Halloween kicks ass. I always and still love it!
I usually carve out 3 pumpkins, decorate the house, and hand out candies to the little gouls.
It's the satan in me coming out, I guess..
haunted houses
by free will 55 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Adam
As a rabid skeptic, halloween doesn't trip me out at all. I've got this cool grim reaper costume that I've been unable to wear out for the last two years. Both years my girl's daughter ended up going with friends' parents and I had to stay home handing out candy. I'm aching to get out there and scare some kids.
-
wednesday
Steve,
Don't take it personl. The DB has a staunch group on both sides of the issue. So tell us more.
weds
i tried to post this but couldn't get it to post, so if this shows up twice, u will know why.
-
Steve Lowry
REM,
I apologize for my attitude earlier. It was the very end of a bad day when I sat down to read the forum here. I appreciate where you're coming from.
Unlike you (I think), I do believe there is another realm, as it were. I just don’t know what it is exactly. But that it is, I’m pretty sure. It’s not a belief that I ‘need’ to have. I rarely think about it at all (especially my old Ouija board experiences). Someone started this ‘Haunted House’ thread and it all kinda just came back to me. I agree with you that people can be a lot like sheep, easy to lead and too easily deceived. A lot of people just want the ‘fast answer’ or the incredible experience, which will "explain" everything for them, so they don’t have to think for themselves. I guess this why fortunetellers still do a thriving business even till this day and time.
I don’t worry too much though about the people here on this forum. There probably isn’t a more analytical mind than that of a former JW.
I just typed up a post to answer a question that came up earlier as to what I thought the Ouija board ‘is’? It is only my own personal experiences that I can know or believe to be true (or my perception of those events anyway). When I venture out into an opinion, I try to qualify that it’s just my opinion, up front.
I’m reminded of a quote, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Steve
-
rem
No worries, Steve. You're cool!
Sorry if I sounded like I was picking on ya. Sometimes I don't always think about the tone of my posts until it's too late. Plus, I knew you could handle it.
rem
-
Steve Lowry
Micheal,
You asked me what I thought the Ouija board was? I’ve heard and read many varying opinions over the years as to what it is that’s ‘behind’ the Ouija board, but I personally don’t have a definitive answer as to what it is exactly. I don't believe it’s just a psychological phenomenon. It ‘knows’ about things that at the time, you can’t possibly be aware of (i.e., my story of my first experience with the Ouija). Most people’s opinion that have dabbled with the Ouija is that it can be dangerous. I personally agree with that. I have recommended people over the years to stay away from it. It has been known to drive people mad and some even to the point of suicide. Perhaps the weak minded are more vulnerable than others? Anyway, here is a list of the characteristics of the Ouija (or the forces behind it) according to my own personal experiences and my opinions of it:
It seems to be intelligent. It knows stuff. If I had insight as to how it goes about getting the information it acquires about people and their past, I may have a better understanding of what it is.
It lies. And it seems to almost lie with the intent to frighten and scare the user(s).
It’s mischievous. If I would happen to bring it out on date, it would sometimes call my date "a whore". I know it sounds funny now, but then it wasn’t so funny.
It has an uncanny ability to gain information about a person’s past, and can get it quickly. It’s almost as if it ‘knows’ it already.
It’s willing. It will work for just about anybody. It seems to work better when the two users are the opposite sex. Go figure. Some people (usually women) can make it work all by themselves. I could never get it to move by myself, alone.
If a buddy of mine stopped by and we played the Ouija, it would work usually, but it would be sluggish and often not make any sense at all.
Most of the ‘entities’ that want to ‘come across’ the Board, claim to be the dead spirits, or the ghost’s of once living people. There does seem to be almost an obsession to share how they died. It’s usually a gruesome or an unnerving death. I once had an entity claim to be the spirit of a little girl. When I asked how she died, it said, "I was pushed". When I asked who pushed her it said, "Mommy". When I asked where Mommy was now, it said, "Here . . . with me".
Now keep in mind, all this comes about with just two people sitting across form each other. Fingers of both sets of hands on a little piece of plastic that at times moves so fast and so precise (and I mean right on the letter and then on to the next) that it can be difficult to catch the spellings of the words without another person scribing.
I used to believe all these ‘entities’ were just demons. But I just don’t know anymore. So much of what I once believed to be true, I have now come to understand many of those "truths" are a result of "training" to see things in a particular way. I don’t know what exactly it is you’re 'conversing' with when you use the Ouija Board, but overall, I don’t think it’s good. One should use caution concerning it.
Steve
-
Steve Lowry
The following (for those who may be interested) are a few of my personal experiences with the Ouija board. They are not embellished urban legends. They are indeed what I experienced first hand during my time with the board.
My "witch" friend (who introduced me to the Ouija) told me to always burn a white candle to ward off evil spirits while playing with the Ouija. So, I did as she recommended. (Oh yea, I can just see ‘evil spirits’ shuddering at the thought of a white candle burning. LOL) Anyway, it became my custom to purchase a pack of candles (and some smokes) before proceeding with an evening with the Ouija board. I learned it was a good idea when first starting a session with the board to ask a few simple direct questions, to which you knew the answers to (similar to the process of a lie detector test). This way you could ‘test the spirits’ or, the ‘connection’ to see how responsive the board was going to be. So one night, I had just purchased a pack of candles and was about to get started and I asked the board how many candles were in the pack. (It was a pack of four). Answer, "Three". I asked again. Answer, "Three". I asked a third time to get the same response. Finally I gave up asking that question and continued on with the session. I was surprised at how strong the connection was throughout the evening considering how the board "failed" my first simple question/test. Well as the evening began to wind down, I had only one candle left to burn. As I talked with my guest, I attempted to light the candle. But it wouldn’t catch flame. I swapped it end for end and tried again, but to no avail. Finally I held the candle up to the light. There was no wick inside the candle. It was just a piece of wax. Ergo, there were only "Three" candles in the pack. Experiences like this one make me believe the Ouija’s ‘answers’ are not a psychological phenomenon, as there was no way I could have known before hand there was a wick missing in one of the candles.
