Growing up as I did, witnessing people talking in tongues in church as a child, it’s no wonder I’ve been equally fascinated by all kinds of folklore and other ghoulish things. I remember family story swapping sitting around Grandpa‘s living room on Sundays after church. Those days if children were seen but not heard, the clever child could find a way to hover on the sidelines and be privy to some interesting grownup talk.
There was an oft touted tale of the coffin of a young woman being opened, for whatever earthly reason I no longer remember. She had been buried with her long hair arranged in the chignon style of the day, but when the coffin lid was raised, a gripping view was exposed–hair hanging disheveled around the face, ensnared by the very hair comb that had secured the bun. Some swore her fingernails were also longer AND broken, and the silky material lining the lid was hanging in tatters. What a ghastly scene! Other times Grandma recounted her tale about seeing eerie green lights deep in woods surrounding the house when she was a young girl. As I grew older, I learned that the green lights were called “foxfire,” defined as a rare phenomenon of eerie green lights glowing in the woods on starless nights. In 1823 scientists finally explained how fungal growth on decayed wood emitted these phosphorescent episodes, not spirits of people gone on to meet their maker. In time I imagine she knew that the mystery had been solved, but I’m still a little disappointed, I think. It’s actually a little bit fun to have a bit of a fright, followed quickly, of course by a reasonable explanation.
The last time I remember having a serious case of the heebie jeebies was during a slumber party my daughters had in the 1980s in Ohio one weekend, with 5 or 6 girls attending. They were playing with the Ouija board in the basement, one of my more idiotic shopping mistakes, in retrospect. I heard lots of giggling, and occasional squeals. It was getting late by this time, Hubby was out of town on business, and as I struggled to stay alert upstairs, I hoped they would soon tire themselves into slumber. Rather, all of a sudden they burst through the door at the top of the stairs screeching. It seems a spirit or demon had suddenly “taken over the Ouija board’s planchette (the pointer gadget). He was furiously spelling out threatening, frightfyk things that were going to happen. I tried to tell them that inanimate objects and games couldn’t hurt them but they weren’t having it!
The story that then emerged–as best I can remember–was that the demon was once a teenage boy who died in an accident when he was young. Now he was very angry at pretty much everybody alive, especially giggling and adolescents and teenage girls! At that point I was quite amused at the humor of it, but still needed to calm them down a bit. I suggested we freeze the hell and damnation out of him by throwing the whole board in the freezer to cool him down.Youthful impatience led to frequent openings and closings of the freezer door, and the girls couldn’t resist another quick trip to the basement (presumable spirits prefer dim basements). Moments later, they were back upstairs. He was still there. I was still comfortable in my assumption that one of the girls was conscientiously (or not) maneuvering the pointer, having a great time at all the reactions. No one would admit to it, though, so I decided to witness a session myself. I went downstairs to watch the pointer sail lightly from letter to letter, again spelling out an apt-sounding ancient name. Whichever girl was key to the ruse was goooooood, I decided. I was very impressed!
Whether imagination or not, doubt crept in. What if it wasn’t a hoax? Each girl insisted she was innocent! It was close to, or past by that time, midnight. Clearly this demon was NOT going away. No amount of begging girls to go away was working. We’d tried the freezer, now we tried nuking him in the microwave. That didn’t work either.
All the warnings about Ouija boards being the passageway of all things occult came flooding back. “Messages revealed by a Ouija should only be on God’s hands,” “a tool of Satan best left alone!” “Paranormal or supernatural beings are responsible for Ouija’s action, therefore you are colluding with Satan if you use them!”
At last we decided the only thing left to do with that evil board was to take it and break it across my knee and throw it into the garbage or the fireplace, I don’t remember which, but the idea was good riddance to bad rubbish. Then everyone went to bed–I hope. They must have had quite a time the next day telling their parents about the evil spirit they’d conjured up with the Ouija board. I don’t remember how many were allowed at our house after that.
Many eminent people have succumbed to the lure of the supernatural: Although he didn’t use it himself, Poet William Butler Yeats‘s later poetry was inspired by the Ouija board and other facets of the occult; G. K. Chesterton used a Ouija board in his teenage years. Around 1893 writer G. K. Chesterton went through crises of skepticism and depression, grew fascinated with the occult and experimented with the Ouija board. Remember Alice Cooper? Early press releases stated that Vincent Furnier‘s stage and band name was agreed on after a session with a Ouija board (his real name was Vincent Furnier) during which it was revealed he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch with that name.
In case I haven’t convinced you that a Ouija board is pure evil, or let’s just say yours in an inquiring mind, here’s an online Ouija http://www.brainjar.com/dhtml/ouija/ for free, so now you don’t even have to pay homage to its original maker, those rich Parker Brothers. Have fun! And now that I’ve finished this silly little story about things that go bump in the night, Hubby and I are off to New York for more earthly adventures I hope to share with you from there.
My Wintersong 
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my !!!! I recall pajama parties like that growing up in Ohio. Lotsa ghosts here. 🙂
Oh! Do tell. I love a good ghost story!
That was one pastime I kept well away from, my father and his mother before him, were superstitious enough about the ‘little People’ and the dead, to put the fear of God in me!
You’re much better behaved than me G’mar. It’s funny to me that we’re afraid of the dead when we probably weren’t when they were alive. Did babies come from cabbage patches too, or delivered by storks? Or did you ask the doctors at the hospital?
We were all found a gooseberry bush! We actually have two of the bushes at the end of the garden, and funnily enough they were removed after my sister, the baby in the family was born! 😆
😆 your poor sister!
Thanks for sharing. I surely can relate! My classmates had a ouija board in the dorm when I was a student nurse. Finally I decided to try it …against my better judgement. It does work with the help of the dark side. My boyfriend finally commanded it to stop in the name of Christ….and we could not get it to even move again. That was freaky enough for me!
When I was little my mom bought one after my grandmother died. She use to use it and ask for them to bring her back. she said she would do anything to have that happen. From that time on she ended up in a psychiatric hospital. We were not allowed to go in and see her. until one day my father said he doctor said yes. I remember getting off the elevator and the wheeled her out to see,us. We walked over and looked at her she cried so much they took her away. We grew up in the hospital not being able to see her. Waiting down stairs as my dad seen her . After that one time the doctor never let us see her.She came home but was always scared. She never let us touch it my dad put it up on a shelf we could not get to. Bad things happened to all of us my mom died of internal bleeding.They could not stop it .My dad died of cancer. His sister died of cancer. his brother died of cancer Brain,Lung Kidney,My sister died of Stomach cancer,my son had cancer, I had skin cancer. All of my kids had asthma. And before my sister died she said if she died suffering the curse would. It did not .So weather you believe or not there are things out there that can hurt you. mom was never OK That I know
What a sad story. I’m so sorry for all these bad things you describe. I believe our best defense, however, is having a strong mind and not allowing negative experiences weigh us down. Stay positive. Thanks for writing.