One of the most notorious and feared paranormal objects of all time is not inherently cursed or blessed in any way outside of its use in order to make contact with the spirits of the dead. And yet this object was not largely considered evil or nefarious until the past decade when stories circulated that the object would often open a gateway to another dimension where evil spirits could come through. But with more parents concerned that the Ouija board could be a spiritual menace, fewer are being used. And people of all ages are finding ways to improvise their own using computers.
The ouija board, translated as “yes-no” board uses a wooden, paper, or cardboard platform on which letters, numbers, and some simple words are inscribed and a planchette which serves as an indicator for users to channel the dead to spell out messages. But as neither object serves a purpose independently, it can be fairly easy to put the same principle to use by means of a standard computer mouse. And this is causing a stir among parents afraid their kids will use the family PC to open a gateway to another world.
Essentially two users put their hands on either side of a computer mouse with an image of a Ouija board on the computer screen. As they navigate the mouse around, the cursor acts as the planchette and spells out messages. Most of the time the planchette is giving the same simple messages so often elicited from standard Ouija boards. But sometimes things get a little stranger.
One group, claiming to be a “witchboard enthusiast group” shared the fact that they use images and flash programs designed to simulate the feel of the ouija board to communicate with deceased relatives. But another story making the rounds tells of a pair of college students who in July began using the electronic ouija board technique and made contact with a malevolent entity. With different accounts of the story, the name changes, but the end of the story always ends up the same. One night while using the board, the computer began acting strangely turning itself off repeatedly any time the ouija board was used in an attempt to contact the entity further. The computer was reset, the old picture file of the Ouija board deleted and a new one used, and the computer still would shut down. The event perplexed the two so much that they eventually decided there was something more going on than a simple game and they ended their game.
So is the ouija board simple fun? Or is it something more that could be used as a tool to contact the other side? In many spiritual and occult circles, the very act of attempting to make contact with another entity is thought to be enough to accomplish one form of spiritual communication in many senses. But the communication, once opened, is very difficult to close according to many.