The spiritualist theory is older. It maintains
that the spirits of the dead souls use the Quija Bard
to communincate- and occasionally interact-with the
living.
The other major theory maintains that the working
of the Quija Board-along with several other
psychological and psychic phenomena-is an automatism.
The dictionary defines autonatism as "an action
performed without the doer's intentio or awareness.
In other words, while the Quija operator's conscious
mind denies controlling the planchette(the thing you
use to spell out the words) it is really the
operator's subconscious mind controlling the muscles
in the hand and arm, spelling out messages it needs
or wants the conscious mind to hear.
You be the judge of which theory you believe. I
personally believe in the first theory. My experinces
with the Quija Board has been extreme, and I will
alwyas believe in them.
The messages that come from or through the Quija
Board most often takes the form f a conversation.
When people sit downat the Quija Board,ordinarily
one of their first questions is,"Does anyone want to
speak to us?" or"Are there any messaes for us?" If
there is no answer,the Quija session would end. If
contact is made-as usually happens-the "Other" will
usually identify itself. It may be a spirit of a
relative, friend or recently deceased celebrity.
given time, it may change names, personalities, or it
may give way to another spirit who wants to
communicate.
The "Other" often identifies itself as the spirit
of a famous person.Religious,philosophical and
political spirit voices are most common,particularly
Jesus,Saint John, Socrates, and Lincoln. The
archangel Micheal seems to be very popular as well.
There is no such thing as a typical Quija
message. As you will read in these pages, the range
of what people have experienced with the Ouija Board
is incredible. Your experience-if you choose to work
the board-will be entirely unpredictable.
To give you just a quick idea of the range of
Quija board experience, here are some brief stories.
One woman, when 17, was told bt the Quija board
that her boyfriend, a solider in the Vietnam, had
been shot at by another G. The board was specific in
its details; it was night,Gary was riding in a jeep
with another solider, the flashlight Gary had been
holding was hit, Gary had not been hurt. She wrote
Gary about this, half-thinking she was crazy. But
Gary ,shocked, verified that the story was true. The
details were accurate; he had been shot at-while the
letter was in transit...
A 78 year old woman worked with the Quija board
happily for thirty years. a horse racing fan, she
used the Quija board to pick winners. Her greatest
success came when the board told her to box three
numbers-she won $768.00.
But in case you thought the Quija Board only told
you what you wanted or ought to hear, here ia a
letter received from the mother of a child who was
traumatized by her Quija Board.
Just before our daughter's 12th birthday four
years ago, she played Quija with her friends and
asked the qestion,"When will I die?" The board
answerd her, she told us that she would die at age
13! My husband and I didn't think anything of it at
first, not being superstitous and knowing that it
was just a game.
However, a timed passed, we realized the impact
"this game" prediciton had on our daughter. We
eventually couldn't ignore the changes in her life,
ie., avoiding going out very far from home, dreading
trips, taking illness like the common cold versy
seriously. Our dsughter was very ferful, often
speaking of her dread and crying many times. The
tenison was building in our family and we found
ourselves being frightened for her and us, because
she believed it soo much.
As her 13th birhtday grew nearer, our daughter
seemed more resigned and didn't talk about her fate
as much as before-almost like the Kubler-Rose staeges
of Death and Dying-now Acceptance. We weren't sure
what was happening, but on the day of her 13th
birthday, she boldly annouced that she had fooled the
Quija Board game! We knew then that this fear had
never left her, and frankily we,too,were relived to
see her reach age 13.
I am writting you about this experience because I thought you would be interested. I know this game has been around a long time, and I believe it is just a game. But apparently it can have some serious side effects, especially on impressionable young people. This short letter may not reveal to you compeletly just how much effect our dsughter;s reaction to Quija had on our family that one year. You would have to know what kind of people we are, and that feelings, like I have described here,haven't occurred to us before the game experience or since.
In 1920, an American salior claimd his Quija Board told him that his wife's missing ring was taken by a friend, The salior beat that friend. A judge determined that the Quija's testimony did not justify assault.
The story was first reported in the Washington Post, on August 20,1949. The headline read,"Priest Frees Mt. Rainier[Md.] Boy Reported Held in Devil's Grip." It's first line is, ' In what is perhaps one of the most remarkable experiences of its kind in recent religious history. a 14 year old Mount Rainier boy has been freed by a Catholic Priest of possession by the devil, catholic sources reported yesterday."
J.B. Rhine, director of the parapsychological laborator at Duke University, investigatied the case and was quoted as saying it was "the most impressive" poltergeist phenomenon he had ever come across.
The word poltergeist comes form the greek word meaning "noise ghost". Some of the maifestations included:
the bed the boy was sleeping in moving across the floor.
a heavy armchair tilting and falling over, spilling the boy who was sitting in it,his chin resting on his knees.
in the boys presence, fruit placed on the refrigator jumping up and hurling itself againt the wall.
scratching noises from the walls near where the boy stood.
Neighbors of the deens first laughed off the phenomena and said their house was known to be haunted. But when Douglas visted thier houses, manifestions, continued, including violent,apparently involuntary shakings of the boys bed.
the Deens turned to their minster for help. Originally skeptical, he invited Douglass to his house. The minister was convinced when he witnessed several manifestations, including the one in which the heavy arm chair tipped over. He then tried to tip the chair over while sitting in it,but he couldn't.
A 50 year old Jesuit priest from Saint Louis the observed the boy and the manfestations. For two months he stayed with him;sometimes even slept in the same room. He took the boy to Georgetown University Hospital for extensive studies, and to Saint Louis University Hospital. Exorcism was agreed upon only after all other possible cures had been exhausted.
The boys parents were not Catholic, so before the exorcism the boy had to convert and receive religious instruction.
Twenty to thirty perfoemances of the ritual were held, each lasting about three quarters of an hour. the priest, having fasted, started by saying Mass and praying for divine strength. More prayers and psalms followed. He then sprinkled holy water on the boy and read the twentvy-seven-page ritual, which ordered the evil spirit to depart.
"I command you, whoever you are, unclean spirit, and all your associates,obessing this friend o God, that by the mysteries of the Incarnation,Passion,ressurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the mission of the Holy Spirit and by the coming of the same Master of Judgement, give me your name, the day and hour of your exit, together with some sign, and even though i am an unworthy minister of God, I command thee to obey in all these things nor ever again in any matter to offend this creature of God, or those who are here or any of their possessions....
"Depart therefore, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, give place to the Holy Spirit through the sign of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord who with the father and the same Holy Spirit lives and reigns now and forever, Amen."
The boy at first reacted violently to this-screaming, cursing, and talking in Latin, a language he had never studied. At one point he claimed he had a vision of Saint Michael casting out the devil.
Finally the priest announced the boy was cured. The manifestions had stopped.
The Washington Post reported that exorcisms and cases of diabolical possession are very rare in the western Christian world. The solemn rite of exorcism was quite possibly the first performed in the Washington area. permission to hold the exorcism must be recieved from the archbishop after full documentation and verification.
Credits goes to: Stoker Hunter from his book"QUIJA
The most dangerous Game"