Ouija Boards & Pompadours

I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a skeptic, so maybe ghosts, spirits, unsettled energy of the dead etc. exist but has it ever been proven?
I guess I don’t really know what to believe even after the experience that I had the other night with just a slab of cardboard, a shot glass, and six other folks. I’m not sure where the idea originated but my friend Dylan and I had decided that we were going to make a Ouija Board in order to see if the house that he lives in is haunted.
The house was built in 1908 for a General and was later used as a whorehouse of sorts, so one would have to assume that at least a hand full of people have died in that house in the past 99 years right? Well we were bound and determined to find out, I mean who needs historical records and such when you can just contact the old tenants yourself, even the dead ones.
Now a proper, I guess what would be called a seance, should never have too many people because you don’t want to scare the invisible roommates away. There are a few other rules that must be followed for example the table that the Ouija Board is on must be wood, all jewelry must be removed from the participants hands, there can be no more than two sources of light in the room and candles are preferable, you must have one person ready with a pen and paper to record the letters as the spirit spells words out, and most importantly everyone participating has to come to the experience with a clear, positive, and open mind, bringing negativity to the table will only bring negative spirits, you get back what you put out so be nice and respectful.
As for your main tools; homemade Ouija Boards are always better than the Milton Bradley version, all you need is a piece of cardboard with the alphabet, 0-9, yes, no, and goodbye written on it and be sure that the letters are big enough for the shot glass which will act as the planchette to cover only one letter at a time so it’s easier to read. And yes a shot glass or other glass item with a see through bottom on it will work. Once you have these things you’re ready, oh a bottle of wine is always nice too, at least we thought so.
Now my friend Bari and I had done this together once before and the thing was sliding all over the board as fast as it possibly could. Bari and I are certain that we in some way or another were birthed from the same womb, we’re yin and yang and that is the best combo for Ouija Boarding so we were first up. We began by holding hands (left over right) and saying a quick prayer just for good measure, and you always end the Ouija Boarding time with a quick prayer as well just to clear the air. Oh, and also it’s important to remember that if the spirit that is talking to you becomes mean or scary you have to put the glass you’re using straight to “goodbye” to avoid anything scary or unwanted. Ok, so yes Bari and I began and it took a bit for it to move until it just started rocking all over the place and telling us things about our friend Dylan who was sitting in the room with us. Everyone got a stab at it and everyone did have something happen. At one point when Bari and I were Boarding it told me that my Grandma was ill, which I was aware of, and told me that she loved me and it even gave me her initials which no one in the room knew. I ended up having to call my Grandma after that to make sure that she was alright. Crazy huh? There’s more!
The last time Bari and I went we “contacted” a woman named Ana who said that she had lived in the house in 1908 and occupied the room that Dylan now lived in. She said that she liked the music that Dylan’s band made and that she was going to watch over him while he was on tour which he leaves for in two or so weeks. At one point we tried to ask her her last name and all we kept getting was M-C-M. What’s scary is that the next day Dylan called his landlord to get the real dish on who lived there and it turns out that in 1908 when the house was built there was an Ana McMillan that lived there. Holy buckets!
The overall night was not at all scary which surprised me, in fact we ended the evening with a group field trip to Village Wok for a little late night grub and we even got to take the 15 passenger band that Dylan’s band the Corpse Show Creeps call home while on the road. (www.myspace.com/corpseshowcreeps)
It looked a little bit like this:



Someone very important to me and who I trust very much once said that Ouija Boards do work but only because the energy that our body exudes moves the mystifying oracle (shot glass). That seems like a more logical explanation to me but it’s fun to play along with the whole spooks thing sometimes and who really knows right? It could be all true, or an explanation closer to the truth could be that we try to find meaning in any words, letters, or numbers that we possibly can.
Try it yourself:


Say you got the letters and numbers in this order: A, L, W, Y, Z, 0, 2

Can you find meaning in this? Perhaps, “always, 2002?” Maybe in 2002 you were in a relationship with someone that you’re still in love with or it’s possible that this was the year that you met your sweetie or even the person you married. Could it be that someone close to you passed away in 2002? Any significant change that occurred in 2002 would be magnified a billion times in order to fit.
So that’s my take on the whole Ouija Board business, prove me wrong, make a believer out of me, until then I’ll remain a skeptic and all the believers will remain kooks to me.
Ouija Boards were introduced to America in 1890 as a novelty item, a board game and somehow we’ve managed to morph a game into reality. Even popular bands have placed Ouija Boards in high regards for example Cheap Trick claims that they asked a Ouija Board what their bands should be called and it said “CHEAP TRICK”.
Idiot Ouija Board! Uh Na Na Na Na!