I dont' believe in any of this stuff. When I was very young about 35 years ago, my father asked the Ouija board what my birthday present was going to be. It spelled out "Two spelling tests". Obviously this was my father's work along with his deranged sense of humor. Runs in the family by the way.

I've always hated ouija boards. One time, it just went on moving on it's own. We never played it again. :\ So I guess tehre is some unexplainable truth to it. It just depends on who is hosting.

anyone else have stories on this topic, thought i would ressurect it cuz im interested.

The Ouija board is based on the Ideomotor effect.
[skepdic.com]

Instead the theorizing, one just has to do an EXPERIMENT.
Blindfold the people using the Ouija board, and then have 2 objective 3rd parties record what is being pointed at, and install a video camera above the board as well.
Ensure the blindfolds cannot be seen through, and actually cover the lower parts of the eyes, so folks can't peek.

These are the simple "magic tricks" that are used by cultists and scammers to trick people. "Cold Reading", spoon bending, and various other basic magic tricks are used to trick the gullible. Train your mind to see throught these tricks, and also to see through psychological tricks.

Coz

My cousin played ona ouija board for a while (<a year). When I was pregnant with my daughter (8 months along), my cousin and my sister got onto the ouija board. My sister recognized the spirit of my stepfather (not an evil person). He kept showing them "Vee" and "baby". And they said, Yes, Vee is having a baby next month. And he wrote to them 3-13. And they said no, she's due on March [b:ec658f2d78]19th[/b:ec658f2d78]. And he kept writing 3-[b:ec658f2d78]13[/b:ec658f2d78]. So anyway they siad goodbye (or whatever!).
The next morning, early at about 5am, I woke up because I heard the squeak of my bedroom door opening. I looked and thought it was my roommate opening it really quietly, he used to go into my master bathroom to get q-tips, whatever. So I looked and the door opened and a dark (shadowy) "spirit", for lack of a better term, came in and looked exactly like it was peeking over into the crib. FREAKED ME OUT. I did NOT hallucinate this.
I called my cousin that day, she told me about the incident the night before. I kind of wigged out, but at least I knew who was peeking my baby's crib!
I went into labor late night on the 12th, my baby girl was born on the evening of the 13th. spooky.

I don't know if you are saying that the "spirit-ghost of your stepfather" was peeking into the crib?

Of course, I know that most people will just believe whatever they WANT to believe with these types of things.

If that would have happened to me, i would have called it a "dream". I have many half-waking dreams. Our imaginations can create anything, that is what a hallucination is, a product of our imagination that APPEARS real. It seems to me you were thinking about your babies birthdate, and this Ouija board, and your stepfather, so its not too much of a stretch to have a "spooky dream" about him and the baby. Seems rather logical, actually.

As far as "spooky" Mothers Intuition, just 5 minutes ago i read this weeks newsletter by James Randi providing an explanation for this type of thing.
Its a variation of the "Confirmation Bias". [skepdic.com]

I know most people just want to believe what they want to believe.
But this can get people into trouble, as they can be EASILY TRICKED by cultists and scammers.
We have to learn how to think critically.

Coz
[www.randi.org]
THAT SPECIAL BOND
Reader Kasper Juelsgaard in Denmark asks:

People often talk about the "special" bond between a mother and her child, where she can feel that something has happened to her child and so on. Also some claim that some others as well have that bond. Do you disregard that as a myth or is there something to it, and if so can it be explained scientifically?
Yes, Kasper, it can be explained. You'd do better by consulting a psychologist, but my price is much better, so consider that fact when you read what follows.

As I understand it, there are two major ways — among many — we're prepared to handle the world. One is by acquired learning, the other is by what's already "hard-wired" into our brains when we first emerge to face our existence. Examples of hard-wired information are such things as fear of falling, alarm at loud noises, and recognition of angry human facial expressions. Mothers, the biologically-destined care-givers to the young, are especially sensitive to changes in breathing patterns, voice sounds, and other subtle changes in their infants.

However, I suspect that you are asking more about mothers who report that they "sensed" their child was in danger, seemingly by some paranormal means. Let me relate briefly an event that occurred some years ago when I lived in New Jersey. A young mime/magician was in residence for a year at my home, with the approval of his mother, attending the local high school. One night at 3 a.m., I was awakened by the phone. It was his mother, calling from some thirty miles away, very alarmed that she "just knew" somehow that her son Sammy was ill, and asking me to check him out. I confirmed that she was indeed correct, and that Sammy was at home for a day or two until he recovered from a 24-hour 'flu bug that was going around.

"Aha!" said the jubilant mother, "You see, I know when something's wrong with him!" I couldn't resist asking her when she'd last called with that same sort of premonition. She thought a moment, and admitted that she'd called just two weeks earlier with that same notion — which on that occasion was incorrect. I reminded her that she had called several times before that, too, and had been equally wrong — and that there had been recent media reports that this 'flu bug was present in the local school system. Nonetheless, she averred, this time she'd been much more certain about her alarm, than previously.

It boils down to this: we tend to notice and remember when a theory is fulfilled, and to forget when it isn't; we're selective that way. Race-track addicts recall every win, but can't give you any details of heavy hunches that failed. Viewers watching Sylvia Browne on Montel exult over every "hit" she makes, but don't count the much more numerous misses. We note with dismay when the price of gasoline goes up two cents, but not when it goes down.

