Ouija Boards?

[TheGreatSatan]

I have a custom Ouija board, but never use it. I thought it would be cool to have and don't believe that are at all real or have a real power. I used to see them at a lot of retail locations like Toy's R Us and Walmart, but not anymore. Are they banned or something?

[BuzzKillington]

http://www.toysrus.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=ouija&origkw=Ouija&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2254197&sr=1

[slaveofconvention]

Call me over-sensitive if you will, but as a father of two, I think there's something extremely questionable about these things, allegedly a way to talk to the dead, being sold with children as a target.

[d_stilgar]

Meh, experiments have been done to show that it's tiny vibrations in our fingers that get transferred to the pointer as we try to barely touch it. A good way to show that it is fake is to close your eyes. Instead of spelling out the thing you are thinking of it will just float around randomly.

[Zephik]

People demonized the heck out of them, that's basically it. They're harmless, fun little boards that do as d_stilgar said. I think its probably related to the ideomotor effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideomotor_effect

But like anything that the average person can't explain or understand, people basically ended up freaking out about them and demonizing the product. It's really quite funny to go around and ask people about them, they'll give you the dirtiest looks and/or say something like "they're horrible and shouldn't exist". At least, that's been my experience.

You can get anyone to believe anything, all you have to do is get a large enough group of people to believe in your product and the rest will take care of itself. All you need is that large group of people and then it spreads like wildfire. Take reefer madness for another example. Complete lies founded on truly nothing but thin air, but it took the nation by storm. Heck, even now there are plenty of people who still buy into that garbage. See my signature for further understanding/explanation.

[xRyokenx]

Oh shi- a glow in the dark ouija board? Niiiice.

I agree with Zephik, people take a lot of things and see them in the wrong way. I'd bring up some things I've realized are actually of the human mind and not supernatural but I'd rather not start a war of any sort. People are hilarious.

[Airbozo]

When I was a kid, we used to play with the Ouija boards a lot. We had a friend (whose mother was a religious nut (and I mean craaazy in the head kind of nut)), who would always get a little freaked out when we played. Some of us conspired to make the board say weird things and we totally freaked this kid out. He could not sleep if he knew the Ouija board was in his house. He would look in his closets, under the bed and basically just search the house to make sure it was not there. We got his sisters involved and one night put the Ouija board in his closet, just so he could see the label through the door when he went to bed. He freaked out and took the thing outside and left it on the porch. His sister waited until he went back to sleep and put it right back where it was. He woke up screaming in the middle of the night and took the board back out side (he was too scared to even mis-handle it so he gently set it outside). Long story short, we even had that thing show up in his school locker. We completely ruined him for the Ouija board. In fact I think we permanently damaged him for life. I am still in contact with him and his family and the sisters and I laugh about it to this day. Even after we told him it was us playing a trick on him he still thinks that damn board was out to get him...

But that board NEVER spelled anything we didn't want it to.

[Zephik]

I SWEAR I've seen that movie before... :think:

[TheGreatSatan]

Meh, experiments have been done to show that it's tiny vibrations in our fingers that get transferred to the pointer as we try to barely touch it. A good way to show that it is fake is to close your eyes. Instead of spelling out the thing you are thinking of it will just float around randomly.

Nailed it.

[Zephik]

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF220-Passed_On.jpg

Where do I buy one??

[d_stilgar]

If you asked a Ouija board where to find porn it would repeat "internet, internet, internet" over and over again. Maybe you would get a "google 'porn'" answer every now and then.