Thought today would be a good day to bring them up.

What is your take on them? A piece of wood that's fun to play with, or something evil never to be touched?

Me, personally, have had unexplained things happen when I messed around with them. Never will touch another one in my life.

I think the power is behind the person that uses them. If they believe, then wonky shit is bound to happen, yeah? Personally I can't bring myself to touch one. The give me the heebidee jeebidees!

and that was me *head desk*

boy...that icon is appropriate this morning lol

hee hee hee Yeah, I agree with you. Some crazy crap started tohappen. I tossed the thing in the trash, then had to bless my bedroom. *shivers*

*shrugs* I think stuff like that is about as mysterious and scary as Monopoly. LOL

Sorry, but to me there is nothing in this world that doesn't have a sensible sientific explanation. Just things that don't have one YET. And when we try to find explanations on our own we have about as much a chance of being right as the people in 800 AD had of having found the right explanation on how the solar system worked. After all, they didn't KNOW they were wrong about the earth being flat and the center of the universe, either. So I believe we'd do best to just leave it alone until sience provides the answers. (Err yeah, am reading a book set in 800 AD at the moment, that's where the odd example comes from.)

800 AD huh. Is the book good? What's it about?

Well I don't think science puts ouija boards at the top of the to do list,lol. So I guess we'll be grasping at straws for years to come. *giggle*

it said my friend woulddie young in a carcrash and two weeks later he died in a carcrash! he was only 18 it was just last year. trust me on this one NEVER GO NEAR THE THINGS!! i know it sounds like bullshit but i swear it's true

Don't really need a Ouija board to talk to the non-living.  Been doing it for years, but yeah, I know they do work.  My sister won't use one, because the last time she did we had to banish something not so nice and it took more than one ritual to do it.  She was 12 at the time.

Spirits are all around -- they sometimes just need a conduit for the living to hear them.  Usually that's a medium (which I have functioned as) and sometimes they need a bit of help.  Ouija boards offer that help -- as do electronic devices -- that scene in the Sixth Sense where Bruce Willis' character finally hears the voices in the background on the tape is a perfect example.  I have that happen all the time on my answering machine.  The phone will ring (or in some cases not ring and I know this because I've been sitting next to the phone when it's happened) and there won't be anyone on the line -- but when I replay the messages, there are voices trying to reach someone.  Unfortunately, none of them ever give me a clear indication as to who the message is destined for, which kind of sucks, because I would pass it along. 

So now that you're all creeped out by me, I'll go.

I won't touch them on principle.  I'm one of those people who doesn't really "believe" in them.  but at the same time I'm not going to discount them.  I see no reason to mess around with stuff like that.  In the first place, even if it's just a game, I don't really see how one can derive enjoyment by putting your hands on a little clear disc thingy and waiting for it to mystically move.  And everybody accusing everybody else of being the one who touched it.  

It sounds like junior high entertainment to me.  So yeah...in the first place I think it's a boring way to spend your time and in the second place, if it worked, I wouldn't want it to.

I don't know if there's life after death or if there are otherworldly beings "out there"  but I know that THIS life is plenty for me to deal with without adding a whole other layer of crap to it.

It is not a game.  It has never been a game.  Executives who aren't necessarily well-versed have marketed the Ouija board as a game.  It is not. 

And please don't dismiss it as one.

Yeah, I've seen dead people since I was 6. Talked to them, I thought they were real people until my mom asked me who I was speaking with one day. The ouija I though was something fun to play with. Never thought I could bring something out or over with it. nasty thing it was too. Stayed in the house for three years.

I think people have a right to whatever beliefs/views they have.  And if someone wants to consider the Ouiji board "just a game" I think that is a valid way to consider it.  IT IS MADE BY PARKER BROTHERS.  Whether it was made by people who had some kind of mystical know how, or whether it was made by "evil people"or whether it could be used as some kind of conduit...or whatever, it's still made by PARKER BROTHERS.  So it IS a game.  

I strongly believe that no actual physical object, no matter how much hype is surrounding it, has power in and of itself.  It is belief, more than anything else IMO that makes anything real.  So while I can respect people who have had bad experiences with it, or have had experiences at all, and while I don't feel it's that great of an idea to mess around with something that at best isn't that entertaining and at worst could be something really bad...I still don't think that anyone who chooses to see things through a purely scientific perspective should in any way be denigrated.

If it weren't for more scientifically minded people, we would be plunged again into the dark ages.

