There are several ways you can look at the subject of ouija boards,  glass divination or indeed any form of ‘contacting spirits of the dead’ either for fun, scares, paranormal investigation or for whatever other reason floats your boat. It depends totally on your own particular belief system which reason for NOT using them you prefer.

Any form of experiment which is carried out hoping to prove the existence of a intelligent entity that you can’t see is pretty useless if it is only carried out with a person or persons actually touching the object which you are hoping to achieve movement in. I know the ‘believers’ are going to scream and wail and say ‘yes but the spirits take our energy to accomplish movement’ but really that is irrelevant. If you are in an area which is reputed to be haunted, the area has gained this reputation already without the ‘spirits’ having to take energy from anyone sitting with their finger on a glass or planchette. As for the accompanying screams of ‘But we have proof the spirits use our energy! We always feel tired afterwards!’ – Yes well, you would – you may even feel faint or pass out. This isn’t due to the fact that ‘Dead Uncle George’ has been using your energy though, this is a condition connected to extreme anxiety and can really be very dangerous , and is also a common cause of death in Hex and Witchcraft cases in less enlightened civilisations.

‘Victims show all the signs of panic… adrenalin, racing heart, wild movements and sweating. Then as the victim begins to realize the hopelessness of his situation, this reaction is reversed (heart slows, pulse drops and there is a steady drop in blood pressure) this is known as the parasympathetic reaction.

If we apply this to the Ouija board situation – people who obviously have a high degree of expectation (sitting in a darkened room focussing on what they are trying to achieve and really not knowing what to expect) – it is very likely, when the glass / planchette starts to move – (which it invariably does because someone is deliberately or spontaneously moving it) that the participants are going to experience a similar kind of anxiety. When the session is over, the body returns to normal again, leaving the participants feeling drained – again, in extreme circumstances it is possible that the blood pressure etc. could drop to such a degree that you could experience some of the symptoms described above

Psychologically speaking, the effects that the ouija board can have on a disturbed or young mind could be traumatic too – especially if the participants are believers. You hear loads of stories about this or that person who did the ouija, contacted the devil and went mad / killed his family/ took a gun to school instead of his library books. I’m sure I’d bore you if I started to discuss schizophrenia etc.

As a tool for paranormal investigation, the ouija.. Well it sucks, to be honest. Let’s face it, you’ve got people touching it – you can’t rule out accidental movement, deliberate fraud etc. and even if the object moves on its own, can you rule out psychokinesis? – Ouija Board during Paranormal Investigation = Crap Evidence. Period. Actually, you can apply this formula to any type of divination or unproven method of investigation… Table tilting, glass divination, pendulums, mediums.. From a believers point of view – (with all due respect, I’m not actually a believer, but fairs fair, I’ll include it anyway) – all these methods of gaining information from the deceased are a bit like using an internet chat room, only you can’t find out the other persons IP address. You don’t know who you’re talking to, or if what they are telling you is actually true – again, another reason for avoiding dabbling..

Funnily enough, I can’t actually think of a good reason for using one, can you?