Ouija Board

The Ouija Board is one of the most controversial forms of paranormal contact in modern times, but also dates back before the 1900's. Commonly sold throughout toy stores internationally, the use of the Ouija board appears to be harmless, however, various cases and stories of it's use have proved otherwise.


The Ouija Board was first introduced in 1890, from which it was not associated with the idea of paranormal contact until popularized by a spiritual leader during WWI.

To use a Ouija Board, the user(s) put their hands on the pointer, and ask a question. The pointer will then move around the board to spell out an answer, or depending on the question, will move to 'Yes', 'No', 'Sun', 'Moon, or 'Goodbye'.

Although most users will blame the movement of the pointer on a paranormal being, there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon known as the Ideomotor Phenomenon.

The Ideomotor Phenomenon is when a person makes an unconscious movement, based off of a strong conscious decision or emotion. This is also the same when the body reacts to pain, and when the body cries in response to a strong emotion.

However, even with this explanation, strange events involving the use of the Ouija Board, events which although can most probably be explained by scientific fact, have a strong negative effect.

There have been a notable number of complaints and talk of the dangers of the Ouija Board by users. Most who have had a bad experience with it have talked about the feeling of a 'presence', usually one with dark intentions. Some have cut straight to saying that they are possessed, and that they are constantly be followed and/or watched. 

Many occult and religious leaders have spoken out against the use of Ouija Boards, saying that they are dangerous and should be used by no one. A popular spiritualist, Edgar Cayce, also has said that the Ouija Board should not be used, least be those who are not practiced with the act of contacting spirits.

A common belief and/or explanation as to why only certain people have had bad experiences with the Ouija Board, is that certain spirits, whether they be bad or good, can 'latch on' to those will weaker will power, or those who are easily frightened or spooked.

NOTE: On a personal and religious note, which can be taken as you will, there is another 'fact' about the Ouija Board and contacting spirits in general, which will only relate to you depending on your belief.
In the Bible, it is said in a notable amount of places that man is not able to contact the dead, as the dead are no longer there. Having said this, the Bible doesn't say that it isn't possible to contact... other entities.

1 John 4:1 states:

'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.'

Although this verse explains that there are both good (Godly) spirits and bad (Demon) spirits, since this is also completely based on the belief's of the Bible, it is also wise to note that the Bible talks about refraining from the act of trying to contact the dead.

Simply, according to the Bible, if you are using a Ouija board, any 'spirit' you contact, if you do in fact contact one, regardless of what they may say, is an evil entity in disguise.

Remember, this note is purely a personal and religious idea, one that I felt needed to be noted, and is simply another idea/belief.

Doppelgangers

In modern day terms a 'Doppelganger' simply refers to a look-alike of a person. It can also be described as seeing a 'reflection' of yourself in your peripheral vision, only to find that there was nothing there that could reflect your image.

In fiction and folklore, a Doppelganger was a paranormal double of yourself, typically evil or mischievous.


An experiment in 2006 was taken to produce the effect similar to that of the doppelganger phenomenon. While laying flat on a bad, electromagnetic stimulation was applied to a female patient's brain. She immediately felt the presence of another person in her personal space. Apart from being epileptic, for which she was being treated, she was psychologically fit.

The person she felt was described to be young, and although didn't speak or move, it had a body posture identical to her own. She felt the other person located exactly behind her.

A more intense test was taken, only the patient was sitting up with her arms folded. In this test she felt the presence of a "man" who had his arms wrapped around her. She described the sensation as very unpleasant, and the test was stopped.

The last test involved the patient sitting upright, and asked to perform a language test with some flash cards, while have electrical stimulation applied. She said that the presence she felt, which was sitting beside her to her right, was attempting to interfere with the test, and said: "He wants to take the card; he doesn't want me to read." The effect was disturbing and the test was ceased.


Many cases of people seeing doubles of themselves have been reported, even for that of Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln said that during one particular winter, he had repeated dreams or illusions, and on the evening of his election, he looked into a bureau mirror from across the room and saw himself at full length, but with two faces. After moving from the couch he was lying down on, the illusion stopped, but repeated when he would return. It bothered him and he told his wife about it, she was worried as well.

He attempted this again, and the  two faces returned, one paler than the other, however this was the last time he saw it.

His wife said it was a sign he would be elected to a second term, and the death pallor of one face meant he wouldn't live through his second term.

The Bloop

In 1997, a loud and powerful sound was detected and heart by the U.S (NOAA). The sound was traced to a remote point in the south Pacific Ocean.

According to the description provided by the NOAA, it had rised rapidly in frequence for about one minute, and was able to be heard at over 5,000m.

Dr. Christopher Fox of NOAA has said he does not believe its origin is man-made. Although the sound resembles a living creature, the sound is several times louder than the blue whale, which is the loudest recorded animal.

Fox then later stated that the Bloop could be ice calving in Antarctica. A year later, a journalist called David Wolman, made her own opinion on the origins of the sound:

"Fox's hunch is that the sound nicknamed Bloop is the most likely to come from some sort of animal, because its signature is a rapid variation in frequency similar to that of sounds known to be made by marine beasts. There's one crucial difference, however: in 1997 Bloop was detected by sensors up to 4800 kilometres apart. That means it must be far louder than any whale noise, or any other animal noise for that matter. Is it even remotely possible that some creature bigger than any whale is lurking in the ocean depths? Or, perhaps more likely, something that is much more efficient at making sound?

— David Wolman"

Many people interested in the bloop have stated that they believe the origin of the sound to be related to Lovecraft's work.

Below is a video about the bloop.

Devil's Footprints

An intriguing case of the Paranormal is that of the Devil's Footprints. The name was given to the phenomenon that happened during February 1855 in South Devon, England. Shortly after the occurring of a heavy snowfall, mysterious hoof-like marks appeared overnight in the snow,  and covered a total distance of 40-100 miles. The footprints were called this because many believed these were the tracks of Satan.

The hoof marks mostly measured to be around 4 inches long, three across, and between eight and sixteen inches apart, and usually in a single file. They had been reported from over thirty different places across Devon and some in Dorset.

An particularly interesting thing about these tracks is that all obstacles including houses, rivers and haystacks were traveled straight over, and there were footprints appearing on top of the snow-covered roofs and even walls that lay in the path of the footprints.

There had also been rumors of 'sightings'.

Apparently, a few people had seen a "devil-like figure" in the Devon area during the incident.

Primary and Secondary source material of evidence has been collated by a noted researcher Mike Dash into a paper entitled: The Devil's Hoofmarks: Source Material on the Great Devon Mystery of 1855, and was published
in Fortean Studies in 1994.

Many theories have been concluded to explain this incident.
The suggestion of "an experimental balloon" was one, which
was apparently released by mistake from Devonport
Dockyard, and had been trailing 2 shackles on the end of it.

Although many theories have been created to explain this
situation, what in fact did make these prints still remains a
mystery.

Source: The Devils Hoofmarks