The Ouija has been around since at least 1891 when, according to Smithsonian.com, it was first advertised in newspapers by a Pittsburgh toy and novelty shop. The “wonderful talking board” was said to answer questions “about the past, present and future with marvelous accuracy” and promised “never-failing amusement and recreation for all the classes,” a link “between the known and unknown, the material and immaterial.”
During that time in American history, people were especially intrigued by spiritualism, or the belief that the living could communicate with those who’ve passed away. By the 1910s and ’20s, there was huge surge in demand for Ouija boards, and its popularity continued to skyrocket in the following decades. Over five months in 1944, one New York department store sold 50,000 of them.
The Ouija’s popularity must stem from the fact that it’s an eerily effective way to talk to the dead, right? Well, science isn’t convinced that’s the case, chalking the Ouija board planchette’s movement to a psycho-physiological principle called ideomotor action, or an unconscious reflex. In other words, our ideas of what should happen make our muscles move to make them happen, even if we think they’re not.
Nonetheless, plenty of folks have had pretty convincing, eyebrow-raising experiences with Ouija boards. Some say they communicated with spirits who seemingly predicted historical events. Others swore they were talking to dearly departed loved ones. Read on for 15 of the eeriest, coolest, and downright skin-crawling Ouija board stories.
Creepy Coincidence
“My sister and I messed around with a Ouija board a few times when we were teenagers. Every time we used the board, we seemed to ‘communicate’ with the same ‘spirit’ named Ed who constantly threatened our younger brother during the sessions — even though our brother, who was 4 or 5 years old at the time, was nowhere near us. It scared us so much we threw out the board. We never mentioned a word of this to our brother. A few years later, our brother brought home a friend’s Ouija board. After he and a friend used the board a few times, he told us he was a little freaked out, because a spirit named Ed kept threatening him! What!? Our mother banned Ouija boards from the house after that incident.” — Tammy, Holly Springs, North Carolina
Knowing What No One Else Could
“My brother is adopted from South Africa … The hospital intake examination found him to be a newborn, so his official birthday is March 27, 2001, the day someone found him and brought him to a hospital. That’s what’s on all his records (South African and American), and that’s the day we celebrate. But it is entirely possible that he could have been a day, or even two days old, when he was found.
“So anyways, it’s me and six other girls, and we’re doing silly teenage girl things with a Ouija board. I thought it would be cool to ask what my brother’s real birthday is, and to make sure the results weren’t skewed, I took my hand off the planchette and stepped away from the board, and had the other girls ask, ‘What is Caroline’s brother’s birthday?’ They knew my brother was adopted, but they didn’t know the whole backstory about his birth date being somewhat fuzzy. And there’s no way they could have known that he was brought to a hospital on March 27, 2001.
“Their fingers were on the planchette, and it moved to the numbers 3262001. March 26, 2001. It’s completely plausible that he was born on the 26th, and found on the 27th. I still get kind of weirded out when I think about that. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But it’s f***ing weird that the possibly exact date of birth of a baby born in South Africa and adopted by a family that lived in DC showed up on a Ouija board at a summer camp in New Hampshire.” — carolingianempire, Reddit
Ghosts of Confederate Soldiers
“My best friend and I tried out a new board I bought on our college quad. [It was an] old Southern school that got torched in the Civil War, and sure enough, we spoke to two young men who claimed to be soldiers. It may well have just been our subconscious guiding us to ‘see’ them, but when I asked if they were Union soldiers, the planchette whipped to ‘no’ so fast it almost made my fingers fly off, which made us laugh!” — prodigialqueer, Reddit
Falling Plant & Handprints
“When I was in college, a group of friends and I were playing with the Ouija in our dorm room and asked the spirit to give us a sign that it was in the room. A plant that was hanging over the window crashed onto the floor — and handprints were smudged on the blind.” — Jessica, Columbus, Nebraska
Moving Skulls
“My fiancé at the time and I were sitting on my bed with an old board that a friend found on the side of the road. We asked who was with us, and it said, ‘Moe.’ I asked, ‘Are you a demon, spirit, or angel?’ He said, ‘Demon by your creation.’ We were a bit freaked out, but we kept going. We asked more simple questions like, ‘How many are with you?’ he replied, ‘7.’ ‘What is your favorite poster that I have?’ It replied, ‘Bloody mess.’ I pointed at a KISS photo I had of Gene Simmons with his tongue out while blood was everywhere in and around his mouth. ‘This one?’ I asked, [it] replied, ‘Yes.’
