• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

The Ouija Board

I thought that they we illegal in the uk.
I've only ever seen one on sale here and that was in Hocus Pocus a wiccan store in Brighton. I've never seen them in toy shops.
 
I've never really thought of them as toys so it's never occurred to me that a toy shop might sell them. I'm pretty sure I have seen them in shops on the odd ocassion though. It's not like they're hard to make anyway :)
 
Someone reviewing them here seem to think that they are illegal in the uk.

There is a virtual one to play with.Here



This Company are selling them.
 
even if you don't believe they work, they are shockingly inappropriate as children's toys.
 
I know, they don't seem like toys but mine came from Toys R Us. It may have even been made by Matel or something:D
 
off context but

my freind gave my one. He payed 2 dollars for it at a bazar in a church. But im pretty sure they can be found in toy stores.


I wonder if, to work, a ouija has to be approuve by matel or something...wil a home made ouija work better?
 
Homemade ones are better, in fact the traditional 'letters and numbers written on individual pieces of paper and arranged in a circle' type is best, because you then get the full 'panic confetti' effect when everyone runs away.

;) Seen it done.
 
A similar effect to the ouija board can be obtained by using an upturned glass on a polished table.

As a party piece, the results can be quite impressive, but IHMO it's merely the same ideomoter effect that convinces dowsers that they have special powers.

An interesting ideomotor site can be found here


* edit *
Ooops. I've just checked out the site and some of the links are dead. A quick google will supply more info.
 
Someone reviewing them here seem to think that they are illegal in the uk. ...
Click to expand...

That's a new one on me!

From the Amazon.com site, above

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

= Fun = Educational = Durability
This is not a toy!, December 20, 2000
Reviewer: A toy enthusiast from UK
A ouija board is a very powerful oracle that is not to be messed with. This oracle is used to summon angelic/demonic spirits using the weaker person to channel through while playing. I really would consider learning how to use ouija board before buying one, still then there are a few risks. THIS IS NOT A GAME, THEY WOULDNT MAKE THEM ILLEGAL IN THE UK IF THEY WERE JUST A GAME. PLEASE TAKE CARE!

Was this review helpful to you?
Click to expand...

The "Ideomotor Effect"? Fancy name y'got there for a plunge into the inner workings of the human mind, Arthur.

I like "Dowsing" myself, or even "Automatic Writing", less cod-greek. ;)

As a matter of interest, if a dowser is a successful dowser, does that mean that that dowser's ideomotor reflex is any the less effective?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AndroMan said:
That's a new one on me! The "Ideomotor Effect"? Fancy name for y'got there for a plunge into the inner workings of the human mind, Arthur.

I like "Dowsing" myself, or even "Automatic Writing", less cod-greek. ;)
Click to expand...

Don't blame me for the fancy name Andro. Greater minds than mine dreamed it up, Michael Faraday amongst 'em.
 
Y'might have curbed your ideomotor reflex until I'd finished typing, Arthur! :p
 
Just asked the virtual one a question with a yes or no answer and it replied Why Should I Do That?:confused:
 
AndroMan said:
As a matter of interest, if a dowser is a successful dowser, does that mean that that dowser's ideomotor reflex is any the less effective?
Click to expand...

Almost every dowser believes they are a successful dowser. They just consistently fail to prove their ability when independently tested.
There are many successful astrologers, but that doesn't convince me that astrology works, it just convinces me that "there's a sucker born every minute".
 
I'm just surprised that you seem to be able to buy ouija boards in regular stores abroad, let alone in toy stores! I've never ever seen one for sale in sweden, not even in stores leaning towards new age and wicca and such... We always make do with a glas, a big paper and a candle. But after that halloween night a few years ago, we don't anymore....

I find ouija borads very fascinating from many angles, apart from the whole "speak with the spirits" deal. It seems to be a very good outlet for hysteria and mass hysteria, at least if you go after how our sessions ended....
 
Arthur ASCII said:
Almost every dowser believes they are a successful dowser. They just consistently fail to prove their ability when independently tested.
There are many successful astrologers, but that doesn't convince me that astrology works, it just convinces me that "there's a sucker born every minute".
Click to expand...
What would be the nature of that "independently tested" then?

