DVD Synopsis:
“In a village on the outskirts of London, many years ago, a school burned down. In recent years, there have been reports of strange happenings in buildings built on the site. We follow a trail of clues that leads us directly to the master of the burned-down school.”
When I watched this episode originally in the 1990s, it could have been my first time hearing about Ouija boards, also known as spirit boards, used to contact ghosts. As well as the paranormal, I have always had an interest in Ancient Egypt, where the Ouija Board or at least something very similar was used to communicate with the afterlife, which was taken as real as bricks and water to the ancient Egyptians, who would spend their whole lives preparing for the next life, often at great expense to themselves in terms of the costs of building tombs etc.
The Bible warns against such communication in Leviticus 19:31: "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them." And while my mother claims not to believe in the Bible, she isn’t half afraid of the Devil, and repeatedly told me many times growing up never to mess around with Ouija boards or anything like that. I remember her telling me if I ever brought one into the house she would burn it. This wasn’t a game. It was dangerous to mess around with things you didn’t understand, and I believed her… especially after considering the rest of this episode in which both Christian priests and Spiritualist mediums warn of the dangers of trying to satisfy curiosity unprotected. Often the information communicated to the living by the spirits is very good and beneficial, but after winning your trust, mischievous spirits begin giving false information deliberately to cause harm. False claims like your “brother is having an affair with your wife” it is alleged by the priest was communicated in one seance, before the troublesome spirit board was taken outside and burned. More troublesome are the claims that such attempts at communicating with the other side is like opening a door to any stranger and once crossed over bad spirits can refuse to leave and make your life a misery.
For all those reasons, despite my belief that paranormal phenomena are real and desire to understand what is causing them, I never messed around with a Ouija board until I was well into my twenties, and in my entire life have only used a Ouija twice. Both times I insisted on saying a short prayer for protection, and took it all very seriously as to not offend the spirits. The first time was when I attended a ghost hunt at Swansea Museum. Nothing much happened. But more recently I was talked into using an Ouija board again in an attempt to get to the bottom of some strange happenings at a friend’s house. Lights would dim for no reason, and objects would disappear and then turn up somewhere it made no sense for them to be. The glass moved, and we repeatedly received the word “red” which we interpreted as a name, for what seemed to be a child spirit. One of many. Ultimately, nothing was resolved, but it was all very interesting nonetheless…
Then it began. For the next two to three weeks. Exactly the same phenomena that my friend had experienced seemed to follow me home. Objects disappeared and reappeared in impossible places – my remote control, pen, keys, and wallet. My belt vanished, leaving me to spend the day adjusting my trousers. When I came home, my belt was hanging in my cupboard, exactly where I had looked before leaving – seemingly impossible, but it happened. Perhaps my imagination was running away with me, but it was enough for me to ask “Red” to “please go back home now, I have a lot to do and can’t have things disappearing all the time.” After that, whenever anything disappeared, I wouldn’t acknowledge it, and like a child, whatever it was got bored and moved on. Whether this was the spirit of a little girl, or just my imagination running wild after the excitement of playing with paranormal fire, I don’t know. But it was enough to reaffirm my caution about using Ouija boards.
#ghosts #unexplained #paranormal #poltergeist
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