“After a few more questions I asked him to move my skeleton heads on my TV, because we wanted to know if this was fake or not. Moe replied, ‘Close eyes’ [and] after a few seconds went by all of my skeleton heads were facing us. How the hell could that be faked? We were the only two in my room at the time, and all the while sitting close to one another.” — Anonymous, Reddit
Working on Its Own
“When I was about 16, I found an old-school Ouija at a thrift store. It was made of real wood — not paper like they are now. It was thin but still wood, balsa I think. I was intrigued with it so I took it home. Me and a gal pal were playing with it but nothing was happening, so we just gave it up, left it on the bed, and went out for snacks. There was no window open, no random draft, no AC on at the time, no fan, nothing that could have caused it, but when we came back with snacks and pop, that board was working on its own. The planchette was traveling all over the board, and the word it was spelling out was foul. For a minute, we just stood there and watched it spelling out that word, several times. Then, my friend scooped it up and broke it. We then covered it with salt and got rid of it in a safe place.” — mtempissmith, Reddit
Blown Transformer
“While playing with the Ouija board on Halloween, my friends and I asked the spirit to give us a sign, and a transformer blew on the telephone pole in the backyard and knocked out the power.” — Jessica, Columbus, Nebraska
Late Aunt's Name
“Many years ago, when I was in sixth grade, our class did a unit on ESP and related [phenomenons]. Two friends and I started playing with my sister’s Ouija board. We seemed to contact a spirit, asked questions, got answers. We also got a first name. Turns out one of the participating friends had an aunt with the same name who was dead. When we were using the Ouija board, the two people at the board had their eyes closed. The third person was writing responses.” — Jill, Kensington, Maryland
Communication With a Great-Grandfather
“A friend of mine brought a Ouija board to a sleepover, and I had never played with one so I was really excited to try it. My two friends eventually got bored of it as the night wore on, so I wanted to ask one last question.
“I asked the board, ‘Do you have any questions for us?’ It answered, ‘Yes.’ I asked, ‘What’s your name?’ It answered, ‘Abe.’ My friends and I immediately joked that it was Abraham Lincoln.
“I asked, ‘Who do you want to talk to?’ It answered, ‘Erika.’ Erika is my mother’s name, but she was downstairs and completely not involved in the game. I asked, ‘What do you want to say to her?’ It answered, ‘Wish I knew her.’ This was so incredibly specific, I couldn’t imagine what it meant. I ran downstairs to find my mom, and I asked her if she knew anyone named Abe. She said yes, her grandfather was named Abe, but he died before she was born. I didn’t know my great-grandfather’s name, and my friends certainly didn’t!” — Sarah, Massapequa, New York
Princess Diana Prediction
“I messed around with the Ouija, in pairs and solo, for a period of about two years. Experienced a lot of strange s**t. Now my craziest story. Swear it is true. [It happened in] 1997.
“One day, I challenged the board and said give me something independent to verify all the information [it was] giving me. Predict a news event. Tell me something that is going to happen. It starts moving strange like it’s having a hard time telling me something.
“[I’m] paraphrasing here since it was a long time ago, but the exchange went something like this: ‘DI DIE DI DIE DI DIE DI DIE.’ I’m like, ‘Whoa, something nasty here, telling me to die.’ ‘PRINCESS DI DIE.’ Princess Di at the time was young and vital, so of course I’m skeptical. ‘Oh, yeah, sure, she dies. How does this happen?’ ‘CAR ACCIDENT.’ ‘Yeah right, like a princess could get killed in a car accident.’ ‘Where is this car accident?’ ‘PARIS.’ ‘Yeah right what the hell is the Princess of Wales doing in Paris? OK, so when is this going to happen?’ ‘OHIO.’ I had a trip to Ohio planned in the coming weeks. So, sure, whatever, Princess Di will die in a car crash in Paris while I am in Ohio. Yeah, right.
