Birth of Our Homemade Ouija Board - written by Sandie May Joyce (Sandie Ange). Please scroll down to read the story...
Birth of Our Homemade Ouija Board
In my childhood days, my head was filled with many wonderful dreams. I dreamed of being rich and famous, I dreamed of being able to find the most ideal job when I grow up, and most of all, I dreamed of marrying the most handsome and lovable guy!
“Oh! It’s not that hard to find out who you’re going to marry,” Donna quipped, one of my childhood friends.
Donna and her sister Christine grew up with me. We had been the best of friends ever since we were in grade school. The three of us were inseparable - we went everywhere together.
One of our main topics of discussion during that time was how to find out who we were going to marry. The class had named me Mrs. Chow. Some insanely twisted mind thought it would be hilarious since my teacher had assigned my seat next to a boy with the last name "Chow". In those days, you just don’t sit with boys, you always want to sit with girls. I was greatly humiliated during that time when I was named “Mrs. Chow.”
The three of us really weren’t that pretty. One of the boys, Wong, who sat in front of me, would often turn his head to look at me and make fun of me whenever the teacher wasn't looking. I tolerated his tauntings and insults daily. He even followed me and my friends home after school.
I lived in a house up on a terrace where I had to walk up a slope just to access the front door. Donna and Christine would always walk me home, and Grandma would always call us into her room as soon as she saw us step inside the house, after trekking up the hill, gasping for air. She would give us some cookies. Sometimes, Wong would also follow us to my house so he, too, could get some cookies and treats from my Grandma.
Sometimes, the four of us would play cards for an hour or two before my friends went home. We played cards, but we always cheated. We sat Wong in front of a mirror, so we could see his cards so we would always win.
Wong’s taunting stopped after a while, and he joined us and became our friend.
“How do you do that?” I asked Donna, bewildered. She was a year older than Christine and I, so in my mind, I thought she must have known something that I didn’t.
“Oh! It is actually quite risky! I heard that if you don’t do it right, your future mate could die! You have to be really careful when doing it,” Donna warned. “They say that if you face the mirror at midnight, light up some candles in front of the mirror and then peel the skin off an apple with a paring knife, you will then see the image of your future mate in the mirror.”
“Oh Yeah?” I got really excited now. “Has anyone tried this yet?”
“No, I haven't heard anything from anyone yet.”
“Why not? It sounds so easy!” I replied anxiously.
“Apparently it is very dangerous. They say that when you peel that apple, you have to peel it in a continuous roundabout fashion. You must begin from the top of the apple, and peel your way down to the bottom without tearing the skin. If you are careless and break the skin somewhere before you reach the bottom of the apple, then your future mate will die.”
"Wow! That does sound risky! I would not want to try that," I replied, worried I may wind up jinxing myself of ever finding true love.
”I’ve got another idea!” Christine’s eyes lit up as she spoke. “But it is spiritual.”
"What is it?" I asked.
“Now, this is very spiritual. If you want to play this, you’ll have to call out the spirit of the plate. It’s called the "Plate Fairy," Christine said in a serious tone. “You cannot be clowning around. You’ll invite the Plate Fairy over every time when you want to play this game, and whenever you’re done playing, you will also need to request that she leaves to go back to where she came from. You play this on an Ouija Board. That's what they're called.”
"Yeah? Where can we get them? Do they sell them in the store?"
"Oh, it's very easy to make one ourselves. You don't need to buy it." Christine answered. I liked Christine. She was always the smartest among us! She would always come up with some great ideas. She excelled in school assignments as well. Donna and I were the ones who would always copy her work. Our homework would always be the same.
Our homemade Ouija Board was made with a bristol board on which we had written the 26 letters of the alphabet from A to Z, and the numbers from 0 to 9. I remember how scared we were the first time we played it. My auntie's eyes bugged out when she saw us making that board. She told us it was something wicked and we should not play such a game (I suppose she had made that assumption through superstition), but she did not forbid us. She only reminded us to always ask the Plate Fairy to leave after playing. She also said that if we don't the Plate Fairy's spirit would linger and be trapped inside our house and she would do harm to the family.
