Question About The Ouija Board

[The Felonius Pope]

-I didn't know whether to post this in the science section or the skepticism section; my apologies if I chose wrong.

I got bored one day and decided to take my old Ouija board out of the shed. I tried to use it, but the planchette didn't move at all, excluding the little motions made by my hand tremors. I got another person to help, and the planchette started moving, albeit very slowly. Anyone have an explanation for this? Why does it only work when two people are playing?

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

Subconscious feedback loop.

You're both subconsciously "hinting" to where you want the pointer to move - and it moves in that direction. The more "players", the easier it is to add the "hints" together to get an "agreed" direction.

It's not a good idea to "play" with the ouija board - it can give an "outlet" for subconscious urges, particularly aspects of one's psyche that are best left alone, particularly in emotionally unstable individuals.

Kindest regards,

James

 

[Andiferous]

Hmm?

 

[CosmicJoghurt]

The more people you have, the more comfortable you'll feel letting "the outer world" guide you, you'll be less fearful of the unknown and you'll basically feel more comfortable with it all. I think. But it's pretty late, I might elaborate more tomorrow.

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

Who let the trucker out of the cage? :facepalm:

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

I suspect it has to do with the correction for stocastinc motion. (DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT)
If you try for instance to maintain your finger in a predetermined position in space and look closely, you find that your finger wobles all over the place and you can't really keep it steady. What you generaly sub-counsciously do is to correct the small deviations by sending small impulses in order to keep it in the pre-determined place, those impulses themselves are part of the reason why your finger gets slightly ofset in another direction. Now if you are primed to think of another location this error correction will get a bit biased, it is not really big because you still know where your finger more or less should be.
However if you join 2 people doing this things get a bit interesting because now you are experiencing this biased wobly motion of someone else, when the object wobles in one direction due to the other person you go "OMG that shit just moved! and you don't try to correct it back" and the other person will do the exact same thing as you do, thus "OMG witchcraft"!
Might be this, I don't know, got to look further into it.

 

[Prolescum]

I think what MGK says is pretty much correct. I read it in a book somewhere, so it must be. It might've been Tricks of the Mind by Derren Brown.

 

[scalyblue]

I suspect it has to do with the correction for stocastinc motion. (DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT)
If you try for instance to maintain your finger in a predetermined position in space and look closely, you find that your finger wobles all over the place and you can't really keep it steady. What you generaly sub-counsciously do is to correct the small deviations by sending small impulses in order to keep it in the pre-determined place, those impulses themselves are part of the reason why your finger gets slightly ofset in another direction. Now if you are primed to think of another location this error correction will get a bit biased, it is not really big because you still know where your finger more or less should be.
However if you join 2 people doing this things get a bit interesting because now you are experiencing this biased wobly motion of someone else, when the object wobles in one direction due to the other person you go "OMG that shit just moved! and you don't try to correct it back" and the other person will do the exact same thing as you do, thus "OMG witchcraft"!
Might be this, I don't know, got to look further into it.

I wonder if two people with identical stocastinc reflex would expereince no response.
Perhaps identical twins? With big boobs?
lol sounds like a good experiment to me.

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

Pfft.

Does this experiment need an unbiased test coordinator?

Something tells me that the second question in the second line seems to be a biased selection. Just sayin......

Edit:

If the two participants were on the same side of the board would that not cause the marker to fly off the table? Would one possible explanation be that the 'spirits' caused the marker to do this? :lol:

 

[The Felonius Pope]

Thanks for the information everyone!

It's not a good idea to "play" with the ouija board - it can give an "outlet" for subconscious urges, particularly aspects of one's psyche that are best left alone, particularly in emotionally unstable individuals.

Could you elaborate or provide a link? I never did pay much attention in psychology class....

Hmm?

Umm... what?

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

I wonder if two people with identical stocastinc reflex would expereince no response.
Perhaps identical twins? With big boobs?
lol sounds like a good experiment to me.

No the nature of stocastic reflex makes it very unlikely to ever be identical.
But hey, I like your experiment, lets do it anyways... :mrgreen: ... for science of course...

