A Christmas Séance

My introduction to the paranormal began on or around my ninth Christmas morning in the form of a Ouija board. After careful examination of the Mystifying Oracle's instructions, which called for placing the board "upon the laps of two persons facing each other, Lady and Gentleman preferred", it was obvious my little sister would never do, and my only option was to relentlessly nag my Father in order to optimize results . It was no less than a small miracle that he finally agreed to participate as an unenthusiastic partner in my attempt to communicate with the 'other side'.

My hazy recollections of this session consist mainly of him peering over the top of his eyeglasses with a look of bored amusement at me as I chanted "Ouija will you talk to us" over and over again. Every so often my Father would interrupt my incantations by insisting that it was pronounced "Quidjuh" not "Wee Gee", which ignited a heated debate and ultimately progressed to my hurling accusations that it was his lack of concentration, and over sized hands applying too much pressure, that were the reasons the plastic indicator thingie refused to budge. Needless to say, my first séance lasted approximately 5 minutes, utterly failed to meet my morbid expectations, and ended with my Dad being on the receiving end of my crossed armed glare and sulky silent treatment.

But instead of leading to the talking board being shoved into the back of a closet, never to be used again, this incident began a life long fascination with the idea of interactive communication with a Divine Source, or to put it simply, speaking with spirits. This interest would develop and evolve into my penchant for fortune telling and study of ritualized gaming systems, a business designing and manufacturing oracles, and my involvement with the Talking Board Historical Society.

Circa 1920's William Fuld Ouija Directions

It would also inspire an interest in studying some of the psychological reasons we create and play games intended to communicate with an 'absent God' and examine whether humans are somehow pre-disposed or 'hard wired' to assign supernatural causes for events we don't understand or cant explain, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

And, yes it also led to many more attempts to part the veil, and I will share a few of my more intriguing experiences in upcoming blog entries as well.