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Strange Ouija Experience: Coincidence Or Paranormal?

 

This story takes place in Southeastern Virginia, about 2005 or thereabouts, and is one of many unexplainable events that myself and others have witnessed in the home during the 40 years that I lived there.

The house itself is a beautiful, three story Colonial in a historic district. It was built in the early 1900s and served as the home and office of a prominent local doctor from the 1920s until his death in the 1960s. There is still a bedroom on the second floor with a sink on one wall where he kept very ill patients, I suppose. There have been numerous deaths in the house, including the doctor himself and my Grandfather.

It was a great house to grow up and spend my life in and I love and miss it deeply. I will post some other very interesting and strange occurrences which took place there in future stories, but there are so many during the 40 years I lived in the house that it would simply turn, into a novel-size post to relate them all in a single post; I have therefore, decided to write about a specific incident for my first submission.

Let me start by saying that I am pretty skeptical when it comes to so-called paranormal events and normally dismiss such things as coincidence. However, some are simply too strange to scientifically and rationally explain or chalk up to coincidence. If this event is a coincidence, it's a very strange one indeed. I welcome all theories and feedback, as they may offer a more rational, plausible explanation that may be a better explanation than a supernatural event. With that said, I will begin my narrative.

I have a friend (that I shall call "T") that I have known since the age of five (I am forty two as I write this) who lived three houses down the street from my girlfriend (who I will call "A") and I at the time. His wife ("H") practiced some kind of obscure "white witchcraft" type occultism and strange occurrences would seem to follow her (one example being that our front doorbell, which had not even been working or even connected to wiring for years, would sometimes ring and ten or fifteen minutes later she would knock on the front door to come for a visit). They came to visit my girlfriend and I one evening with their teenage son ("J") and his girlfriend ("M") in tow. He brought a Ouija board with them, hoping we'd be interested in doing a session.

Everyone took part except myself, I thought it was silly. The lamps were turned off and candles were lit. I read by the candlelight as they did their Ouija thing. I could hear the questions being asked of the board and they seemed to believe they had made contact with something after several minutes.

"Stupid," I thought. "Haven't they ever heard of the ideomotor effect?" I thought. H asked whatever they seem to have contacted, "Do you know "T"? The planchette slowly moved to no (I was half reading and half watching in a sort of amused way). The "Do you know so-and-so" questions went around the circle, each time with the planchette slowly moving to no until H asked "Do you know (my name)?" The planchette quickly slid to yes. I chuckled to myself, thinking "nice try "H", but I'm not even playing the silly Ouija game. "H" then asked "What is your name"? I heard them saying the letters O-Y-A-M-A, three times in fairly rapid succession.

At this point "H" said "Let's put it up, it's just spelling nonsense. A memory rushed into my head and I said "Wait, did it just spell Oyama?" Everyone answered yes. I was confused. My great-grandfather's name was Oyama (he was a Creek Indian). No one, not even my girlfriend, could possibly have known I had an ancestor named Oyama since I hadn't thought of that name in many years and had forgotten myself. I had certainly not mentioned it to anyone at any time, even years ago.

Odd, since I wasn't even playing, and that is such an unusual name that it would be impossible to guess. I even dug up some family records with our tribal role numbers and ancestry on them and showed everyone present. There was no way any of them could have known. If that was a random coincidence (which I believe it to be), it's a darned strange one. Any thoughts on this from anyone?

As I said, there are many strange things which took place in that house and I would like to relate more of them. Some are mundane and some really bizarre. I will be happy to answer questions, clarify anything unclear to readers, and take part in any discussions. Thank you to all who take the time to read this and give their opinions and thoughts.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, funeralmass, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Sleeping-with-steve (guest)
 
6 years ago (2018-12-30)
Hello Funeral mass,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I found it interesting that Oyama came to visit you and you weren't even playing. He obviously had a message for you.

Did you feel his presence around you after the OB was put away. Do you think he stayed to look after you?

I enjoyed reading about your experience. Thank you for sharing.

