Ouija Bored

[Devils' Advocate]

Saw the most fascinating segment on a show here in American called Brain Games. The show is about how the human mind works.

This episode was about the paranormal and this segment was a Ouija board session. Four volunteers were asked to take part. The typical questions were asked of those from beyond, and the board astonishingly gave the right answers.

But then the show had them do something very interesting. They blind folded the people. More questions were asked and the beyond was suddenly incapable of giving an answer, or even making a coherent statement (half the time the marker ended up on a blank section of the board).

So was someone cheating and actually manipulating the marker the first round. No, not consciously anyway. Turns out there are muscle motor responses that we are not even aware of that can react to stimuli for us.

A simple and easy test of how the 'magic' of the Ouija works. Or doesn't as it turns out.

The most annoying outcome which had me wanting to puke. On being shown what was really happening one of the participants claimed she believed in the power of the Ouija board more than ever.

She was being serious. I am not a violent person by nature - but I would really like to slap such people upside the head!

 

[wil]

bored... that's funny...

but the board is not acting on magic...it is acting on our inner knowing and yes WE are controlling it with our unconscious self.... of course our blindfolded unconscious self cannot use our eyes to locate the numbers/letters. DOH.

similar to a pendelum....are we imperceptibly moving the pendulum in a clockwise or counter clockwise circle, or back and forth or left and right?? Of course we are...are we doing it with conscious intention? no we are not (or shouldn't be)...

We ask a question... Where did I leave my wallet... We consciously don't know... we are unaware. We do know...we were there...we were there when we set it down, or when we laid a book or shirt on top of it. But we've looked everywhere and can't consciously remember, can't access that part of our memory...but we can pick up a pendulum and ask...was it in the dining room? our bedroom? in the shop? and get yes or no answers from our subconscious...which does remember....

 

[Sam Albion]

I used to do deliberately manipulate the ouija, for fun, as a teenager. It's amazing how relatively intelligent people will convince themselves they've experienced something otherworldly when they obviously haven't.

 

[Devils' Advocate]

Right you are. Most people have an appalling lack of understanding of how susceptible we are to external stimuli; how easily the mind can be tricked, even if no one is consciously attempting to do so. It is why it is difficult for me to discuss pseudo-science with those who believe in it. They just go with the phenomenon without any critical thinking about what might be actually happening. Yeah it is a lot less exciting to find out your mind is playing tricks on you - but isn't the knowing the most important thing? Apparently not to many.