Sometimes junk can be converted into something practical. I had an old Ouija board that I either inherited or picked up at a flea market some time when I was kid. I also had these black pillows on my couch that had always been in a crappy torn-open condition. Rather throwing away all of the pillows and putting the Ouija board on eBay (where it would probably just sit there with 20 other identical "vintage" boards that nobody was bidding on), I decided to make a little lap desk out of it. If you look closely at my web site's banner at the top of this page, you can see it in the photo near the top of the big "S".
To do this, I bought some Velcro strips at the local fabric franchise. Some of these you have to sew on, while others have a peel-back sticker on the other side. I sewed the pillow so that it was packed down and smaller, attached velcro to both it and the board, and just stuck the two pieces together. I've found that Velcro is great even if you want an adhesive to be permanent. Using things like thick stickers or glue can eventually wear out, but Velcro pretty much always stays.
About the Ouija board in general, here are my thoughts on them.
I never understood how the pronunciation of "WEE-gee" came from O-U-I-J-A. When I was in 6th grade I took French briefly, and when discussing the French pronunciation of "Oui", I mentioned that it was like the word "Ouija". The teacher explained that the name came from the French word for "Yes" (oui) and the German word for "Yes" (ja). So it was a "yes-yes" board. Though I still don't know why it was called that or why it phonetically went from "WEE - Yah" to "WEE - gee". Oh well.
Often you'll see Ouija boards sold as "spirit boards" or "ghost boards". That's because the name Ouija® is actually a registered trademark of the Parker Brothers corporation, as are Risk® and Clue®. That alone ought to tell you something about the Ouija. It's about as supernatural as those other board games. I can't believe that there are full-grown adults in the 21st century who honestly believe that Ouija boards are dangerous or summon "demonic forces".
I can't say that all of my friends share my skeptical view. Ever see the first season of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! where they covered Ouija boards? Well those 3 Salem witches are all friends of mine (Shawn, the guy with the black hair and who had been one of my closest friends, has sadly since passed away). If you have other views on Ouija boards, then by all means, go rant about them...on your own blog.
So how does it "work"? When you put your hands on the planchette piece, after a few seconds it might feel like the piece is moving by itself. The reality though is that you ARE physically pushing it, only without being aware of it. This is known as the ideomotor effect. It's going to be gibberish at first, but once you get some sort of answer, then your imaginations will latch on to it and fill out the missing details. The "spirits" that you and other participants "talk" to are nothing more than products of your collective imagination. If you want to prove this to yourself, try asking the "spirit" something that nobody touching the planchette knows, but somebody else in the room knows, like that person's social security number. It's not going to work.
Is the Ouija board "dangerous"? If you're already a little superstitious to begin with, and use it in an environment where the atmosphere is spooky and expectations are high (e.g., in candle light with a slumber party full of bored teenagers), then it's just a tool that caters to any already-existing superstitions. Yet when you get right down to it, it's still just an alphabet with a bad reputation. But hey, at least now you can use it as a mini desk or tray when you're watching TV.