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

Thanks for the information everyone!

It's not a good idea to "play" with the ouija board - it can give an "outlet" for subconscious urges, particularly aspects of one's psyche that are best left alone, particularly in emotionally unstable individuals.

Could you elaborate or provide a link? I never did pay much attention in psychology class....

It was one of the things against which we were warned about - not to dabble in ouija boards, pendulum divination, etc.

Since such movement of the planchette is the result of subconscious suggestion, it can result in that aspect of the individual coming to the fore: bypassing the normal inhibitions exerted by the rest of one's psyche.

This can result in that aspect - "personality" - taking over the individual.

For example, many years ago I read about a individual who used a ouija board - with a group - to contact the dead. A "message" came through blaming the individual for something which had occurred in his past (not related to the person whom he was trying to contact - BUT appearing to come from the deceased friend). As a result of this, the individual was reported to have committed suicide.

Another case involved a individual who carried out a series of murders allegedly following seances with a ouija board. [Paula Horton (January 26, 2008). "Mom says son influenced by Satan on day of Benton City slayings". McClatchy, Tribune Business News.]

Someone with a strong but suppressed urge associated with some past experience would effectively "control" the planchette through their subconsciously-driven muscle movements - sending "messages" to their conscious "self".

A lot of the time, incidents of other aspects of the person taking over their life can be seen as examples of multiple personalities which are normally suppressed by "the self".

One can, thus, see the danger of allowing these "personae" to come to the fore, resulting in - what the religious would call - "possession".

Given the dangers to those with emotional problems, quite frankly, I'm staggered and appalled that Hasbro still market this as a "parlour game"!

Kindest regards,

James

 

[The Felonius Pope]

That's pretty scary stuff Dragan Glas... Thanks for giving me the heads up.

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

That's pretty scary stuff Dragan Glas... Thanks for giving me the heads up.

Scary indeed.

Another one I read about years ago, was a individual in America who'd been using a pendulum to help make decisions, resulting in his taking "advice" from his "guide" to start eating sugar(!) - he suffered health problems as a result.

Kindest regards,

James

 

[CommonEnlightenment]

Another one I read about years ago, was a individual in America who'd been using a pendulum to help make decisions, resulting in his taking "advice" from his "guide" to start eating sugar(!) - he suffered health problems as a result.

NAW.......

Just use one of these........

I like it because according to probability it has a higher chance that it will affirm what you are thinking......

 

[scalyblue]

So, don't play with an ouija board if you're mentally ill, as it may bring out the worst in you.

I could say the same thing about Monopoly ^.x

...and my little pony.

Maybe Hasbro is really the NWO.

 

[Charlie Dodd]

Many mystic disciplines and religions suggest that there are "malign entities" floating around out there (demons, djinn etc) which seek to gain entry into our world, but find it difficult to get in unless they're invited in.
Ouijas, seances and other forms of occult dabbling are therefore possible "gateways" into our world.
MEDIUM - "Is there anybody there?"
VOICE - "Yes, this is Albert"
ALBERT'S WIDOW - "Oh Albert, what divine messages do you bring from the other side?"
ALBERT - "Watch the milkman, he's on the fiddle, buy your fish fingers at Tesco they're cheaper there, and be careful walking home down Saxby Street tonight, the dog at number 19 has done a heap in the middle of the pavement again"..

Needless to say,harmless-sounding 'Albert' may well be a demon in disguise trying to gain access to our world so it can go out and incite men to murder little girls or whatever..

 

[australopithecus]

No.

 

[Prolescum]

:lol:

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

So, don't play with an ouija board if you're mentally ill, as it may bring out the worst in you.

The problem is that people don't necessarily realise that they have mental health problems - particularly problems vulnerable to these sort of experiences. Or they may deny such - like addicts who deny they have a problem.

I could say the same thing about Monopoly ^.x

...and my little pony.

Maybe Hasbro is really the NWO.

Er, I don't think so...

Kindest regards,

James