct answer!

It excited me, but not so much Fir.

Having an enquiring mind, I decided to learn more about the Ouija board and so visited our local library, (no internet in those days!).

Naturally, I soon discovered the 'talking to spirits' thing! And it excited me even more! The Ouija board, it seemed, could be a portal to the other side!

I couldn't get enough of it! Every spare moment, we set up the board and contacted 'the spirits of the dead' asking endless questions and carefully writing down the chosen letters that spelt out their answers.

We asked about things we couldn't possibly know the answer to. Much of the time, we got garbled, unintelligible answers, but not always. Sometimes the answers were uncannily accurate!

Then came the fateful day Brian and Charles came through. They introduced themselves quite easily, the plastic pointer fairly whizzing around the board picking out the letters of their names. (Incidentally, Brian and Charles are the actual names that were spelled out).



I sensed no danger, they appeared to be just a couple of fun loving spirits who mostly answered our questions and told very humorous, tho' sometimes crude, jokes.

In fact, I can't deny that I grew to like them and looked forward to contacting them whenever possible. Fir, on the other hand, was a little less than keen.

As I said, I didn't sense any danger, but unbeknown to me, (or Fir), someone rather special did!

One Friday afternoon, several weeks after purchasing the Ouija board, Fir went off on a shopping trip with my mother and the kids and so I invited my friend, Mike, round for a session on the Ouija board.


This was Mike's first encounter with the Ouija board and, of course, with Brian and Charles.


Things were going great. Mike was really enjoying himself. Brian and Charles were on top form, answering questions, relating anecdotes and telling the odd joke.


And then, quite abruptly, halfway through a sentence being spelt out by Brian and Charles, the pointer stopped moving!


It was as if they had suddenly decided to stop communicating.


I was a shade annoyed and kept asking them to continue.


Finally, the pointer began to move, but unlike the speedy Brian and Charles movement, the pointer progressed very slowly, very deliberately.


As usual, I copied each letter that was picked out onto a piece of paper.


At length, the pointer ceased moving and I checked the spelled out message, reading it aloud to Mike. This is what the message actually said, word for word:


"Nobody, my little nobody. Hate Brian and Charles. Think and love each other!"



Of course, the message on the paper made absolutely no sense to me at all. Mike was equally baffled.


With a frown, I folded the piece of paper and put it to one side. Me and Mike then made a few more attempts at contacting Brian and Charles, all to no avail. The pointer refused to move.


So, Mike decided to call it a day and head off home.


I accompanied him to my front door and, after making arrangements to meet up for a drink one evening, I bade him goodbye.


Now alone, I packed up the Ouija board, made myself a cup of tea, then slumped in front of the TV., feet up on the coffee table, the message virtually forgotten.


Fir finally arrived back from her shopping trip a little harrassed. Toddler daughter had been playing up a bit. Not so baby son who had slept the whole time in his pram.


As Fir attended to baby son, I gave toddler daughter my dreaded 'you are in big trouble' look. She countered with her disarming 'butter wouldn't melt' look. So I sighed, called it quits and gave her a hug!


With baby son now gurgling happily in his baby chair and toddler daughter engrossed with her dolly's, we repaired to the kitchen and Fir began preparing our evening meal whilst I made a cup of tea.


"So, what have you been doing all afternoon?", she enquired.


"Oh, nothing much", I replied


"And by 'nothing much' you actually mean... you've been playing around with that Ouija board again, I 'spose?" she said a mite disdainfully.


"Well... Yes", I said, "me and Mike. Been talking to Brian and Charles"


Fir sniffed. "Anything interesting?"


"Not really".


I suddenly remembered the other message!


"Oh, except there was something pretty wierd. Another message, not from Brian and Charles! I'll go and get it!


I retrieved the piece of paper and returned to the kitchen. Fir held out a hand.


"No, I'll read it to you", I said.


"I'd rather read it myself, thank you very much", she insisted, with a smile.


I handed her the piece of paper and she began to read.


To my astonishment, Fir glanced up at me then let out a little sob and clutched at her throat. Tears began streaming down her face.


Concerned, I rushed over to her, my arm snaking around her shoulder. "Hey now, whats the matter, honbun?".


"This message", she said, wiping away the tears. "It's from my nan!"


"What d'you mean, from your nan!", I said incredulously! "Whatever makes you think that?"


"Because 'my little nobody' is what she used to call me when I was a little girl!". "Don't you see, she's warning us to keep away from Brian and Charles!


I was stunned. Fir had never told me that her nan used to affectionately call her 'my little nobody'. And because of this I felt I had to believe the message was a sincere and genuine warning!


It seemed to me that Fir's nan had somehow broken through the veil to spell out a message telling us to stop communicating with Brian and Charles, who she evidently considered to be evil and dangerous spirits, and to simply think only of our love for each other! (A love I am proud to say that has now lasted 44 years to date). She had also cleverly used Fir's childhood nickname to validate it was her who was sending the message.


I feel I must explain at this point that Fir had been virtually brought up by her nan and grandad and they had been extremely loving and close. About a year before I met Fir, her nan had tragically died. Fir had naturally been devastated. But she always believed her nan would be constantly watching over her, protecting her and keeping her safe.

And quite obviously, she was! (And undoubtedly still is!).



I am ashamed to admit, however, that the lure of the Ouija board was too strong for me to resist and although I had promised Fir I would destroy it, I did not immediately heed the warning from Fir's nan and so stupidly contacted Brian and Charles one more time.


And boy, were they ever different now. It seemed they realised they had been found out and so began to play ugly little mind games saying they were going to hurt me and possess me so they could have sex with my wife, (although they put it a lot more crudely than that!), and then kill me.


Oh yes, they turned out to be very nasty, evil and threatening spirits... And, I have to admit, pretty frightening! The experience certainly put the wind up me!


So, I destroyed the Ouija board, chopped it in to pieces and burned it.


And I am happy to say, (thanks I believe to Fir's nan), nothing untoward has ever happened since.

Footnote:

Now, most sceptics of the paranormal believe that the Ouija phenomenon is all in the mind and the movement of the pointer on the Ouija board is actually caused by tiny subconscious muscular movements of the participants arms and fingers.

In other words, the participants themselves are controlling the pointer and are thus answering their own questions by subconsciously pushing the pointer towards the required letters.

The thing is, if this be true, how is it that the message I received from Fir's nan was not generated by a question?

And, as I had no prior knowledge that Fir's nan used to call her, 'my little nobody', how on earth could I subconsciously spell out that particular message?

I really do have a very open mind and so would genuinely be interested in any comments from sceptics, (or anyone else come to that), explaining this!

Finally, my advice to anyone reading this true tale is this:

If you ever see a board game called 'The Ouija Board', don't even contemplate buying it. As I said before; it is most definitely not a game!

And please remember this:

Using a Ouija board is like opening a doorway to your house. Eventually, all kinds of strangers would use that open door to enter your home. Some of these strangers would be very nice, amiable and benign, while others....

Well I'm sure you get the picture!