The Horror of Talking Boards! Part 2

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!

Bewitched, Season 2, Episode 28 Double Split

Since my last post I had an incident involving a Ouija.....well, not the board itself, but my phone cover, which looks like a Ouija board.

I went to visit a friend on my way home the other evening and she had another visitor. It was a man that I didn't know and I had never met him before. When I first arrived he was sitting in his truck and she and I walked next door to her mom's home to look at the new pool. 

We walked back to her driveway to talk for a few minutes, the guy jumps out of his truck to talk to us. She introduced us, we had chitchat, and everything was fine. I got my phone out to show her my son's backflip video on it and the back of the phone with the cover was pointed in the guy's direction. He took one look at it and said "A Ouija board, what have you got that for?" , to which I replied, "Because I like Ouija boards and I collect them" to which he came back with, "Those are of the devil!"  EYEROLLLLL (me). Really? Because they aren't stamped "Made by Satan"  The box plainly says Hasbro. 

I won't put the whole thing on here. It led to him telling me that I'm wrong with my beliefs, I have hell waiting for me, me yelling at him, and him apologizing to me later on. Yes, he did apologize, I accepted and told him it was okay. But, I came home, found him on Facebook and decided to go ahead and block him. Especially when it is someone that says that I am going to burn in hell when they are a grown man posting drunk pictures and belly selfies and they are married.  I don't need someone spouting anything on my wall, and I can't stand people like that. One day I am going to have a rant about this kind of stuff. 

Anyway, I had a Ouija story to share with you this week, didn't I?

So, this week will be about Ouijas, Spirit boards, and Talking boards on TV. 

1. Bewitched Season 2 Episode 28 "Double Split" I had a really hard time finding that picture of Samantha and Louise playing with the Ouija. I own the DVD collection, but I couldn't remember which episode it was. When I did a Google search, it wrongly lists Season 4, Episode 27 "Tabatha's Cranky Spell" as the Ouija episode. It is wrong everywhere. That episode actually has a crystal ball, not a Ouija. The right episode is Season 2, Episode 28 Double Split. I had to read scripts to find out which one it was, play it in the DVD and take the picture of it. I couldn't find one anywhere in the internet. So, there it is, so brief in time, Samantha and Louise  playing the Ouija. The script had them playing Pins, but they switched it to the Ouija for the episode. Nothing bad happens, and actually, no one even mentions it. 

Here's the part of the episode that has it.

  

2. CBS did a small news story about the Ouija. They interviewed a guy with over 500 boards. I would love to have that collection! Here it is:

It's actually not a bad piece, very informative.

3. "Ouija One"- Oddities    This one is fun with a little information. 

4. I Love Lucy "The Seance" Season 1 Episode 7  

    The Ouija only makes a brief appearance in this one, but its a fun episode. 

To watch the full episode go here:

Full Episode The Seance

5. Charmed Season 1 Episode 1 "Something Wicca This Way Comes"

One of the best scenes. Their spirit board is to die for. Nothing bad happens, of course.

The board also makes an appearance in Season 1 Episode 14 Secrets and Guys. A little boy uses it to communicate with Prue.

  

6. Dead Like Me "Curious George" Season 1, Episode 3

Georgia's little sister uses it to contact her. It is at the very end of this video. Its a touching scene.

Dead Like Me was an awesome show. Too bad it only lasted two seasons.

7. Married With Children Season 6 Episode 19 "Psychic Avenger"

A silly episode. There is a "Ouija King", that's about it.

8. X-Files Season 3 Episode 13 "Syzygy"

I couldn't find a video clip for this one. This is one of the darker Ouija TV episodes that I've found. Due to a planetary alignment, blaming Satanic cults, and the Ouija tells one of the girls that she is going to marry Satan.

9. A Haunting Season 2 Episode 2 "The Diabolical"

"A Haunting" is a paranormal ghost hunting re-inactment and eyewitness accounts type show.....that they've made into a series. It airs on the Discovery Channel. It features......tah dah.......Ed and Lorraine Warren....in some episodes. Now, you guys don't have to go far in this blog to know that I cannot stand the Warrens. I hate what they stand for, I hate what they do. To see what I'm talking about go here: Disgusting Warrens

Anyway, this episode seems to be about a little girl that cannot walk or talk, but she has the ability to hang out with spirits. A man visits and senses the presence of a spirit and they use a Ouija board....which ends up being a bad thing. 

