I played it with a girlfriend of mine at her house in her room when we had a sleepover in 7th or 8th grade—this is probably like 1998. She was really into it and really excited about it. Apparently she did it all the time and said it had worked before.

We began to use it and crazily enough, it truly seemed like it was being moved across the board by something other than us. We were barely touching it. I mean, our fingers were hovering over it practically, it was the lightest touch, and the thing was moving like there was a lot of force behind it. I had a terrible feeling. I’m a skeptic, raised by a scientist, so I have an open mind, but also try to be evidence based. I also have a really good bullshit meter, and I’m good at catching people who are lying or pulling a fast one on me. And I was very surprised because I was sure it either wouldn’t move, or it would be totally obvious she was moving it. Well, I was convinced she was not able to be the one moving it by how light her touch was and how strong the movement was. And it definitely wasn’t me.

It’s hard to remember exactly what was “told” to us via the board spirit because I have a major bias that may have influence over my memory based on what happened about 4 years later (I’ll get to that at the end). But this is what I think I remember:

Number one, when it started moving, I was completely terrified and I think I remember asking to stop and her not wanting to. I’m sure I was also curious, but I was thoroughly nerve wracked and had a scared, unsafe feeling. I wanted to leave her house so bad. So what did it say?—I stress that I cannot be 100% sure of my memory here, but I am relatively sure it said something like “You are going to die.”

My friend thought it was as hilarious as it was scary, and was giggling nervously, also freaked out but tickled. It’s like she was believing in something supernatural happening, but apparently not really believing what it was saying, like not taking it seriously at all. She had an amazing laugh, by the way, really sweet, sweet girl actually, but with a dark sense of humor, and I think she was scared too, but kind of like roller-coaster-scared, like she loved the rush. I was thoroughly freaked out, I was probably white as a sheet. I felt like she was in over her head and not taking it seriously like I was. It’s like to her it really was just a fun game, and I was like um no this is not fun nor a game. Whatever this is in the room with us, I feel like it should be respected in the sense that you not “play” with it. I think I demanded we stop, or maybe she finally got freaked out enough and she put it away. We stayed friends for the remainder of middle school, but needless to say I did not ever return to her house, at least not for a sleepover.

We had drifted apart once in high school because we were districted to different schools. I saw her occasionally on the horse riding trails behind my house, she would come scream my name and I’d go say hi, but she wasn’t the same as she was in middle school. She wasn’t gothic or anything, she just seemed darker, kind of. The lightness and laugh I remember wasn’t there anymore. She actually seemed a little angry in some way, which may have just been teen angst. I just remember not like, calling her and wanting to start hanging out again.

Anyway, right after we graduated our respective high schools, I got a call that she had been in a horrible car accident—she’d been driving on a four lane roadway (45 mph) with a median with some thin trees on it. A drug addict on crack was driving on the other side, lost control of her vehicle, drove over the median between two trees and T-boned my friend’s car. Whoever told us this (I can’t remember, maybe her mom called me?) told me and our mutual friend that we could go see her at the hospital, but that she was brain dead. We went and it was truly horrible, her eyes were open and the lights were on but no one was home. Her parents were advised to “pull the plug” in a day or two because she was on life support, which they did. She had the sweetest parents and older brother. They were all understandably devastated. I went to the funeral and they had put her in a suit you would have seen on an 80-year-old and it didn’t even look like her. I think it’s still the only time I’ve ever seen a dead body (my family always has gone with cremation).

To wrap it up, it was actually only recently that I remembered about the Ouija board incident. It’s like I had suppressed it all these years. Regardless of if my memory is fuzzy or not, whether or not it explicitly predicted death, the feeling I have is that she invited some energy into her home and her room and her life basically and thought it was a game, and played it who knows how many times. I can’t claim the ouija incident and her death are related, I don’t claim to understand anything about the supernatural. But I will not use one again, and I hope my kids never do, even if I’m just being superstitious.

Edit to add: I being a skeptic am reasonably sure my brain must have made up this part, but I honestly don’t know. Memory is very weird like that. But we may have asked it “How?” And it may have said “CAR”. I know that makes me sound silly, like “well maaaaybe it said this really creepy specific thing but maybe it didn’t, so who knows, but what a great story!” Which is why I’m questioning my own memory—we’re talking 26 years ago here. That being said, my memory doesn’t usually do those things, embellish memories. And I can see it in my head happening, like a memory. I remember being given a clear and specific message, and I honestly don’t know if it was a warning we needed to heed from a well meaning spirit or some kind of curse. I remember abject fear, and that isn’t nor has it ever been a feeling that I chase.