On Encountering the Ouija Board at Age Nineteen

I was in England, headed for an au pair job in Essex, my gap year choice. But first I stayed with relatives, meeting them for the first time, and also visiting friends of my parents from long ago. It was at the home of some of those friends that I was introduced to the Ouija board, and as far as exploring the paranormal and psychic worlds are concerned, after that I never looked back. I had discovered a passion for the unknown.

I had many aunts and uncles over there, and the ones I was staying with were so kind and loving. But I was pretty sure the Ouija board wasn’t their preference for how their American niece spent her time. So I stayed up after they went to sleep and created my own Ouija board using slips of paper for the alphabet and an upside-down wine glass for the planchette.

That wine glass moved when I asked a question. Did I make it so? Was I imagining it? It never registered to ask myself whether it could be real. I felt it was. I just needed to become skilled at using the tools.

Later, I graduated to the Tarot and other ways of entering psychic realms. But I’ve never forgotten how utterly enthralled I was on those late-night explorations into the esoterica of messengers from beyond.