Again, I couldn't find a video. Bummer.

10. Ghost Whisperer Season 5 Episode 14 "Dead To Me"

Margaret Cho stars in this episode as a professor that speaks to her dead fiance by using the spirit board...The video I have found is actually Margaret Cho talking about her role and her very own Ouija board collection. She talks about how she is scared of the board and that she throws out the planchettes! WHAT?! Margaret Cho?! Are you nuts?! Please tell me that by "throwing out" you actually mean sell....you know, for someone that is looking for it??

There are many more TV shows that feature boards, but I think that I've listed some pretty good ones. I am actually surprised how mild TV represents the board. Much better than the horror stories. It does seem to get darker with more modern shows. There are, of course, lots of ghost hunting and paranormal shows that feature the Ouija, but I really did not want to include ALL of those. And 95% of those shows actually blame the spirit boards and witchcraft for the problem they are "investigating" .

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of TV land concerning spirit/Ouija boards and remember if you plan to use a board, do it safely. Don't do it in fear. Don't be a pompous ass. Don't do it with drugs or alcohol. Board responsibly.

Blessings and Light

The Horror of Talking Boards! Part 1

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!

As you know from my most recent post describing my collection., I am a lover of all things Spirit/Talking/Ouija. I have been for a while. I've also created art of the Ouija. I don't find them evil. They don't make me writhe in pain from demon possession. I'm not scared by them or of them. I do get mad when people tell really stupid stories about them. Because, c'mon, that puts that person right up there with the preachers that have to tell their one and only demon possession story of the local fortune teller over and over.

I have been using the board in some form for the past 14 years (give or take) and I have only been mildly scared a couple of times, in the beginning. I'm not going to say that I haven't because I would be lying. I attribute it to nervousness of using a (gasp) OUIJA. I started out using The Psychic Circle board., then I graduated over to a Ouija. Such horror stories surrounded this board, that I was scared the first couple of times. And I was much younger. And I grew up in East Tennessee. Get the picture?

As I used the Ouija more, I realized that if I used it the same way as my Psychic Circle and treated it with respect, then I understood it was not a portal for the demonic hoard to take over the world.

So, I got to thinking about what causes these beliefs surrounding these Talking Boards? Why are people so scared? What makes them all have a horror story from someone that they know, that once (and only once), used the board?

The first one is obvious. Religion. But, I'm not going to discuss that one today. I want to discuss this one:

MEDIA

Note* I've called this Part 1, later I would like to list TV shows with Ouija boards and perhaps later still, books. I also want to list some of the more ridiculous homemade Youtube videos out there, a page of informative videos, and I may even make a few myself.

First, lets review some movies that the Ouija has been featured in:

1. The Exorcist- 1973

The Exorcist is indeed a frightening movie. It was long banned in the UK by a number of town councils and the VHS itself was not approved for release in the UK until 1999. Today, if we adjusted what the film made with inflation rates, the Exorcist would be the top grossing horror film of all time.

As you know, the movie story is about a young girl, Regan, who becomes possessed by a demon through her contact with a Ouija board.


The back story:

A young boy, "Roland Doe", becomes possessed in Maryland and the book, written by William Peter Blatty in 1971, and the movie were made from this story.

Peter Blatty used two sources of information for his novel, the diary of  Father Raymond Bishop and testimony of Father Walter Halloran.

The book supposes that Roland was introduced to the Ouija by an aunt and when she passed he tried to contact her with it. Soon after is when the noises and things moving began. Which was followed by of 30 exorcisms in a two week time period.

Later, another author, Mark Opsasnick , wrote a book about his investigation of the events and he concluded that Roland was just a "was simply a spoiled, disturbed bully who threw deliberate tantrums to get attention or to get out of school." If this is true, I bet after all those exorcisms, he was a changed child, just for the sheer fact of having to endure it.