Best wishes,
Miandra
😘 ❤ 😘
funeralmass (1 stories) (27 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-14)
Wow, this is a great community. I didn't expect this many insightful comments this quickly. Thank you all. I shall now address them as best I can.

[at] Biblio: First, I have to say that I'm very impressed that you know that Creek and Muskogee are part of the same Indian Nation. The reservation is located in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. As far as your comment, those were people whom I have known since very early childhood, and I can say with certainty they would not pull such a prank on me. H (T's wife) takes this kind of thing very seriously and they would not do such a thing. Besides that, Oyama is not mentioned in my Grandfather's obituary, nor is my family history in the local library (we simply aren't that big of a deal) and that couple are pot-heads (not me or my girl, but those two are) and would be too lazy to put forth the effort of research 😉. I don't object to the metaphysical explanation, I'm just attempting to get all the feedback I can to look at it from every angle. The best reason I can think of as to why they came with a oija board is simply that it's the kind of thing H does.

[at] Tweed: Haha thanks, my screen name actually comes from the name of a black metal (kind of a form of gothy, "evil" death metal) band I played guitar in years ago. As to your question, everyone just sort of took it in stride and we didn't speak much of it after that night.

[at] AugustaM: Hello from Portsmouth. The oija session did not seem to have any effect on the occurrences at my house.

I hope I covered the questions so far. Everyone that wants to ask/discuss this further is welcome to, and I will grant what answers I may. I am preparing a list kind of account of certain occurrences at the house while I was there, I'm deciding on the best way/form to present it and it will probably be updated as things come back to me. As I have said, there are some pretty mundane stories, as well as some really bizarre ones that I haven't told anyone that hasn't witnessed them (except a few which happened when I was young, that I mentioned to my girlfriend, simply because most people would think I was crazy). Thanks all
RANDYM (2 stories) (266 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-11)
Biblo,

As always you have written an absolutely wonderful and well thought out response.

I would never want to get into a debate with you 😊
As I don't like looking foolish.

Good day friend
Randy
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-11)
Greetings, funeralmass, and thanks for submitting your experience.

I'd like to make an observation with regard to your own accounting of the details: THREE TIMES?

Randomly selected letters in quick succession usually leads to absolute gibberish. Given the standard English alphabet layout on a Ouija board, your great-grandfather's name is the second letter on the second row, the penultimate letter on the second row, followed by the first, last, and first letters on the first row. Using a similar pattern on a "qwerty" keyboard creates "slqpq" which means absolutely nothing.

For the planchette to spell out "O-Y-A-M-A, O-Y-A-M-A, O-Y-A-M-A" on the board (which everyone participating thinks it is nonsense) and for that apparently-random collection of letters to be your great-grandfather's name, there are two sensible explanations:
1) One of the individuals who was playing with the Ouija *also* had been to the town library and/or historical society and had stumbled across your family's history; if Oyama was the father of your grandfather who purchased the house, then his name may have been listed in your grandfather's obituary which could include the street on which you live. As most of those present seem to have known you directly, then it may be that one of the individuals was setting you up for an elaborate prank and feigned ignorance of the meaning of the name.
2) Your friend's wife or your friend's son (there are "gifts" that run in families) has some facility with the Ouija as a method of supernatural communication.

As these individuals are/were know to you to some degree, is any one of them likely to have wished to play a practical joke on you using the name of a deceased relative? Even among close friends, that's crossing a serious boundary.

You've stated that your friend's wife would ring the disconnected doorbell about a quarter of an hour before she arrived at your house for a visit; why --if you are accepting this occurrence as normal for her-- are you loath to accept that your Creek great-grandfather may have returned to visit you, however briefly, as is consistent with Creek/Muskogee ideas about the afterlife? Even the Methodist & Baptist converts used to build grave houses over the graves so the spirits who returned to Earth would have somewhere to stay. (I found this to be a particularly interesting line of research when I was supposed to be writing a paper on the Melungeons of Appalachia as an undergraduate.)

