text: are ouija boards real? do you have any stories about when you used one??   it is not evil - it's merely a board with some black letters and a planchette  if you go looking for evil or demons you might possibly get something unwanted such as that - i've heard of stories of people trying to invoke demons and the like - they suddenly find members of their family having tragic accidents and suddenly developing terminal diseases with no ill effect to themselves - don't do it - it's not worth trying - otherwise be prepared to deal with what you bring on!  spirits that talk through the board are just like you and me - they deserve respect and should be treated well  nothing will come from a board if you leave it lying around - you do not need to burn it or throw it away if you have a bad experience - it cannot work without people making it work  always include prayers amongst the circle of people involved in the seance to both open and close the circle. it is a good idea to make sure you protect yourself before the seance is begun with a few prayers..  never let anyone be involved in a seance who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol  tiredness will stop the board from working properly - make sure all members of the seance are fully awake and not overly tired.  non believers and overly skeptical people will also ruin a seance, it's a good idea to approach a board with an open mind and a willingness to accept whatever comes forth.  don't all start arguing about who's moving the planchette - this is a common thing - it upsets the mood and some people get very angry and ruin the entire thing. if you feel that someone is pushing the planchette ask them to remove their hands for a short time.  don't ask the spirits to prove they are there - just think about it for a while - if you ask them to prove that they are there of course something is going to happen - whether it be rattling cupboards or windows - temperature dropping - things being thrown across the room - movement of other objects - you asked them to prove they are there and they are just showing you that they are.....they can't simply send you a letter in the mail saying "hey - by the way - i was there the other night and this is just to prove it". also it is strongly believed that if you do ask a spirit to prove that it is there that you are opening up a doorway to the other side, one that is very hard to close, you are inviting unwanted guests into this world that you may not be able to send home. once they are here they are almost impossible to get rid of and you might find you have something attched to you and following you around causing trouble for life.  you are not brining spirits into this world by merely talking to them through a board - as stated above, you may bring them back into this world by inviting them in (this is not my personal belief) so be careful - don't invite anything in. but just by using a board and talking to spirits you aren't going to pull them into this world and trap them here or anything. the ouija board is merely a tool to talk to spirits who are all ready here and this does not create some kind of votex to trap and pull spirits back into our own world.   how does it work? there are many many theories as to why and how a board works. psychologists explain it as a simple muscle reflex that makes your hand automatically move and your subconscious mind control the words that are spelled out. who knows maybe this is so. i know that i've seen unexplainable things which cannot simply be muscles and subconscious minds controlling the planchette. on many occasions i have seen a planchette move around the board on it's own, with no fingers touching it. i have seen dead relatives that people didn't even know they had step forward time and time again, the relative operating the board would look into their family history to find that this person really did exist. so what is it that makes it go, the truth is nobody really knows the answer