The first time we played with our homemade Ouija Board, Donna, and Christine came to my house to play. We used the living room but closed off and locked all the doors that would lead to other rooms and the hallway - we didn't want the Plate Fairy flying off and creating havoc.
Christine set the board on the table and turned a small porcelain plate face down. She drew a pointed arrow on the edge, and we were supposed to put our index fingers on the bottom of the plate which by now became the top.
“What are you going to ask the Plate Fairy?” Donna looked at me intensively.
Gosh! I'm not prepared yet. Am I going to be the first to ask!
I answered her with a blankness blink of my eyes. I had not been even trying hard to think of something yet.
“Oh, I know, May wants to see if Stephen will be her future husband,” Christine laughed.
"May" was my name. It's how the kids at school knew me - when they weren't calling me "Mrs. Chow."
“Oh, I like Stephen.” I openly admitted it. He’s so cute!
Stephen had dark wavy hair and stood about my height. He was in the same class, but for some reason, he seldom noticed me. He joined our class after it had begun its winter semester. Some people told me that he ran into some kind of trouble with other kids in another school, so his parents wanted him to change schools, and that was how he came to us in mid-term.
I was taken by his good looks the first time I saw him. However, in those days, when you’re only 11 years old, you don’t scream and shout about your crush like teenagers do. I just thought Stephen was so good-looking, and I would want him as a friend. This was not even about sex, or boyfriends, or anything like that. This was just him and me being friends with each other. That was all that was in my mind. The mere mention of his name and his presence would often send me into a fantasy land.
However, Stephen didn’t seem to notice me, since I was only a skinny girl. How could I have made him notice me?
Stephen was a quiet boy. He must have been forewarned by his parents to behave well in our school, and not to cause any unnecessary attraction to himself. He was unlike Wong, who only wanted to make fun of me. Stephen kept to himself most of the time. Many times I saw him coming my way in the hallway, and he seemed to have been looking at me from a distance, but when he walked toward me, he merely passed by without even saying, “Hi”.
Well, that’s the story of my life - A skinny girl who was trying to catch someone’s attention but was too shy to take the first step to making friends!
“Don’t you think he’s cute?” I asked. “Oh, well now, Peter could be after you. You better be careful with him.”
Peter Tam is one of our class clowns. He would often make jokes in front of everyone. He always seemed to be talking to Christine even though most times she wasn't responding to him. Whenever Peter talked, he would look toward Christine as if he was talking to her directly, but Christine only turned her head to look towards us, or sometimes she would look at the ground whenever Peter talked or when he cracked jokes.
“I hate that guy! I hope his name doesn’t show up on this board,” she said disgustingly, that took me by surprise for I thought she liked him too.
Donna seemed to be more advanced than the two of us. At least she’s got boobs. Not a lot, but you could see two tiny dots on her chest poking, trying to break through her white uniform, and sometimes when she came into the class, I sensed some of the boys were looking at her.
The tiny two dots were becoming more visible whenever we had a gym class because we had to wear T-shirts and shorts for the gym. I often would look at Donna’s two dots enviously and wonder why I didn’t have them yet.
I used to lie flat on my bed and looked at my chest. I was so skinny at that time, so all I could see was my rib cage. Sometimes I would suck my tummy in, and that would create two bumps on my front formed by my rib cage and I thought to myself wouldn’t it be nice if those were boobs? - What crazy thoughts I had!
Later, Donna’s two dots developed and became tiny boobies, so her mother wanted her to wear a training bra. She came in one day wearing one underneath her uniform, and that made her boobies look even larger! Gosh! I so wished I had some boobies too during that time!
“Okay, okay! Let’s consult the Plate Fairy. She knows the best!” Donna said.
Now all three of us put our fingers on top of the bottom of the plate, while Christine called out to the Plate Fairy.
“Oh, Mighty Plate Fairy! Please arise and come to the board. May, Donna. and Christine would like to ask you some questions. Mighty Plate Fairy, please arise and come forward!”
