You're probably familiar with the Ouija board, even if you were never been allowed to play with one as a kid. The idea of spirit writing goes back centuries, but it wasn't until Parker Brothers started manufacturing the Ouija Board in the '60s that this particular form of spirit communication became a slumber party hit. Ouija boards have been a pop culture mainstay for years — we wouldn't have Pazuzu had Regan not first communicated with Captain Howdy via Ouija in "The Exorcist." But what about real life? Is there any truth to Ouija possession? Maybe. These are the documented cases of people becoming possessed after using Ouija boards.
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00:00We all remember those nights when our school friends would convince us to bust out the
00:03Ouija board in their basement. The thrill and excitement that comes as the planchette
00:07flows over the board, seemingly on its own. The chills wave down our spines when the spirit
00:12on the other side of the board happens to know some hidden detail about our lives and
00:16futures. Most of us buy into the psychological explanation that it's our own minds causing
00:20the planchette to spell out our names or tell us Fluffy the Puppy is happy far, far away
00:25living at the farm. But what we know as a game has been used by many as a spiritual
00:30tool throughout the ages. Those with a strong religious nature tend to believe Ouija boards
00:35can contact the dead and serve as portals that allow evil to enter our world, demons
00:40and devils capable of inflicting torment or even possessing the board's users. Maybe the
00:45seemingly innocent Hasbro board game isn't as innocent as we were led to believe, because
00:50some horrible things have definitely happened to people playing with one.
00:55As friends we've gathered, hearts are true, spirits near, we call to you."
01:02Of all the things you'd expect to find in the mainstream news cycle, a piece about possessed
01:06teenagers probably isn't on the top of your list. Still, in 2014, a story out of Mexico
01:11made enough noise for news outlets, including Cosmopolitan, to write about it. Three American
01:16siblings and their cousin were in San Juan Tlaquetenco, Mexico, playing what they thought
01:20would be a fun little game with a board that has been used by occult practitioners to contact
01:24spirits for centuries. You know, just good old-fashioned fun. Maybe stick with this kind
01:30of thing, because something went wrong.
01:32Alexandra Huerta fell into a trance-like state and began convulsing. The director of public
01:37safety for the town said Huerta's brother and cousin, who were also participating with
01:41the board, had bizarre symptoms as well. According to the Daily Mail, they spoke of feeling
01:46numbness, double vision, blindness, deafness, hallucinations, muscle spasm, and difficulty
01:51swallowing.
01:52The trio was rushed to the hospital, and officials refused to say one way or the other whether
01:55the kids were victims of possession. But it seemed to remain a possibility. Later, it
02:00was reported that Huerta wasn't trying to play a game at all, but was rather trying
02:03to contact her deceased parents. To do so, the young woman had ingested a poisonous plant
02:08called brugmansia, or angel's trumpet. In large doses, it can cause all of the symptoms
02:13the group exhibited.
02:14A different case of reported Ouija-related possession comes out of Peru, and it takes
02:18a modern twist. Instead of using the traditional board and planchettes, which the occult world
02:23has been using for ages, 18-year-old Patricia Quispe settled for a downloadable cell phone
02:28version.
02:29The scene. It's October 2015 in Lima, Peru, and Ms. Quispe is hanging out with her friends
02:34for the weekend. With October being the start of the spooky season, the group didn't have
02:38anything better to do than to try to contact the spiritual realm, like any other normal
02:42teenagers. They busted out the phone app, did their thing, and Quispe went home.
02:47Upon her arrival, her parents noticed there was something wrong. According to the Australian
02:51Broadcasting Corporation, the girl's parents called an ambulance after she started foaming
02:55from the mouth and convulsing. It wasn't long after she was taken to the hospital that those
02:59around her drew the conclusion that she was possessed by demonic spirits.
03:03Was she? Did she pick up a demon that night?
03:07Now you are alone, Adamski."
03:12The Ouija board, according to Psychology Today, has become a popular way to pass the time
03:16in South and Central America over the years, which may explain why they have the most cases
03:21of reported possession. Some of these cases involve massive numbers of people. In 2014,
03:26around 35 students in Bolivia were taken to the hospital when they fell into trance-like
03:30states. The students exhibited mental confusion, became agitated, began to sweat profusely,
03:36and their pulses elevated. Guess what game they'd been playing at the time? That's right,
03:41Ouija.
03:42Another large-scale incident took place at the Girlstown School near Mexico City between
03:45November 2006 and July 2007. The symptoms included headaches and such difficulty walking
03:51that students could only amble about with the help of a friend. Students were ultimately
03:55diagnosed with mass hysteria, traced back to one student contacting spirits with a Ouija
04:00board to win a basketball game. Surely using demons to increase your rebound average counts
04:05as inappropriate conduct, right? And nothing to mess with ever, just in case.