Finding a local brewery who produce an ale named "Oyama" would be a coincidence; having a board which is supposed to communicate with the dead spell your great-grandfather's name three times in rapid succession when used by a magical practitioner in your living room defies the odds to an astronomical degree.

Please do let us know why you object to this particular phenomenon having a potentially supernatural explanation, or if you think my "research" guess has any merit. Mere coincidence is not the simplest answer, here.

Best,
Biblio.
Tweed (36 stories) (2529 posts)
+4
8 years ago (2017-03-06)
Hi there Funeralmass, gothy name I like it.

The people who were there that night, have you ever asked them about that time? Like why did they want to come do a Ouija session round yours? There may be some little details floating about, from around that time, which could further clear up whether or not this is a coincidence.
sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2017-03-06)
Hello funeralmass, welcome to YGS and thanks for sharing your experience. Like everyone else, it cannot be a coincidence.

Ruskin, I voted for you and I enjoyed reading your comment.

Funeralmass, I would like to read your other experiences as well. You haven't told about what happened next when you disclosed your ancestor's name was being spelt by the Ouija Board. Hope they have closed it properly.

Still as others have said, don't use Ouija Board, it is not a toy. Even though it is a tool, if we use it without knowing how to handle it, the experiences would not be nice. Please be cautious.

Once again thanks for sharing.

Regards and respects to you and Ruskin.

SDS
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-05)
Hello from Norfolk! Definitely an interesting experience and, from the sound of it, a gorgeous house! I'm leaning away from coincidence on this one... I thin your friends may have tapped into something. You mentioned that you had other experiences in this house (can't wait to hear) did they change in nature or did their frequency increase after the Ouija session?
RANDYM (2 stories) (266 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-04)
Funeralmass

Thank you for sharing

I think it's Occams Razor that states the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
Considering the odds of a group of people picking out such an unusual name and that name having meaning to someone in the room, I tend to think the simpler explanation is that it could have been your long deceased relative.

I know you are skeptical and that can be a good thing as long as the skepticism isn't so strong it ignores good evidence.

So I'll leave you with a thought to ponder.

When you add up all of the ghost encounters through the ages, the Near Death Experiences, Deathbed visitations, etc. You are left with well over several million encounters with the afterlife.
(I would think as I'm sure nobody would know the exact number)
Several million is a huge number

If just 1 of those encounters is true then there is proof of an afterlife. Just 1

Randy
agatha23 (1 stories) (13 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2017-03-04)
Be careful with Ouija boards. Any demon or evil spirit will try to befriend you and pose as somebody you may know. They hope to gain your trust. I personally would never use the board, tarot cards, divining rods, etc. You could allow something to open up, that cannot be closed easily.
Blackmoonmage20 (1 stories) (58 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-03-04)
i was about to relate the film, Ouija: The Origin of Evil where upon asking the board a question, then the name spelled will be the one you were thinking about. But then here, you haven't given that name a thought which is really strange that the board knows! 😲
Tyre (1 stories) (1 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2017-03-03)
Wow, that was really interesting!

I agree with you when you said that there was no way that they would've known that. It's only more evidence of there being ghosts, evil spirits, demons, etc.

Many people say that ghosts don't exist, but most of them do not try to communicate with them in order to find out the truth.

Personally, I believe that this was evidence.

Oh, and please be careful with those boards. Honestly, I still don't believe in Ouija boards, but I always read about how "dangerous" they are and whatnot. Since so many people seem to have this approach on Ouija boards, there's probably some truth to it, but I wouldn't buy one because I hate wasting money.

Thanks for sharing your story-- it only makes me believe in things like ghosts even more.
RCRuskin (9 stories) (847 posts)
+3
8 years ago (2017-03-03)
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the facts." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from some Sherlock Holmes story or other. Also: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

So your friends working with the ouija bored spelled out the name of a distant relative you don't recall mentioning to any of them previous to this event. It's an odd name, except perhaps among Creek Indian Tribe. And not knowing much about them, I don't know how common a name it is there.

Based on what you stated here, I think it unlikely to be just a coincidence. More information would be helpful, however.

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