Large numbers of Brits say they have used an Ouija board in a bid to ‘speak to the dead’, with many claiming they have contacted the ‘other side’ — with chilling results
One in four Brits have tried to get in touch with the ‘other side’, with more than half succeeding, a study has found. A poll of 2,000 Brits found that just over a quarter confessed to using an Ouija board in a bid to ‘speak to the dead’.
Most used the board — marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0-9 and the words ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ — to try to contact a friend or relative who had died, but some tried speaking to their celebrity idols.
Similar ‘spirit boards’ or ’talking boards’ were first used more than 900 years ago China, but first came to the attention of the Western world when the modern day Ouija board was invented by spiritualists in America in 1890.
If the spirit ‘comes into the room’, they can move a glass or marker around the board to spell out whatever they want to say or are asked. The Ouija board is used by demon-possessed Regan in 1973 movie The Exorcist, in which she contacts an entity named ‘Captain Howdy’, who later turns out to be the devil himself.
The board is also featured in many horror movies, including What Lies Beneath, Paranormal Activity, and The Conjuring 2. Researchers found that 26% of those polled admitted having used a Ouija board, with 74% saying they never had and never would. Asked if they got ‘any response’, just over half (53%) said they glass moved during the séance, giving them answers from ‘beyond the grave’.
Arlene Cartwright, 31, of Maidstone, Kent, said she once tried the Ouija board with friends when she was in her early 20s. She said the experience ‘totally freaked her out’, saying she would never again dabble with ‘black magic’. She said: “Whatever we saw wasn’t just someone being daft and moving a glass around.
“It spelled out the names of our boyfriends at the time, and told us there was going to be an accident.” She added: “We didn’t think much of it really, we were all a bit freaked out, but a week later my friend’s boyfriend had an accident at work which almost cost him his fingers.
“Then, the week after another of our boyfriend’s got a broken leg playing football.” She said that a month after the séance, her boyfriend dumped her. But she said: “He was just a loser, but in the back of my mind I thought he might have been terrified something was going to happen to him.”
A spokesman for video game makers Two Point Studios said the study showed that Brits had a real interest in ‘attempting to contact the dead’. He said: “A lot of Brits hold some sort of belief in the paranormal, whether they believe they’ve seen a ghost or they’ve tried to get in touch with the ‘other side’.”
Alan Carr has revealed he became addicted to contacting the dead through Ouija boards — but was horrified when his mum was called a ‘s***’ and another message predicted the death of a hotel owner. The comedian said after he witnessed other strange happenings at home and started having car accidents, he became freaked out by the spirit boards and had to give up his interest.
However, his mum believed that the comedian was deliberately fixing the answers, to which he replied: “My mum said ‘you’re pushing that’. I said ‘I’d say it to your face, I won’t use the dark arts, I’ll call you a s*** to your face’.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.