Are Ouija boards dangerous?

Lately when we travel, we hear more questions about Ouija boards than any other subject. Ouija boards have always been an interesting (and sometimes volatile) subject.

Several other professional ghost hunters have been speaking about the safety--and dangers--of Ouija boards. We'd like to reply, and raise a few questions of our own.

Claim: If you use a Ouija board, you're asking for trouble.

Some professionals report that, when they're called to investigate a serious haunting, they almost always discover that the homeowner had used a Ouija board. Therefore, they warn against Ouija boards.

We'd respectfully suggest that this is putting the cart before the horse.

If a haunting is severe enough to attract the attention of a professional ghost investigator or team, the homeowner has probably tried many other ways to deal with the problem... including local ghost hunters, folk remedies and Ouija boards.

In other words, the trouble was already there. The Ouija board is more often a symptom of a desperate situation, rather than its cause.

Claim: Psychics can be ghost hunters, but they shouldn't conduct seances, etc.

Rather than outright disagree, we'd rather suggest that this is a semantic difference. Then again, maybe we're too picky... or even misguided.

The problem is rarely the seance, table tipping, Ouija board, automatic writing, or other divinatory method. Researchers should be wary of beliefs and attitudes rather than the tools and practices.

For many psychics, the tools--including Ouija boards, Tarot cards, and so on--are only slightly different than EMF meters and EVP recorders. (However, we readily agree that there's a big difference in the science of them.)

As long as you remain personally detached from the tools, the risks are generally minimal.

On the other hand, if anyone views the tools--even a voice recorder used for EVP--as "opening the door" to the unknown, the process becomes more invasive.

That's where you may find psychological and parapsychological risks.

Don't open spiritual doors

In general, we believe that investigators should avoid making any investigation personal.

Don't open any doors--mental or physical--for entities to "speak through." If the spirits want to communicate with you, it should be on the same terms as the living. We make it as easy as possible for them to speak to us through EVP, photos, and other measurable means.

Establish firm boundaries and know your limits

There are many shades of gray between scientific, external tools such as EMF meters and the very personal, psychic connection that many feel with Ouija boards and some other divinatory tools.

Some people induce the trance state to use a pendulum, Tarot cards, or a Ouija board. By definition, the trance state makes you vulnerable to suggestions outside yourself... and that includes messages and even commands from the spirit world.

The trance state should not be attempted by novice investigators, especially in haunted settings.

Many professional ghost hunters are professionally trained in the field of hypnosis. Follow their recommendations. They know when you're vulnerable, and how to keep the paranormal in perspective.

Some people also add personal, spiritual meaning to certain divinatory tools. For example, a ghost hunter may consider the Ryder Tarot deck safe but the Crowley "Thoth" deck dangerous.

Likewise, dowsing rods may seem safe because they can be used to detect water, oil, or natural gas. However, a Ouija board appears dangerous because its only purpose is to communicate with--or on behalf of--spirits.

We advise against Ouija boards as a research tool, but not because they're dangerous. We discuss that in another article, Ouija boards and ghost hunting.

Do Ouija boards work? Who do they actually contact? Do they permanently open a door to entities that don't belong here, and could be dangerous?

We're not sure.

But, we don't believe that Ouija boards are dangerous. The risks begin when people use them as doorways to a realm that they don't fully understand and aren't able to close, if and when the experience becomes unpleasant.