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Ouija Board

My Experiences

By Aibhlinn RosePublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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Photo/Drawing credit: Hernan Marin

I've always been obsessed with the paranormal, with pushing the boundaries of reality, science, and seemingly fiction. So, I thought little of it when I borrowed a neighbour's Ouija board one night and played with the piece of wood by myself. Little did I know what kind of world of trouble I'd get myself into.

Now, most good horror stories start on a "dark and stormy night" (such a cliche, right?). Well, mine doesn't and, I assure you, mine is true.

I got home from middle school early one day, it was one of those days where we got out early for parent/teacher conferences or whatever. My parents usually didn't attend those so I wasn't too concerned about it. Anyway, I decided to play with my dogs in the backyard while my dad was at work and my mom was in the hospital at the time, so I was home by myself.

It was a normal day, like any other. Our street held little to no traffic so I didn't have to worry about the dogs losing their minds because they heard a car pull a little too close to the driveway, or someone trying to sneak into the house. I owned three dogs at the time so I found it SUPER entertaining to throw a ball and watch them go after it, then fight over who would bring it back to me.

Once I got bored with the dogs, I went into the house and found something to eat, pretty normal, right? Except there was almost nothing, save for some fruits, to eat. So, I grabbed an apple and went for a walk down the street. I ended up catching up to this older lady, maybe mid-to-late-forties, who was walking to the gas station down the street. I asked her if she'd like some company and she invited me to tag along. This being a small town, almost everyone knew everyone, so I was pretty safe.

We got down there and she bought me an ice cream to eat on our way back, and on our way back we got to talking about pagan beliefs, her views of crystals, and if she believed in ghosts or not. She was very adamant that they existed, but not like everyone believed they did. When I asked her what she meant by that, she said she had something to give me when we got back to her house. Of course, it piqued my interest, so I didn't mind tagging along for a bit longer.

By the time we got back to her house, it was almost two o'clock so I didn't stay long since my father was due home at any moment, but I stayed long enough for her "present." It was a Ouija board.

At the time, I'd heard of the things but never really took much interest in them. My father and mother were very Christian so we never talked of those things, I just knew my dad thought they were evil and I thought they were another gimmick to scare church kids into not being very imaginative or afraid of the unknown. I was not one of those children. I took the board home with glee and hid it under my mattress until my dad went to bed later that night.

At around ten o'clock or so, my father finally went to bed, and he's one of those that falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, so it didn't take very long before he was snoring as loud as possible and I was sure it was safe. I slid the board from under my bed and gathered some of my mom's scentless tea candles and made a little circle with them on the floor around the board. When I unfolded it was when I found the planchette that goes with. I thought the lady had forgotten about it so I had grabbed a clear plastic cup instead. Obviously not needing the cup, I set myself up and started talking.

At first it was nonsense like; "Hello?" "Are there any spirits around?" "Can you tell my fortune?" Stupid things that a middle schooler with no experience would ask. Finally I decided to be serious and I moved the planchette where it belonged and began asking again, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

The planchette moved to "Hello" and then to "Yes." It freaked me out for a moment and I flipped the board. I knew I hadn't moved it and no one else was playing with me, so the only other solution was a ghost. Wrong.

I set it back up once I calmed down and prepared myself to receive a response.

"Who is this?"

Nothing.

"Are you a ghost?"

"Yes."

"Did you die here?"

"No."

"Did this house mean something to you?"

"No."

"Why are you here?"

"T-h-e b-o-a-r-d."

"You're attached to the board?"

"Yes."

"How did that happen?"

Nothing again. By this time it occurred to me that this particular spirit didn't like talking about its origins much but I wanted its name so I asked it again; "Who are you?"

After a long silence, the planchette moved.

"A-e-s-h-m-a."

"Aeshma? Where is that from?"

Again, no answer. I gave up on origins and asked it why it was talking to me.

"R-a-g-e."

"Rage? What does that mean?"

"A-n-g-r-y."

"I don't understand."

"Goodbye."