I refused to play the Ouija without a cigarette. Not for protection or anything, I just had to smoke when playing it. One night while playing and when the board was really ‘hot’ (a strong connection), I ran out of smokes. I decided I would go out for some smokes and return, but the board insisted on continuing without interruption. I said, "OK, fine. Show me where there are some smokes in this house and I will continue. Otherwise, no deal." Answer, "Look under couch". Directly underneath where I was sitting on my couch was a freshly opened pack of Marlboro Lights (the brand I smoked). I had no recollection of how those cigarettes had gotten placed there under the couch.
I once had an entity tell me my house was a gateway to Hell and that thousands of devils came and went through it all the time. Sound’s goofy now, but back then, it was unnerving.
I once had one tell me there was buried treasure in my backyard, but I never believed it. Just another of many lies.
I had a friend who was a skeptic to stop by one night that claimed this was "All in your mind, Steve". He agreed to play the board to prove his charge. I was quite ‘seasoned’ with the board by this time and knew how to use it. I asked him right off, if there had been any ‘supernatural’ experiences in his life that he could remember. He swallowed a bit, and admitted that there was one event. I instructed him not to tell me anything about the actual event. I asked him if he remembered how old he was at the time it occurred. He did. I asked the board, "How old was Robert when he had this experience?" Answer, "12". I thought for a moment my skeptic friend would faint. For several moments he was unable to speak. Then he told me that when he was twelve years old, his grandfather had died and just at the moment of his death, he came to Robert’s house in spirit form, to say good bye. Funny, sometime later I ran into Robert and asked him what he thought of the experience. "Ah, its all a bunch of crap". Which causes me to think that some people even when faced with the evidence, can’t or are afraid to go contrary to what they ‘must’ believe.
There were more experiences with the board that I can remember, but this is already a long post.
It got to the point where it was damned scary.
Steve . . .
-
free will
fascinating steve! we'd all love to hear more. i don't think i'd ever try the ouiga bord but the stories are fascinating. thanks for sharing. if you are up for more - i'm certain we all are too.
-
joannadandy
Steve I am totally interested...if you get time, please post some more.
(By the way--I still want to try it).
Do you always have to ask questions or does it just tell you stuff without asking? I'm not inquisitive enough to come up with any questions to ask it...I want a lazy man's ouija board...hee hee! (Not poking fun--I am really curious) If I buy the glow in the dark parker brothers board will the spirits laugh at me? LOL...Again, I am half serious. I was gonna buy one once, but I kept just seeing this cheap little version for 11 bucks at all the stores I went to that glowed in the dark...it just didn't seem right to use such a cheesy board. LOL.
-
Steve Lowry
The more I played the Ouija board, the more ‘spooky’ the whole experience became.
One day while working in downtown Miami, I ran into my X-wife (a JW) waiting for an elevator in some multi-level building. She and I had recently ended our short marriage under very hateful circumstances and it made me sick to my stomach seeing her ‘pop up’ like that. I didn’t say a word to her, I just got on the elevator. It was odd running into her there, as it was some twenty miles away from where both of us used to live and work. It seemed almost too much a coincidence. Anyway that night I asked the Ouija board if it had arranged this coincidental meeting and the answer was, "Yes". Hey I’m not saying I believed the answer necessarily, but this is the kind of head games it would play.
Usually, several entities would vie for time on the board in a given session. It’s like they had to compete with ‘each other’ for their time to speak. I remember evenings where as many twenty to thirty entities would ‘come through’. A dead couple by the names of Pam and Frank were regulars on the board and had a great sense of humor about them. It was just like talking with your aunt and uncle on the phone, kinda thing. We also would wright down the ‘names’ during a session sometimes, and then ask to speak to specific individuals later on in the evening at different times. Each had their particular personalities intact as well as their stories (about how they died), even though it may be several hours later when we asked to speak to a specific entity. There’s just no way, in my opinion, that two people using a Quija board could remember so many personalities as well as their individual characteristics, and all in one night’s time (we would refer to the list of names, of course). Try remembering thirty or so people’s individual stories on the way home from a party sometime. You can’t do it very easily. But if you were on a bus with those same people and asked them to restate who they were and a little about themselves, then you could easily remember. In keeping with the analogy, you would be at a greater disadvantage with the Ouija board because you wouldn't have the faces and voices of the ‘guests’ to help you recall who they were, like you would at a real party. This is kinda what it was like with the Ouija. (I don’t know what "they" were, but we didn’t manufacturer them up. Spirits, ghosts, demons, I dunno. Maybe something else we are not aware of, maybe. But it wasn’t my imagination that created them, of that I am sure.)
As time went along, there was one entity that demanded more and more time on the board. It finally dominated the board to the exclusion of all others. It was one of the entities that first introduced itself when I first began using the board, but it stayed somewhat in the background for a long while. And this is where an area of concern should be noted. Up until this time the board was for the most part, mostly just intriguing entertainment. But with this particular entity, the fun stopped.
More next time . . .
Steve