Amanda Stevens: ARE YOU SURE IT’S JUST A GAME?

 

Since there is a new movie out about a Ouija board and it being the Halloween season and all, I thought it a good time to recount a couple of my own witch board experiences.  Neither encounter—thank goodness—was anything like the previews of that movie.

When we were kids, my sister and I found an old Ouija board underneath our house.  It had been placed inside a wooden trunk full of cobwebs and schoolbooks, and then shoved up under the floorboards of the bedroom we shared.  The planchette was missing and the numbers and letters were so badly faded as to be nearly unrecognizable.

At the time, we had no idea the board was used to channel spirits. My mother, never one to let anything go to waste, drilled holes in the backside and turned it into a pleasant little game of Aggravation.

It was only later, when we were told of Ouija’s true purpose, that I began to question why someone had gone to the trouble of hiding the spirit board underneath our house.  Nothing spooky happened as a result of our discovery, but to this day, I wonder about the history of that board.

The second experience came a few years later when my cousins received a Ouija board for Christmas and we all took turns asking questions about our futures.  I queried the spirits about what I would do when I graduated high school.  Answer:  D.I.E.

Yikes!

That pretty much ended my dabbling, though not my fascination.  I’ve since had a friend share her mother’s hair-raising experiences with a Ouija board and if you look at the forum on the movie’s IMDB page, you’ll find a rather frightening discussion about the dangers of opening unknown doors.

So I ask you, is Ouija just a game?

 

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 Amanda Stevens is the award-winning author of over fifty novels, including the modern gothic series, The Graveyard Queen.  Her books have been described as eerie and atmospheric, “a new take on the classic ghost story.” Born and raised in the rural south, she now resides in Houston, Texas, where she enjoys binge-watching, bike riding and the occasional margarita.