Try as I might, I couldn't get Aeshma to answer me again, so I gave up and went to bed, somewhat horrified that I had actually spoken to something. Part of my hoped it was an elaborate hoax, part of me hoped it was real.

I woke up the next morning and didn't go to school. I had developed a massive, throbbing headache and was nauseous beyond belief. My dad had already left for work by then so I was left home alone with the dogs. I let them in the house and laid on the couch to watch TV. As you might guess, the TV wouldn't work. We had satellite at the time so our signal was pretty decent, so when my shows kept cutting out I couldn't figure out why. I couldn't climb on the roof to check the dish, so my only option was to check the wiring inside the house. All of the TVs were doing it, so I guessed it was the station messing up. Nope, every single channel would go in and out. It was a perfectly sunny day with barely any clouds out, so I couldn't understand the source of the interference.

I opted for a nap on the couch, hoping it would be resolved by the time I woke up again.

I was woken up by all three dogs barking incessantly in the kitchen. I screamed at them to be quiet as my headache hadn't eased and wasn't in the mood for useless barking. I got up to investigate the source and found them all nose-down, barking at a neatly swept up pile of broken glass, the cupboard above open and a glass missing. Of course I was confused, but I assumed my cat had gotten up there and knocked a glass down. Why it was neatly swept up already, I had no idea, nor did I think too long on it. I cleaned it up after shooing the dogs away, then went back to the couch.

Broken Glass

Image: Unknown

I tried the TV again, still nothing. Another nap, here I came. I slept off and on like this for a while, almost the whole day. I finally woke up for the rest of the day around one o'clock in the afternoon and went into the kitchen for water. When I reached up for a glass, I felt something sharp in my foot and cried out. When I looked down, sure enough, it was the same pile of glass from earlier, in the same spot, and one of the larger pieces had gotten my arch.

I hobbled to the bathroom to pull out the shard and wrapped my foot. It didn't go too deep, it was mostly a surface wound as I had been standing on my toes when it happened.

I went back, swept the glass up, and this time I dumped it in our large trash can outside the side door instead of the kitchen trash and went back to my water only to find the glass was already full. I hadn't even touched the sink yet, so it definitely started scaring me a little. What was worse, when I went to pick it up, it burnt my hand. It felt as though someone had boiled the water then poured it in the glass, but there was no steam, nothing to indicated the glass would be so hot, yet it was. I tipped the glass over into the sink to pour the water out, then refilled it with cold water.

I took it with me to the couch and turned the TV on. Let's try again, right? Wrong. The TV wouldn't even turn on this time. The little red light just kept staring at me, laughing. I thought maybe the batteries in the remote died, so I replaced them. Still, nothing. So I got up and turned the TV on by hand, still nothing.

At this point I was more frustrated than scared and threw the remote across the room (yes, like a spoiled child). Except, the remote came back at me, full force. I screamed and barely dodged it in time. It had almost hit me in the face, but I managed to avoid it and it hit the couch instead. Now I was scared.

"Who's there!"

No one answered, but my dogs were staring at our office/add-on room, which was the direction the remote came from. I cautiously made my way over there, grabbing my father's aluminum bat on the way.

"I'm going to call the cops if you don't tell me who you are!"

Still, no answer.

As I approached, I saw a shadow in the kitchen coming from the additional room and I knew someone was here. I took a deep breath then ran from behind the wall, swinging. When I stopped, nothing was there. No person, not even my cat. I couldn't fathom what would have made that shadow.

A knock on the door made me scream and drop the bat with a loud clattering noise.

"Hello?" Said a soft voice.

It was that lady from the day before.

I ran to the door and flung it open for her, immediately babbling and spilling everything to her about my events of the day. She laughed and waved me off.

"I'm just here for my board back."

I ran to my room as fast as I could and I gave it back to her, rambling about how I never wanted to see one of them ever again. It had effectively scared me shitless.

I said my farewell to her and sent her on her way, locking the door behind her. I never had any more activity since, but one day was enough for years of avoidance and fear.

I'm not as afraid today as I was back then, but I definitely recognize they are a force to be reckoned with and I don't believe I'll be playing with one again any time soon.

fact or fiction
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