My heart began to race. I was excited and yet scared. I did not know whether or not I would see the Plate Fairy. What would the Plate Fairy look like? Would she be a kind Fairy or would she be ugly and wicked? Would she be like a ghost? Would she do us any harm when she comes through?
As all these worries went through my mind, I could feel goosebumps rising on my young flesh. A chill traveled from the bottom of my spine right up to the back of my neck, and it continued to course through my tiny frame. My heart was beating furiously, and I had to struggle to keep my index finger on top of that darn plate. After a while, something unbelievable happened! I don’t know if it was the force of the Plate Fairy or the force of something else…
The plate began to move all over the Ouija Board! It was completely wild! It slid quickly, to and fro, across the board from one direction to another, stopping at nothing!
“Ask your questions now, May!” Donna cried. “The Plate Fairy is here with us already!”
We looked at each other. Our eyes widened with both excitement and fear. We took turns in asking it questions, and each time the plate would slide wildly across the board, only stopping when it wanted to reveal the answers to us.
The homemade Ouija Board stayed with us for many years after that. We had played it from time to time to have our fortunes told. It had given us hours of fun and entertainment.
I have not played this game myself, but what I've read is a story about your childhood, your friends, and your dear grandmother, and I enjoyed what you have shared with us about your childhood and your dreams.
I read the friends in school, and how you had managed to make friends with Wong, the bully, who was mocking you daily. I have not paid much attention to the Ouija Board, even though I know that game was perhaps popular when you were young. The Ouija Board, continued to be used by many even in nowadays as the same purpose to tell a person's future, much like the Horoscope's prediction. You can either choose to belief it or not to belief it. Nothing of what it says is a sure thing.
A very open story about your childhood and your wishes and dreams. I'm glad you were able to make a Ouija board so that you could play with your friends.
My grandfather would always peel an apple with a single cut from top to bottom in the spiral fashion. I can't remember if he ever broke the peel or not. He was already old, so I don't know about him losing any "future mate." He always was married to one woman and my grandmother outlasted him by many years. Peeling an apple revealed the worms. I never peel an apple because the skin contained vitamins that were essential. I never had a problem finding a worm before I ate it. Is that good luck?
I may have played with an Ouija board once or twice, but I wasn't full of questions that needed to be answered. I much preferred playing games like monopoly, sorry, or checkers that required some skill and strategy rather than the simple luck of where the letters spelled out something.
When I was 11 or so, our mother decided she wanted my twin brother and I to play kissing games like "spin the bottle," with all the cute girls in our class. It was great to learn how to kiss and to find a girlfriend among those that I kissed.
Perhaps it was because our board was homemade, and the spirit that we invited was a Fairy and not of something evil. We did occasionally get some negative answers as well, but we tend to ask something foolish when at that age. LOL!!! All I would ask was whether this guy would like me, or whether that guy would like me, or whether my teacher would be generous enough to give me an extra 2 or 5 marks to pass an exam, but in most instances, the answer was a "no". LOL!!! I didn't get upset over the answers that were given because I sort of expected the outcome anyway, I didn't even study for my exam.
I did get very upset at one time when I saw my boyfriend walking down the street with one of my girlfriends. I quickly went home to consult the Plate Fairy whether my friend would like her more, or me, and the answer that my Plate Fairy gave me was "her". It was true because my boyfriend never even bothered calling me to explain himself. I cried every night for some time.
Eventually. I got over the cheater.
Another thing why our Fairy was easy on us may have been due to the fact that we would make sure to tell her to leave every time we had finished playing. Her spirit was never trapped inside our house.
I don't know when you buy an Ouija Board from a store what would be the name for the spirit you have to call forward when you play, and whether or not there were any instructions from the manufacturers that you need to tell the spirit to leave after playing. I keep wondering about that.
Thanks so much for reading my story and sharing your experiences with me!
Oh yes, an object of much curiosity....When me & my sister's used ours and asked a question....The answer the Ouija would give would always happen, but it depended on the interpretation....But it would always happen....And we weren't the only one's in the neighborhood with a Ouija Board....
