escargot1 said:
escargot1 said:I've been making shabby-chic xmas tree decorations for a charity craft sale. I think I'll do some little ouija board ones too, bet they'd sell well!
Monstrosa said:I think he's gently joshing you. Saying it was you and that you're not the brightest bulb in the room.
Exorcists and paranormal investigators are urging people not to buy the occult board game Ouija as gifts unless they want to invite demonic forces into their homes this Christmas.
The warning comes as Google predicted that the modern version of the Victorian-era 'spirit boards' will be a sell-out this Christmas.
The search engine company has confirmed the game, purportedly used to contact the dead through spelled-out messages, is one of the top trending gifts on its price comparison list this year following the release of the Ouija horror film last month.
While critics largely panned the film as cliched and horror-free, a Catholic priest based in Dublin who specialises in the occult, warned that messing around with the real thing can be horrifying,
"It's easy to open up evil spirits but it's very hard to get rid of them," the Vincentian priest and exorcist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Sunday Independent.
"People, especially young people and teenagers who are likely to experiment with Ouija boards on a whim, can be very naive in thinking that they are only contacting the departed souls of loved-ones when they attempt to communicate with the dead using the boards. ...
http://www.independent.ie/life/christma ... 85052.html
My next ghost hunt is in march, so can i ask a serious question (for once) how much danger would i be in if i used the ouija board?
I suspect you go with the same guys I do, HH? Personally, I don't participate because I consider them a waste of time. IF everybody consented to a stack of poker chips being placed on top of the planchette/glass to make sure that the movement witnessed was not caused by voluntary or involuntary muscle movements, I would consider participating. The idea being that if no-one is exerting any pressure the stack of chips should not distort or move.Both ghost hunts i have been on have used the ouija board, but being a natural born coward i haven't taken part, one of the mediums said they had been using the board for years and never seen the board catch fire or anybodys head spin round (but if it ever happened they hoped to get it on video to put on their facebook site)
My next ghost hunt is in march, so can i ask a serious question (for once) how much danger would i be in if i used the ouija board?
That's my middle name. Ringo "Killjoy" Durden.
Don't ask about my surname. I'm not allowed to talk about it.
My first ghost was with haunted happenings, the second with simply paranormal, but their methods are pretty much the same, on both occasions i have just watched the board being used and there did seem to be strange goings on, but i have a unshakeable fear of the ouija board lurking at the back of the leaking sponge bag i claim as a brain, so maybe its best to avoid the board just because i am so sacred of it.
I would love to ask if i could explore while the table tipping and ouija board was taking place, but on both ghost hunts i have been called a sceptic, if i avoided even watching the board i may be called a skeptic!
I don't get the reference, Andy. What's Avid?You don't work for Avid by any chance?
I honestly think that the psychologically damaging effects of the ouija are not caused by spirits or demons, but by a psychosis or neurosis being triggered in the individual, who was already predisposed towards having it anyway.
I don't get the reference, Andy. What's Avid?
Interesting you should have those experiences. There's been a lot of work done recently, on how ouija boards might access the unconscious (although I am not very familiar with the research). So if you are quite neurotic, maybe that's what is being accessed? It'd be interesting to run some experiments, with different personality types and comparing their ouija board epxeriences. I wonder if there are enough volunteers on here to do this, and if FT would publish the results?Thanks for giving your opinion on this, Loquaciousness, you being a real trained-up psychologist and all (vs an armchair one like most of us.)
It puzzles me, though - I've never had a negative experience while reading tarot or using a pendulum or dowsing or anything like that, while the ouija board seems to bring up so much nastiness. I'm a neurotic person in general, so it would seem that any method of divination (or contact with the "beyond") would bring it forth. It seems different, though. I don't believe that spirits are actually involved in any such divination, so it's not clear why there's a difference. But then again, I suppose those creepy incidents re: ouija board are only subjective, so that really proves nothing.
All the same, I'm not using an ouija board again any time soon.
TIt'd be difficult to set up. The sample would be well-skewed because you'd only get participants who had an interest or belief in the subject.
People who think ouija boards are are a hoax/waste of time wouldn't take part, although they're exactly the controls you want.
Also, what sort of personalities would you select? And how do you test personality anyway?
Source of scepticism: MA in criminology/research.
I was interviewed by Avid nearly 20 years ago. Shame I didn't get the job - it looked interesting.Sorry, was just a stab in the dark. I've spent a long time on the phone to someone called Ringo...surname beginning with 'D' which I didn't quite catch (and who seemed to have quite a Fortean outlook to customer support) - works for Avid Technology, who make audiovisual software/hardware (or one of their resellers). Just wondered...