We Should Not Have Been Snooping

But it was a lesson I would not forget…

As a teenager one of my best friend’s parents owned a hotel.

This proved to be the most amazing place for unforgettable sleep-overs.

One, more than others.

Dee’s mother was an incredible free spirit, and was into, what I now call, ‘spookery’.

Ghost hunting, witches, spells, tarot cards, crystals, reincarnation, levitation, automatic writing, séances.

You name it, she tried it — or befriended someone who did.

Until one dark night…

Dee overheard her mum on the phone telling a friend she was having a Ouija board night, and Dee rang me straight after to ask if I wanted a sleep-over.

Hell, yes!

For those who don’t know what a Ouija board is, it is a flat board of letters, numbers, and simple words like “yes,” “no,” and “goodbye.” It’s used as a tool for spirit communication, and participants place their fingers on a movable pointer called a planchette. During a session, the planchette is believed by some to move and spell out messages from spirit.

Dee had two older brothers, and she told them what was planned.

That was her first mistake — as they were very mischievous.

Her second mistake was doing exactly as they said, because left to our own devices, we would most likely have chickened out.

As soon as Dee’s mum’s friends started arriving, Dee told her we were all going to the top of the hotel to watch a movie.

But in actual fact we had unwittingly bagged ourselves a front row seat to a real-life horror show.

We positioned ourselves at an upstairs window overlooking the kitchen, where the action was about to begin.

Image created by ChatGPT from a prompt by author — the window was higher and smaller than that!

It started off quite low key, with laughter, but not much else.

We could just make out that the planchette was not moving.

At all.

How very disappointing.

Then Dee’s mum got up and went to get paper, a pen, and a glass.

What is going on?

We watched spellbound as she wrote the letters of the alphabet on the paper, and cut them out.

We couldn’t hear much because the window didn’t open, but it looked like Dee’s mum was just making a non-event a bit more fun.

Next, she put the upturned glass in the middle, and instructed everyone to put a finger on it.

She said something, and laughed.

Suddenly the glass started to levitate, and everyone’s fingers abruptly slipped off.

Our eyes almost popped out of our heads as the glass stayed in the air briefly, before rapidly flying across the room — and shattering against the wall.

Image created by ChatGPT from a prompt by author

Every single person ran for the door, except Dee’s poor mum who sat transfixed in her chair ashen faced, clearly in shock.

We, on the other hand, ran to the top of the hotel as fast as our jelly legs would carry us.

The horrified faces of those people is imprinted on my mind.

Suffice to say I have never taken part in a Ouija board event.

Thank you for reading. 😊

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