Ouija Sleepover

I grew up out in the country in a large seven bedroom house. Our nearest neighbors were about a mile away and in the winter it could be quite desolate even though there were seven kids in the house. My birthday is in February and the year I turned twelve I was allowed to have several friends from school come out on a Saturday night for a sleepover.

We got to have free run of what we called the rec-room.  It was a large room in the walk out basement that had a wood burning fireplace with two bedrooms and access to the garage. One of the downstairs bedrooms was used as a den and was one of my favorite rooms. It was wall to wall books from floor to ceiling and had a large oak desk prominently set under the window. The perfect setting for a sleepover.

We plopped some of our supplies in the den and lit the fireplace and played several goofy games including a dance contest. Then we settled down in front of the fire to tell scary stories. My cousin, who was a year younger than me suggested we get the Ouija board. I suggested we go under the desk in the den where it was really dark.

We huddled under the desk and sat with the board balanced on our legs. Not everyone could fit so some of the girls sat on the floor as close as they could holding flashlights. We started asking questions like who would we marry and I don’t remember if we got any real answers or just us unintentionally moving the planchette. The room was very quiet and we were all very intent on what we were doing. I finally said in my most dramatic voice: If there are any spirits in the room, give us a sign.  At that exact moment there were three very loud and slow knocks on the window above us.  We shrieked and booked it upstairs like a herd of wild water buffalo.  

By the time we reached the kitchen we were laughing. Of course it was the older kids heading into town for Saturday night. They must have seen us get the Ouija board and waited around to scare us. When my aunt heard the ruckus she came in and we explained what happened.  She didn’t laugh. She explained that the older kids had left for a movie in town over an hour ago. Then she did something I had never seen her do, she locked the front door. Needless to say we slept upstairs in the living room that night, one of the best birthdays I ever had.

©Joy Yehle, 2013