“I go to Ohio. Nothing happens. I forget about it. Just one of those weird Ouija sessions that happens every once in a while. Month or so later, I am in Ohio again. I come out into the living room and everyone is watching TV, glued to a news report. What? I ask … Princess Di killed in an accident. I was stunned.” — throwawayweegee, Reddit
Stern Warning
“A few years ago, my friends decided to try this out with a group of guys. We were in the 12th grade at the time. My group of girls had messed around with [a Ouija board] before, to varying degrees of success. Well, this time, it was my hands on the planchette with my other girlfriend.
“This thing was moving CRAZY fast, faster than I had ever seen, and seemed to be getting quite agitated by the group of guys we were with who were joking around and not taking it seriously. It essentially told them to shut up and stop talking. I told the guys, ‘Seriously, please stop being rude, I’m kind of freaked out.’
“Because I was getting nervous, one of the guys took over, he was a bit more serious about it. Almost immediately the thing spelled out, ‘Don’t open the door.’ Well, we were all in the basement, and there was only one door, so we all kind of looked over at it nervously. Because I was getting anxious, I took the blanket and kind of hid my face. Immediately it spelled out, ‘Don’t hide from me.’ Everyone was freaked out. The guy who had his hands on the planchette literally started to cry, he wanted to take his hands off, but we have this rule that you don’t take your hands off until you get it to say, ‘Goodbye.’ Everyone wanted to stop, but it took about 10 minutes of asking dumb questions until the thing finally slid to goodbye.
“Some of the guys speculated afterwards, that it meant don’t open the metaphorical door of the spiritual world. The reason being is we told them to never ask for a sign or else it kind of lets the spirit roam free outside of the board. Before that guy took over, they kept asking for a sign, only for me to cut them off mid-sentence and tell them to knock it off. So this made some sense.” — strangeobjects123, Reddit
Underground Haunted City
“I am from Edinburgh, and it is famous for its underground ‘haunted’ city. I along with a friend [spent] the night down there. Creepy as hell. One of the activities [we did] was a Ouija board. Myself and my friend sat down to play and all was going well, the usual describing who was here apparently haunting the place, etc. This continued for about half an hour when I kindly asked the board if I could leave. I was granted a yes. Around 10 minutes after me, my friend asked to leave and was promptly told no. This entity would just not let her leave, the movements on the board got faster, erratic and the temperature in the room plummeted. Only when several people in the room started crying did this entity let everyone leave. One of the most bizarre and scariest things I have ever witnessed. Safe to say I have never [gone] near one again.” — millybob35, Reddit
Flash of Light
“I made [a Ouija] when I was in middle school. It was made of wood from one of the trees in my backyard, and the planchette was a glass half circle that my grandmother gave us. We set up in my living room at midnight with the only light being candles.
“My best friend and I asked if anyone was speaking to us. The answer was yes. I asked how many ghosts were present and the answer was 7. My cat K.C. came up to us at that point. He stopped just beyond where we were sitting. He looked around and slowly weaved his way past us as if stepping around people. Then, the planchette quickly dragged our hands to spell out ‘happy to talk.’ As soon as that sentence was spelled out, a blinding streak of light that looked like a shooting star flashed from one side of my living room to the other. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It lit up my living room with an intense silvery light.” — Lalybi, Reddit
Quiet Frogs
“Me and my friends made our own Ouija board on a flat piece of wood, smooth like particle board, and made the planchette out of some cardboard. We took it up to the forest by my parents’ house, because who wants to risk haunting their own house? We couldn’t get the board to say anything that made sense, but what was weird was when we’d start a session, the frogs in the forest would get quiet. When we’d stop the session, they’d resume croaking. At first I thought it was just our talking that made them quiet, but we of course made other conversations to test the theory and the frogs would croak during those. Definitely odd and hard to explain.” — p00psymcgee, Reddit
Knowing Never-Used Names
“I have a really creepy story about playing with a homemade Ouija board with my sister. So, basically what happened was that we asked the names of the ‘spirits’ or whatever that we were supposedly communicating with, and it gave us the names ‘Aiden’ and ‘Hannah.’ Now those aren’t the name of either of us, but I found out later that if I had been born a girl, my name would have been Hannah, and had my sister been born a boy, her name would have been Aiden, which neither of us knew at the time. I don’t know if that’s just some crazy coincidence or something actually paranormal, but it’s crazy either way!” — the_almighty_cheese, Reddit
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
