I went to a Seance

Hello Dreamers.

It was Valentine's Day. I'm single. There was next to nothing in Barrie I could do that didn't require a Valentine. So after looking around for something to do, I found an Ouija Board workshop on Eventbrite lurking somewhere on Queen's St.

Yeah, sure, why not?

I'm very much a sceptic, capitol-A atheist who doesn't believe in the paranormal. I also like gothic, spooky, stuff, and hey, messing with an Ouija board in public would make for a great social experiment.

A Perfect Venue for Gothic Magic

The seance workshop was held at a place called the Catacombs Cabaret. Finding it proved to be an adventure in of itself. I find the address, and the entrance or some bargain store. I double-check my ticket and noted that it said in the "rear". So I walk around the building, finding a parking lot and backdoors covered in graffiti. Upon the third walk around, I look up the place's website, where the event I bought my ticket showed up.

Eventually I find a cheap sandwich board pointing to a back door. I open the door, and find myself staring down a flight of stairs through concrete walls.

YOLO! I walked down into this dungeon, where I nod to a doorman in a very goth, magic, themed place about the size of an apartment. I arrived late, so I had to whisper my way through proving my right to be there while the 'expert' running this went through her intro pre-amble.

Now We Talk to Spirits

So every second person got a ouija board and we all tried to contact... something... The expert explained that what we could end up making contact with might not be a ghost, or a human. We could be talking to angels or gods or other spirits.

Turns out all gods in all mythologies are real.

After a quick cleansing circle to make sure there are no evil spirits (awe) we get to it, hands on the planchette, trying to get the damn thing to move on its own while calling out "Anyone there?" At first, nothing happens, though we are assured we just need time.

You know, I thought of wearing a necklace I own that had a pentagram and upside-down crosses on it. Perhaps for the best I did not do that.

Some where luckier than others. After a lot of nothing for me the expert recommended I try a pendulum - a pendant. That moved, but as its a dangling object I felt no pull. Myself and my partner did get the planchette to move in circles, focusing on YES/NO as we couldn't get it to spell words.

At one point, in trying to get this to work the expert recommended trying to use the planchette upside-down - with the printed bits on the bottom. Arguing that some people work in reverse for reasons.

Though an interaction that stood out was the expert asking if I was a witch. Like, did the red, Holy Clothing, dress give it away?

I had some laughs with people. While it didn't work the vibe was there, and I had some laughs with people. Even ate dinner afterwards with a few of them.

How does the Ouija Board Work, No Magic Version?

The sceptic explanation of a ouijia board has to do with involuntary twitching of the muscles in your hands. When you place your hands on the planchette, even as you hold them still, those muscles are making slight movements as part of stabilising your arm and keeping the contractions of the muscles where they need to be. This is far from perfect, so as you hold the planchette, those twitches will jerk your hand just enough to move it. Combine this with the power of suggestion, and now it looks like your talking to someone in a very stilted way.

Nerds call this the Ideomoter effect. While it sorta works with one person maning the planchette, it works better if multiple people are holding it as its less obvious you are moving it. Also works better if everyone knows who or what they are talking to, which would have the participants unknowningly steer the movements in certain ways.

In Conclusion

I had my fun. Still didn't find my Valentine, but I managed to get some socialising in. I have a soft spot for the spooky acetic, and I know it bleeds into my writing. Inspiration, especially for horror, and touching grass, are always good.

Now my weekly blog post is done!