Tales of the Ouija Readers share their chilling experiences with the infamous "talking board" and how it has forever affected their lives. More of this Feature • Part 2: Stalked by the Unknown Join the Discussion "The Ouija board is just a wooden board that can be used as a psychic tool. The reason some people get into trouble is that they use a paranormal approach rather a magical approach using some form of protection, and dismissal of the spirits. The Ouija board is not 'The Devil's Board' or 'A Gateway Into Hell' or 'Necromancy.' The horror stories you hear are from people who called down into their house, or room, a variety of spirits, and then put the Ouija board away, leaving the spirits to wander around. And yes, when you use the board, it opens a doorway. which needs to be closed." Read more here Related Resources • Ouija: How Does It Work? From Other Guides • Creative Writing for Teens: The Homemade Ouija Board Elsewhere on the Web • The Museum of Talking Boards • Ouija 2000 Is the Ouija a harmless toy? Or is it an instrument that connects users to a darker dimension? Or, perhaps, does it tap into the unconscious where our own fears and powers of suggestion create sometimes frightening experiences? Read these tales of the Ouija and decide for yourself. Zozo I am in my late 30s and now living in Massachusetts where I grew up. I was a middle child of five in a very close family. When we were really young, my two younger sisters and I were always fascinated with the unknown. We would look in the obituaries in the newspaper to see who had recently passed away and we would have séances in our garage with some other local neighborhood kids. Usually nothing would happen, but a couple of times some weird things happened that we just could not explain. When my sisters and I were in high school, we learned about Ouija boards. We bought one and began to play with it. Two of us would get on it and the other would write everything down. At first it was fun. We talked to several different spirits that told us where they were from and about their families, etc. This went on for weeks, then gradually things started getting a little scary. Eventually, every time we got on the board, the same spirit would come on, who was not very nice. He told us he was the devil and he was going to get us somehow. He called him self "Zozo." When a friend of ours confronted our priest about this name, he got very angry and told us we should not be playing with Ouija boards; they were not toys and we could get into trouble. He gave his Sunday sermon on the subject. Needless to say, we stopped playing with it. Then, while still in high school, one of my sister's best friends lost her sister in a van accident. She and her sister were very close. She knew of our adventures with our Ouija board and begged my sister to let her come over and use it to talk to her deceased sister. Hesitantly, my sister sat down with her and contacted her sister with the board. Her friend bawled and told her sister how much she loved her and missed her. She didn't want to live anymore without her and wished she could be with her. About two weeks later, my sister's friend died... in a van accident - exactly the way that her sister had died. My sister took the Ouija board and put it out with the trash, and none of us has touched one since. - Bonnie F. The Saloon Owner The first time I ever saw a Ouija board being used, I was the only male in the room. I wasn't using it; I was standing there, watching. I didn't see anything to indicate that the little plastic thing with the window in it was moving on its own. I would have sworn that my girlfriend and her friend were moving the thing. We were in my girlfriend's house; they wanted to talk to the person who lived in the house when it was first built. They got an answer: J. McGillicuddy. I thought they were full of it, making it up as they went along, but then again, there's no way that they could have both come up with the same fictitious name. And I know they didn't plan it ahead of time because up until an hour prior, they didn't even know the board was in the house. (I had found it up in the attic when I was weathersealing a drafty window.) They got a second answer: the house was actually built at another location in 1913, then moved to its current location. I had noticed on the outside of the house that there were these big round things still attached to the house that looked like big round chain links. Those were to strap the house down when it was moved. I checked out some of the information at the county courthouse, looking at archives of census figures, etc. Indeed, there was a J. McGillicuddy who lived there and operated a saloon that had long since burned down. He died at the age of 33 - stabbed to death when he tried to intervene in an altercation between two of his patrons. To this day, I don't know if the girls were making it up. If so, it was quite a hoax, and they're both better tricksters than I ever gave them credit for being. - THISNAMESTAK The Choking Entity One night, my brother and I were playing with my new Ouija board, and it didn't take long for the entity to come. As soon as it was there, I felt this strange feeling come over me. It felt as if something was inside of me. It got hard for me to breathe, but I didn't say anything. We asked the entity if it was good or evil, and it spelled out "EVIL." Right then I knew something was wrong, because the entity was getting upset. It got harder and harder for me to breathe, until finally it felt like something pushed me and it was over. Ever since that night, strange things have been happening in my home: doors shut by themselves, I hear strange noises and see shadows in the middle of the night. Although this experience scared me, I still bring out my Ouija and talk to entities - even the upset ones. I ask them what their problem is and see if there's anything I can do to help. I just hope I never run into that same entity that tried to choke me. - BMSEP