O- Oija Board

             
The occult has fascinated people from time immemorial .As teens ,we came across many stories and anecdotes relating to the occult. Most commonly talked about subject was the Oija board which was used to perform Planchett ( not sure how it is spelt ).

                                                     

One afternoon,unable to contain our curiosity we decided to call the spirit of a friend's grandfather. A hand made Oija board as shown in the picture was drawn on a big sheet of chart paper and stuck on a piece of hardboard.We did not want an unstable board . Five of us selected a friend's empty house and assembled the required paraphernalia. A coin, paper ,pens and some water to drink, just in case...

The expert amongst us was given the charge of inviting the respected spirit on earth. He made a straight face,warned us not to laugh and be serious throughout the procedure.Questions were rehearsed. I was tense ,not of the spirit but because I was the only non-believer in the room. The expert closed his eyes and we followed the leader.We all touched the coin in the centre of the board with the tip of our index fingers.After about 10 torturous minutes, the expert felt a movement in the coin.He thanked the spirit,after greeting him and asked the first question.We were told beforehand that the answers were going to be brief ,in letters or numbers mostly. The coin started moving towards 'yes' when we asked if the spirit was happy in the other world. The coin moved towards 'no' when we asked if the spirit missed its family. The grandson felt sad and opened his eyes wide and tried to 'spot' the spirit in the room.He was reprimanded promptly by others .

                                              

A born sceptic that I am ,I felt that the coin was being led by our expert in the desired direction so taking advantage of the other four fingers,I increased my finger pressure on the coin and the resistance to the movement of the coin increased .My friend explained the phenomena as displeasure being shown by the spirit and the great adventure met with a premature end.

After a hushed session lasting for a few minutes ,I admitted that it was my doing .The expert said I made a grave mistake by attempting to interrupt the session and that I will be liable to punishment of the worst kind.
Kid that I was ,I did get scared for a couple of hours.The details were poured out in front of my dad who is a scientist and all doubts were cleared at the dinner table.The friend still believes in the power of Oija and I still do not.

There is a rational explanation to the movement of  coin as I found out much later in life through the internet. The movement occurs due to the ideomotor effect and not due to the spirit. If the operator is blindfolded,only gibberish appears for an answer.
I like logic, I feel secure if there is logic behind any such alternative science.
 So have you tried Oija board ?Share please .


                                                                         
images courtesy Google images.