Ouija Boards are Toys and Hasbro is Not the AntiChrist
“It’s a dangerous occult tool.” “I had a bad experience one time.” “My friends and I tried it, and it scared us bad.” “It’ll open a doorway to another realm.” “It will let them enter your house and even your body.” “It’s not a toy…it’s dangerous.”
Sounds like a consensus, sounds like everyone’s made up their minds, it even sounds like there’s some factual basis behind the fear of the Ouija Board. Oh if only Charles Kennard and William Fuld could see the state of their most successful invention now.
A doorway to the demonic, a gateway to the afterlife, a portal of communication with unknown powers and motives; if one were prone to following the collective fears of the masses, one would think that the Ouija Board was the single most dangerous item of the modern world. I mean, if these things are so dangerous, shouldn’t there be a possessed and tormented child in every other house in America? Better yet, if these things are so dangerous, shouldn’t our law makers be decreeing that Hasbro and their competitors cease and desist with their manufacture of these cardboard and plastic wonders?
“You can use a Ouija safely, but if you don’t close it properly, you can leave a door open for them.”
OK, who is “them”? Demons? Ghosts? Inter-dimensional beings? It strikes me that this is precisely what the vast majority of Paranormal Investigators want…an open highway between our world and theirs.
Enough with the issue skirting…Ouija Boards are not dangerous occult tools, they’re toys. It’s a board game gone wrong; one whose marketing premise worked far too well. In case you hadn’t guessed, I don’t share the opinion that Ouija Boards are a portal to anywhere but a vivid imagination. I find it silly that there’s been so much fuss over a simple collection of cardboard and plastic, but fuss there has been. I’ve recently stumbled over a number of groups and websites who, apparently for a lack of anything better to do, are calling for a boycott of Hasbro. Why? Well for no other reason than Hasbro is manufacturing a pink Ouija Board, marketed directly to girls under the age of nine. I mean, for shame Hasbro, the gall of a Toy Company that would manufacture and market toys, for children no less.
In response to this ridiculousness, I have begun seeking explanations for the above cautionary statements. Though I’ve had no success, yet.
In a past article, I covered the history and most feasible explanation for the effects that some people claim to experience when using Ouija Boards (or the Ouija’s generic variations); idiomotor effect. Contrary to the apparent etymology of that word, it doesn’t suggest that Ouija Board users are idiots, what it suggests is that the expectation of an effect (that expectation gained through the dissemination of stories, which have ultimately become urban legend in the case of Ouija) is enough to cause the users mind and body to fulfill that expectation subconsciously. In other words, when you place your expectant hands on the planchette, no matter how it appears, the movement of the planchette across the board is caused by your own hand, doubly so when there are two people involved.
Is this fact? No. It is the most likely explanation. What makes it the most likely explanation is the mere fact that all other explanations require a belief in any one of a number of paranormal hypotheses in order to be qualified.
Any and all of the reported effects of the Ouija Board are either one of two things; 1) an actual interaction with a ghost/spirit/demon or likewise entity, or 2) the result of imagination manifested through one of several psychological processes or some form of RSPK.
While number 1 is admittedly the wet dream of many a researcher and investigator (myself included), number 2 is far more likely. I should point out that I have used a Ouija Board, as well as a number of the Ouija’s generic counterparts. My younger self has sat in amazement while the planchette moved across the board under my fingers, spelling out all sorts of nonsense (some decipherable, most not), but when I think of these experiences, I can’t help but remember one subtle fact in our history, that fact being there have been only two documented instances of people having been harmed by an unknown or ghostly entity in the last 200 years, which sits in dark contrast the perceived danger of the Ouija as compared to the number of boards that exist around the world.
In light of this, I can’t help but acknowledge that the claim of danger involved with the Ouija Board is beyond a little bit silly. But, I’m not hanging my hat up yet, the purpose of this piece is to incite a response in the believer, I want your responses, in writing. I want to hear your explanations and experiences, but I’ll warn you, I won’t be kind to those who offer more of the same unsubstantiated anecdotal claims without so much as a nod to reason and fact. If you had a harrowing experience with a Ouija Board, tell me about it -preferably in the comment section below, though you may also send it via the website’s contact page for privacy sake- be precise, be honest and be polite.
© 2010, Martin J. Clemens. All rights reserved.