If you think it's something bad, don't mess with it.  But there is no reason to get in a huff because someone chooses to see something made by PARKER BROTHERS as a game.  I don't want to hear all this conspiracy theory "the executives don't know what they're messing with" stuff.  I've already said I won't personally mess with one. (because I see no reason to.  The idea doesn't really appeal to me.) It is superstition to give power to inanimate objects.  Whether or not an object can be used as a conduit or a tool to do something mystical, I don't know, nor do I care to explore it.  However, you can't mass produce mystical objects that have power IN AND OF THEMSELVES.  That's superstition.

Ok, while this has not envolved into a fight yet, I get the feeling the tension is starting to rise. So I'd like to remind you all to stay civil and accept each others positions. I'll keep an eye on this, and the second I see the first person insult someones opposing view on this, the thread will be closed.

Just because person A doesn't believe in it, doesn't give them the right to call someone who does crazy or whatever. Same as those others have no right to attack person A for not sharing their belief.

And no Zoe, you're not person A. I just used that expression to avoid confusing everyone with several "someone"s. LOL

The power is never in the "tool"  whatever that tool is at the moment.  The power, just like the intentions, lie within the user.  And that goes for anything -- not just mystical objects.

If you don't know how to use a computer, it's just an overly large paperweight.  In the hands of some people, a computer can do wonderful (or harmful) things.  It all relies within the hands of the user.

And in case anyone was wondering, that anonymous post was mine. 

heh dia.  thanks for clarifying.  And I'm done. lol.  Stated my view have nothing else to add :)

Well, I would never use one...I have heard first hand accounts of things that have happened to people i'm close to who've used them, and i believe that it is possible to contact spirits through it....however, i don't believe in ghosts, and don't think that what's being contacted is whoever's dead uncle or mom or whatever, either....

I have always had very strong religious beliefs, and I enjoy Buffy, etc., because to me, it's so far from the reality of the spiritual world that it's nothing more than fantasy - but I believe in God - and I also believe that there are very real, evil spiritual forces out there, and it's terribly foolish and dangerous to mess with them...

maybe i wouldn't have even responded to this right now, but i just finished watching that "possession" episode of angel season 1 -- "got you under my skin" or whatever it is -- and even that unsettles me more than i'm happy with, because in some ways, some of the things it dealt with are rooted in reality -- and that bothers me...

fantasy is one thing -- but there is a spiritual reality as well -- and I believe that ouija boards are nothing to play with...nothing to touch, really, as far as I'm concerned...

You’re not creeping me out Niamh, so no reason to go. ;)

But how’s this for creepy?

I won't touch one. I won't do a séance either.(you know where you sit in a circle and hold hands) When I was five or six(can't remember the time of the year) I was with my sister at our friend's house next door. We did a séance. At first nothing happened. We got up, left the room and went to their living room. They were moving so when we had oranges we put newspaper on their floor. The room opened up to their dinning room, so it was like one big room but with carpet on one side and tile on the other. It was maybe half an hour later when we heard a whistling sound that seemed to come from the ceiling fan. We all looked up and then we heard "Where is Tonia? Where is Tonia? My name is Joey MacCruchen<?>. Call me again. I'll be back."

At first we blamed their brother. We thought he was just screwing with us. We found nothing that could explain what we had just heard. We ran out of the house and their grandmother locked herself in her room so that she could pray.

From what we could figure out(which wasn't much), we thought he followed us from Scotland. When we did the séance my parents were unpacking our stuff from Scotland because our garage flooded. My mother used to hear a child screaming in our house in Scotland. Luckily for us, he seemed to be a lonely little boy who wanted a friend. (I was his friend) A few years ago I got the feeling that he'd finally found some peace. I hope he did.

As someone who actually hangs out with ghost "hunters" now and then, some groups do use them or some form of them. And others are all "use them and bad things will happen! don't even touch them!" So after reading both sides, and having a lengthy discussion with a woman who runs one of the paranormal sites that stresses not to ever go near them, it's like a gun or alcohol, or even sex to some degree. You have to be SMART and SAFE when using them, and some people because of that just preach not to use them at all because like with all those other things, sometimes, you can't get people to do it safely and you don't want to be liable for someone being incredibly stupid. LoL 'Cause they will come back saying "She said it was okay, so I did it.", ignoring all those cautions you might have given.

Can I just say that one of those ghost hunters I hang out with is Patrick Burns who recently got a tv show, Haunting Evidence on CourtTV? Woot woot. Pimpage for our fearless leader person! (He hates it when I call him that, lol, ever since a few Halloweens ago when he showed some video from an investigation at a local restaurant where he went into the supposedly haunted girls room after the girls complained about noises. He heard a noise and ran out of the bathroom with his pants around his ankles AND ran right into a pole.)

Ouch! I hope he was ok. Man I can't wait till I get my cable turned back on,lol. I love Haunted, on teh travel channel.