Halloween often inspires people to break out their Ouija boards, even if the “talking board” has been sitting gathering dust on a shelf the rest of the year. Bea and her friends Ingrid, Anna, Lara and May decided to experiment with the board one Halloween night some years ago in Bea’s large house in Australia.
Bea’s parents were away on business, and her brother and sister were visiting an uncle in South Australia, so she and her friends had the house to themselves for a sleepover. Naturally, sleep was the last thing on their minds. Anna, who was really into séances and the paranormal, suggested playing with the board, which she brought with her.
“I have two Pomeranian dogs, Muffy (tan) and Shadow (black),” says Bea, “and my friend Ingrid has a white Pomeranian called Hayley. “Muffy, Shadow and Hayley, along with Anna's dog, Ernie and Lara's two dogs, Archie and Rosie, were all in the backyard and we hadn't heard a peep out of them for about an hour.”
Upstairs in Bea’s bedroom, the girls arranged themselves in a circle with Anna’s Ouija board in the center. They each placed two fingers on the planchette. Anna started by asking the board, “Is anybody there?” The board moved to YES. Then Ingrid asked, “Who?” and the board spelled out: GAIL.
“Who are you?” another girls asked. Again the board spelled out only: GAIL.
“More detail,” another requested. But the board only replied: GAIL.
“What’s going to happen tonight?” Bea asked. DOGS, the board spelled.
“What are you going to do to our dogs?” YOU'LL SEE, replied the Ouija.
Bea pushed the board aside and the girls just sat there staring at each other. The silence was soon broken by a piercing whimper from the backyard. The five girls jumped up and raced down the stairs, fearing for their dogs. “We flung the back door open and raced out,” says Bea. “We soon discovered Lara's dog Archie whimpering in a corner. We didn't even take a second glance at any of them. We simply picked up our dogs (all of them were small ones) and ran them inside up to my room. Once we had them upstairs, we fussed around inspecting every inch of them. Lara screamed and we rushed over to see her holding Archie, who had a burn mark on his left side in the shape of a pentagram in a circle (the symbol for witchcraft).
“We spent the whole night with the dogs in our arms and vowed to burn the board the next morning.”
Suicide Ghost
“This experience is very dear to me, though it grows blurry with time,” Satori tells us. “Memories fade like breath upon a mirror... especially ones that were dim to begin with. But this is what I remember, I do not know exactly what I saw, but I do know it changed me.”
Satori’s experience took place at an all-girl’s Catholic college she attended where, it was rumored, there was a particular bathroom that was haunted. The girls frequently talked about the icy air in this room, and of hearing and seeing strange things, and a feeling of being watched. Satori dismissed them as tall tales.
One Halloween, however, Satori and her friend decided to go and “talk” to this spirit. They went into one of the bathroom stalls that had a bathtub, because it was said to be the center of the haunting energy. “My friend got into the tub and started feeling around,” Satori says. “I did too... and I felt the most amazing feeling – a tingling, like electric current, coming from the walls and the faucets. I was stunned but, oddly enough, not afraid. Elated was more the word.
“We got out of the tub and that's when I saw it: the pale image of a young girl with dark hair and deep, sad eyes. She was wearing some kind of slip. Her wrists were cut and her blood was dripping down the drain. She looked like me! Again, I did not feel fear, only sympathy.
“ ‘I think she put the razor in the soap dish,’ I said to my friend. ‘I know,’ she answered. Suddenly, I felt this presence, this tingling warm feeling inside... like the way your arms prickle before a storm. I said to it, ‘Come out. Don’t be afraid.’ And the feeling got stronger. Then I said, ‘It’s okay. We understand. You can go back.’ And the feeling seemed to move upward in my body until it disappeared. Then there was no more energy.”
When the girls stood to leave, however, Satori was stricken with an overwhelming feeling of sadness and loneliness. “I knew she did not want us to leave,” Satori says. “I said to her gently, ‘I'm so sorry, but we can't help you. You need to go back now.’ Then I felt the sadness lift and the room grew lighter. I felt her leave. She never returned and no one spoke of her again. But I will never forget her. She taught me a lesson: compassion heals all wounds, whether alive or dead.”