And how is dowsing actually similiar to astrology? Apart from you not believing in either of them, Arthur?
 
Oui-Ja boards are nonesense. It's been proven *In my eyes anyway*.
Try it with all participents blindfolded etc and see what happens.....
As for dowsing..... millions of tests have been carried out and none of them "dowsed" correctly, and believe me.... the tests weren't all that stringent!

When it all comes to it, it's a matter of plausablility and belief.
I tend to believe that unless the likeliest reason can be ruled out, then it's the likeliest reason. (Or the most realistic). I don't buy "Anecdotal evidence".
 
No, I really Don't Remember Coming Across the Term "Ide

Well, I don't know, I've long accepted both the fact that some kind of subconscious mind/response muscular twitch was being amplified, focussed and made visible by the use of a dowsing rod, or an 'Oui/Ja' board and that dowsing was a real phenomenon.

Even my old dad, a plumber in his day, used to have to turn to the use of a couple of bent coat wire hangers occasionally, in the course of his work. No handy pocket sized metal detectors, from 'B&Q,' back then.

Yes, Arthur's post has given me a nudge and I've been reading some of the, mostly skeptical, stuff available on the web, about the debunking of dowsing. Most of the exeriments referred to took place in the 1980's and 90's, so I'm a bit behind the times there.

http://skepdic.com/dowsing.html

http://www.phact.org/e/dowsing.htm

However, just because skeptics and statisticians claim to have disproven something "scientifically" doesn't mean it's necessarily so.

I'm still looking into it.
 
Banned?

I am pretty sure that Oujai boards are not banned here in the states as my neighbor only just bought one for "Creepy Movie Night" at her place a few weeks ago. Her original board had become waterlogged in a hot water heater accident rendering it impossible to use. It was purchased at Fred Myers. I bought a new one a couple of years ago from Wal Mart. I think it was Wal Mart...it might have been K-mart though.



~Kim~
 
My grandmother was a very hard-nosed down-to-earth person with strong religious convictions. Despite her skepticism about "those things" she experienced numerous paranormal incidents in her 83 years.

She was with a group of young women who were unsuccessfully trying to get results from a ouija board. She had no interest in it, but finally gave in when they asked her repeatedly to try to "summon the spirits." With misgivings she placed her hand on the planchette which immediately came to life and began answering the questions of the others there.

Grandmother was very uncomfortable, and finally asked who the entity was. The immediate amswer was LEGIONS. Dead silence. She then asked it, "are you from the Devil?" and the answer was YES!

End of session, board put away immediately. She never touched a ouija board again, and neither have I.
 
if someone were to ask me, i'd have to say i don't believe in quija boards -- and yet at the same time i know that very weird things have happened with them. i keep trying to come up with an explanation, and one of my theories is that we somehow tap into a collective consciousness when using them.
 
marslight42 said:
Yurei--a long shot here about your ouija board spelling out SUH, and Russian planes crashing the same day. A long shot, as I say, but some Russian aircraft are designed by the Suhkoi design bureau. These are generally fighters, such as the SU-21.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Well, I googled it, and these were commercial airliners - Tupolev (TU-134 and TU-154). Also, it's apparently spelled "Sukhoi" - and they do make mostly military-service aircraft. But what a good lead! It got me really looking into the story. It does seem as if the two plane crashes were terrorist events, and they did happen late at night on Aug. 23rd. There were only 89/90 (depending on which report you read) dead, however. The mystery remains...
 
I would suggest the only time you SHOULD NOT GO ON A OUIJA BOARD is blindfolded...as all you will spell out is a pile of w**k. :D
 
Our old school librarian had a foaf Ouija-board tale in which she featured closely enough to make it believable. She was really quite a bouncy middle-aged woman but when she was warning us not to mess with the occult her tone really was uncharacteristically serious. Perhaps it was a wind-up but it managed to put the wind-up me as a young teenager...
 
No offense but....don't you have to be just a little bit insane to believe in ouija boards? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top