Tags: are Ouija Boards dangerous, Communicating with Ghosts, demons, ghosts, Hasbro, Ouija, Oujia Board, Pink Ouija, Spirit Board, spirits
Too bad, when people like you report the concept you have of how innocuous the Ouija board is as fact you do way more harm than you realize, This is untrue as anyone in the paranormal community who is involved in spiritual warfare will testify this is in fact an invitation to ANY passing spirit to use your body as a vessel to communicate (comes from the hand and arm being used by a spirit to move the planchette) I suggest a lot more research before you say without conviction the Ouija is harmless may I suggest a site by “Adam Blai” religious demonology from a Catholic viewpoint for clarification of this explanation. At least be responsible, even if your a skeptic there are many things you may not agree with or don’t understand but that does not mean they don’t exist, like the dangers with this spirit board.(Ouija)
What’s too bad is that you haven’t provided an explanation.
As I asked in the above article, explain yourself; you say the Ouija is dangerous…explain it. How? By what means? To whom?
The Ouija Board IS NOT DANGEROUS. It’s cardboard and plastic. Unless you plan on burying yourself under a couple thousand cases of them…there’s no harm that can come to you.
Again, as mentioned clearly in the article, there have been exactly two documented cases of so-called spirits harming a real person in the last 200 years. This is fact, a fact brought forward through research.
1) A man named John Bell was harmed in relation to the Bell Witch case in Tennessee in 1817
2) The Entity Case from California in the 1970’s
If Ouija boards are so dangerous, where are all the people who’ve been hurt by them?
None of this is important anyway, until someone can relay an experience with an acceptable amount of detail, that explains and lays out exactly what the danger is. Commentary from your position of self-imposed authority is about as valuable as the testimony of my dog, until you qualify it with supporting information.
Oh and next time, leave the ad hominem insults out, you don’t know me, nor do you know what lengths I’ve gone to in this pursuit.
Au contrare, I most certainly did provide an explanation and gave you a site of a respected demonologist ( Adam Blai)who also states differently they are a form of communication that leaves the use open to spiritual attacks , I accept you do not believe but you are wrong…you simply think because you cant see it and therefore is nonexistent, you try to belittle the construction to cardboard and plastic as a way of promoting your own agenda of trying to make this sound as if its a child’s toy, its not, spirit boards date back to 1000 years ago, China I believe, you can do that leg work if you want. If you want to know about the people who are hurt by them, then may I suggest you study spiritual warfare and case by case… demonic haunting’s to be exact, most often the worst are inclusive of this at some point, choose any reputable demonologist and ask or study their published cases. My point is someone who is misinformed telling the public its ok to buy your child a Ouija board and let them play..well that is very irresponsible on your part. I will stand by that until my last breath, as will any real demonologist. You have the site I am at, ask our Demonologist, Ken Deel, well known and highly respected or choose your own, anyway you slice it your wrong to make this type of statement about it being safe.
Adam Blai:
http://www.religiousdemonology.com/Sprit%20Communication.htm
“Ouija boards are just another form of spirit communication, it’s the act and not the tool that matters. The scary thing about Ouija boards is their pervasiveness and accessibility to young people. It seems most everyone has a Ouija board horror story or knows someone who does. Ouija boards, and other physical forms of divination are particularly problematic because they give legal rights for spirits to enter our bodies.”
( let me add you don’t know me or how deep in this arena I am or you would realize I did not insult you in any way in fact I have been overly nice to you and your archaic post about a very tired subject, at least to those of us in the front lines,….lol..;)
Aanica, you are misinformed. The Ouija Board was invented by a man named Charles Kennard, the name Ouija was concocted by his successor, William Fuld (it literally means Yes, Yes). This is a matter of public record, as can be read about here.
The Ouija, having been invented in 1901 by Kennard for sale as a toy/novelty via his Toy and Game company ‘The Kennard Novelty Company’, has nothing to do with the Chinese, or with spiritual warfare (whatever that is to you). I’ll suggest that you should have a look at another of my previous articles pertaining to the history and reality of Demonology.
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I have a simple explanation: mean girls like I was are pushing the damn thing! I probably traumatized many a slumber partier. Relax, people, ouija boards are not the devil. And, though we never use them in our investigations (nor any other toy), it is no different than going into a possibly haunted location and asking questions with a dvr. How come that’s ok?