What are the implications of these reasons? Because George Noory was going to conduct a Ouija board experiment on the air, did evil spirits cause car crashes and jam an elevator in the St. Louis Arch? Is he saying that the Devil reached out and killed that previous guest’s mother? Did legions of demons clawing out of the depths of Hell on their way to the Coast-to-Coast studios cause the earthquake? Was there a real fear that lower astral entities coming out of the Ouija board would affect his daughter’s pregnancy?
Wow. This is cynicism, negativity, superstition and fear of an appalling nature. George also quoted an e-mail from a listener who implored him to stop the experiment for the sake of mankind! Are you kidding? With this kind of overblown, narcissistic – I dare say silly – negativity floating around on Coast-to-Coast that night, maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t go ahead with the experiment.
WHO TO BLAME
Perhaps it’s worth disclosing here that I do not believe in the Devil, demons or even lower astral entities. These are names and personifications of the negativity and darkness that can arise out of our own human nature. Neither do I believe in the inherent evil of the Ouija board. The Ouija board, like anything else at which we direct our intention, yields what we put into it. If it’s used with a sense of good-natured experimentation and fun, that’s what you’ll get. If you approach it with fear and cynicism, that’s what will come out in return. This is true of any of life’s activities, from driving your car to raising your family.
In one respect, perhaps George made the right decision. He said he didn’t want to be responsible for anything bad happening. Indeed, had he gone ahead with the experiment, you can be certain that he would have been inundated with calls from many of his listeners blaming the experiment for all kinds of things. People would have been complaining for days about car troubles, deaths, lost keys, business woes and who knows what else. Stuff that happens all the time. There certainly would have been no acknowledgement of all the wonderful births, successful business deals, joyful family picnics or lottery wins that took place on that day and those following.
The Ouija board, demons and evil entities don’t cause our troubles. We do. With our intention, we direct the course of our lives, for good or ill.
BACKWARD THINKING
The Ouija experiment could have been an interesting, fun night of radio entertainment. That it was stopped was disappointing.
Here's the most disappointing thing about it: it's precisely this kind of superstitious nonsense that impedes serious paranormal research. I’m not sure how serious a paranormal experiment it could have been (probably not much, given the circumstances), but what happened is an example of how we can allow medieval superstition to block us from attempting to find out what’s really behind various forms of psychic phenomena. This backward thinking cannot possibly advance explorations into these mysteries, and it gives skeptics plenty of ammunition with which to make paranormal research look ridiculous.
Good didn’t win out over evil that night on Coast-to-Coast. Neither did the Devil and his minions win. What won out, unfortunately, was irrational fear. President Roosevelt's famous words apply well here: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