2. Deadly Messages- 1985

Laura is a single woman with a Ouija board. The previous owner of the board was murdered and it now gives Laura warnings that she could be next! This movie is from TV 1985 and it is not based on a true story. This movie seems scary but has a happy ending. She is being stalked and she gets help in the form of a supernatural entity.

3.  Witchboard- 1986

A guy brings his Ouija to a party. He leaves it at a girl's house. She plays with the board alone and she thinks that she is talking to a nice spirit, but in movieworld reality, IT IS THE MOST EVIL SPIRIT IMAGINABLE. Also not based on a true story. 

I'm also going to include Witchboard 2 and Witchboard 3 here. 

4. Don't Panic- 1988

Michael's best friend, Tony, gives him a Ouija board for his 17th birthday. Soon, they open the gates of hell with it, and there begins a spree of terror and murder, with Michael being the suspect. I think what we can learn from this is that fully grown boys should not wear printed pajama sets if they expect to be taken seriously.

5. Koko The Clown- Ouija Board -1920

Silent and also the first cartoon to feature a Ouija

6. The Uninvited-1944

A brother and sister move into an old, seaside haunted house. They have a seance and use a board that they make from scrabble letters and a wine glass. The lesson learned from this movie, you parents don't have to worry about that Pink Ouija corrupting your young ones at that slumber party. All they need is paper, a pencil, and a shot glass, snuck from the parent's kitchen cabinet. 

7. Alison's Birthday- 1981

Alison gets a dire warning from her father, who is now a spirit. Again, this movie shows us that young girls can prove to be quite clever when they want to speak to those behind the veil.

8. The Devil's Gift - 1984

This movie is not based on Stephen King's short story "The Monkey", however the plot is so close, that many believe that it was plagiarized. A witch talks to a spirit on a Ouija, the spirit kills her, puts her spirit in a monkey with cymbals. The monkey ends up in a suburban home where it starts taking over the mind of a housewife. What's scarier than that Ouija? Those dolls. 

9. Awakenings-1990

This movie is based on the memoirs of Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist. So, it is a true story. Although the trailer doesn't show it, in the movie Robin Williams' character uses the Ouija to communicate with his patient. Nothing scary here.

10. Repossessed- 1990

I think that once you watch the trailer, there's no explanation needed for this one. Obviously a comedy, but it still ties the devil with the board.

11. Only You- 1994

Nothing scary here, unless you find romantic movies scary. I've only got this to say: Robert. Downey. Jr.

12. What Lies Beneath- 2000

This trailer doesn't show the Ouija that Claire uses, but it is in the movie briefly. Claire believes that something is haunting her home. She is trying to find out what going on, she uses a Ouija to help. I like this movie because the Ouija doesn't cause the terror that is happening in the film, it aids in uncovering what is going on.

13. Long Time Dead- 2002

Group of friends partying turn to using a Ouija, they all end up dead. The movie is the evil spirit killing them. Its the typical horror/Ouija coupling. 

14. Paranormal Activity-2007

The demon sets the Ouija on fire....but why would it set a demon portal on fire? Anyway, another typical horror story. 

Well, the majority of these movies that use the Ouija definitely have the Ouija as the cause of the problem, the portal of the devil...etc. So, this is definitely one of the causes of people's fear. People also like horror movies. People believe the Ouija can and will do these things. 

Spirit boards are a tool for spirit communication. The key to them is to not use them frivolously, don't use them if you are scared of them, don't abuse them, and don't be arrogant while you are using them. My use of spirit boards has went from using them quite often to only using them every now and again. I enjoy them, but now they have become more of a collector piece for me. 

Some good websites that have lots of info are:

/http://www.ouijaboards.com.au/

Their Facebook page, which has lots of great pics of different spirit boards

https://www.facebook.com/ouijaAustralia

http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/

http://witchboards.net/

And, of course, we can't leave out the William Fuld site

William Fuld Ouijas

I hope you enjoyed this article, I know that I didn't list ALL the movies and I'll add more to it at a later date, but this is a good starting point. I think I will try to find a copy of Only You and watch it.