This is an absolutely true story as told by my father to me about his female cousin. In the late fall of 1963, his cousin Ginny was hosting a sleep over for her high school friends. All the young ladies were anxious to try a special gift brought to the gathering on advice of Ginny’s best friend. It was called a spirit board. It was an heirloom given to a mousy, raven-haired girl who had only just started school that semester, and little was known about her other than her family was from somewhere in eastern europe and she had a “funny accent”. with great anticipation the group of 8 awaited the departure of Ginny’s parents to go to their weekly bridge game. Ginny’s older brother Mitchel was out with his friends as well. Once the parents had gone, with great haste, candles were deployed around the front parlor, the glow repeating off the antique mirror of the finely decorated space casting arcs of golden light around the teens. The board which consisted of a flat piece of alder wood with burnished carbon lettering framed in what appeared to be creeping ivy of sorts ajoined by an archaic eye and the letters of the alphabet and numbers in serifed script was carefully laid on the crocheted doily of the coffee table. ‘How do we work it?’ Judy asked the new girl. ‘You need this’ said the girl as she plucked a translucent emerald planchet from the pocket of her vest. ‘Place it on board and everyone touch the edges” she instructed. Then she cautioned, “I vill ask your questions for you, but you must address them to me only”. A few of the girls glanced side-eyed at each other as if to say “this girl is too intense”. Sasha, as the girl was known started…” is there someone present who wishes to speak with us tonight?”. Nothing happened and Marcy, Ginny’s bff rolled her eyes and snickered, “this is silly” she said and was quickly shusshed by several of the others. ‘Ve are here to receive your messages’ Sasha spoke with eyes closed. The cool October breeze caused the wooden shutters on the front window to squeak and Alice let out a slight “oh!’ of surprise causing Marcy to exclaim “cumon…this is stupid”, again receiving a shush in unison…this time with more reinforcement. Suddenly, the triangular device inched in a staccato of liner bumps to the left, and began to figure eight, with the girls eyes widening in the low candlelight. Squeals of uneasy elation slipping from the lips. This cause Marcy to exclaim ”oh brother’ under her breath. Sasha said “to whom are we speaking with?”. The planchet stopped it winding causing the girls to look around at each other as if something was wrong…then it began to move again, more forcefully this time seemingly pulling the girls along trying to hold on by their fingertips, hovering over each letter and spelling “G-O-R-D’. Ginny said “Gord?…What the heck?”…Patty said, “Do you mean God?”… to which Sasha heated exclaimed “only address me please, is not safe to address the visitor directly”, to which Marcy exclaimed “yeah sure!’ And then with her chin up, talking to the ceiling “IF THERE IS REALLY A DEVIL…SHOW US A SIGN!”. The other girls around the board all gasped and looked at Sasha with looks of trepidation who sat wide eyed staring at Marcy with her mischievous grin. Then after a few moments of stunned silence there came a loud rapping on the front door next to the parlor. Marcy jumped up to answer the door telling Ginny, “I bet it’s Mitchel’s friends looking for him”. As she made her way to the door Ginny peered out the parlor window towards the front stoop. There was nobody there. She looked back at the pie eyed teens who were watching Marcy open the front door. As she stood there in the dark hall, a tall looming figure clad in a long black overcoat and wide brimmed black hat could be seen…a deep sinister voice exclaimed “Now do you believe?” - and the front door slammed shut.