It is a mistake to ascribe supernatural causes to events unless we've taken into account the probabilities involved, have thought about other evidence that we've not recorded, or considered the possibility that our account or memory of the matter might be faulty.

No, sorry, it wasn't a dream. I have experienced half-waked things and this was not one of them!
As for knowing it was my step-father, I did not know until later that my sister and my cousin had been chatting about me on the ouija board. Only after I mentioned to my cousin that something had happened did she tell me about her and my sister's experience.
I believe in spirits. I am Catholic (raised Protestant) and I believe in good and evil spirits. I KNOW that something was in my room that morning, it was already light, I stared at it for a long time, the doorknob to my bedroom door was turned (that's the noise that woke me up) and the door was opened about half-way by SOMETHING. That certain something walked a few feet to the crib, put its hands on the side, and peeked in, it bent over a bit.
Does this still freak me out to this day? I was only 18 then (barely) and I'm 32 now so it doesn't spook me out anymore, but at the time it really did.

Again, like i said, people can choose to carefully examine their Beliefs, or not. Usually not 99% of the time.
In terms of cults, they often use "supernatural" beliefs to trick people, and most people think that way so it works.

Ouija boards are the ideomotor response, as explained above.

The easiest person to fool is our self.

Coz

I remember when I was in my mid teens. My family had gone out for a few hours and I was alone in the house. It was midafternoon.

Suddenly, I heard thumping from up in the attic. This was followed by dragging sounds. I knew what it was -- our house was haunted and there were ghosts up there, dragging dead bodies around! Scared for my life, I ran out and sat on the front steps. Eventually my parents came home and found me out there, white as a sheet, shaking with fear. I told them about the ghosts and my dad bravely went up to the attic to investigate.

Turns out we had squirrels in the attic and they were dragging boxes around to make nests.

Man, those little animals make a lot of noise!

Excellent points and well said Coz.

In one of the topics covered on Penn & Teller's series [i:db03bd5b80]Bullsh*t[/i:db03bd5b80],
they covered Ouija boards. They did a pretty good job with it. Actually the entire series is very good.

For those that aren't familiar with Penn & Teller, they're magicians like Randi, and they've fairly recently started a series called Bullsh*t where they expose the seemingly supernatural (or just plain deception in some cases) behind things like Ouija boards, Feng shui, psychics, ect. They cover a pretty wide range of these topics.

Magicians are in a perfect position for exposing such things because, after all, they're in the business of deception. That's their whole profession. The better they're at it, the more famous they become. But there's a big difference between them and those that are looking to take advantage of others through such deception. The magicians let you know right off the bat that they're fooling you and that it's solely for entertainment purposes. Clever deception is a fascinating art, and there's nothing wrong with it as long as the person being deceived knows that they are and that it's all in fun.

The con-artist on the other hand works their magic for an entirely different reason -- to exploit others. And the most convincing in their line of work become the most famous, just like with magicians.

They're more or less polar opposites of each other.

Some of these deceptions may seem harmless, but these issues are important to the cult recovery & education community because as Coz has stated:

Quote

These are the simple "magic tricks" that are used by cultists and scammers to trick people. "Cold Reading", spoon bending, and various other basic magic tricks are used to trick the gullible. Train your mind to see through these tricks, and also to see through psychological tricks.

An interesting note is that Houdini was a debunker as well back in his day, just like James Randi and Penn & Teller. In an introduction to a book of his, [i:db03bd5b80]Miracle Mongers and Their Methods[/i:db03bd5b80], he wrote:

Quote

"ALL wonder," said Samuel Johnson, "is the effect of novelty on ignorance." ... My professional life has been a constant record of disillusion, and many things that seem wonderful to most men are the every-day commonplaces of my business. ... Much has been written about the feats of miracle-mongers, and not a little in the way of explaining them. Chaucer was by no means the first to turn shrewd eyes upon wonder-workers and show the clay feet of these popular idols. And since his time innumerable marvels, held to be supernatural, have been exposed for the tricks they were. Yet today, if a mystifier lack the ingenuity to invent a new and startling stunt, he can safely fall back upon a trick that has been the favorite of pressagents the world over in all ages. He can imitate the Hindoo fakir who, having thrown a rope high into the air, has a boy climb it until he is lost to view. He can even have the feat photographed. The camera will click; nothing will appear on the developed film; and this, the performer will glibly explain, proves that the whole company of onlookers was hypnotized! And he can be certain of a very profitable following to defend and advertise him. ... My business has given me an intimate knowledge of stage illusions, together with many years of experience among show people of all types. My familiarity with the former, and what I have learned of the psychology of the latter, has placed me at a certain advantage in uncovering the natural explanation of feats that to the ignorant have seemed supernatural.

A great place to start exploring these things is to rent, buy, or catch on [i:db03bd5b80]Showtime[/i:db03bd5b80] (if you have that particular cable station) Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t. They cover these topics in an easy to watch and entertaining way and cover a huge range of topics; and it doesn't really matter if you agree with their perspective on these issues or not because it still gets you to start looking at things more critically. You'll start to see just how far trickery is played in our lives.