Because I'm a teacher and a firm believer in education, I feel obligated to give you an honest reply to the questions some of you have raised. Since I am not affiliated with Larian Studios, I can also talk more freely. I will not call you an idiot because you believe in something different than I do, but I may say things you will not wish to accept; keep an open mind, it is all up to you from here on out.
Firstly, let's address the supposed notion that "Ouija boards can bring in evil spirits that will cause sickness and torment." While I'm sure there are "plenty of documented case" and I don't want to trivialise your personal experiences, most (if not all) of these incidences can be attributed to simple science rather than any form of demonology. The movements of the Ouija board are really caused by a phenomenon known as the "ideomotor effect," wherein the person playing moves unconsciously. Because you are not deliberately doing them, they may
feel as if they come from a supernatural source but they are certainly not "magic." For a longer explanation, I'll be referring to Derren Brown's book
Tricks of the Mind:
There is a simple but intriguing explanation for how the Ouija board works. Those of you who prefer to believe that spirits move the glass are of course welcome to your beliefs, but the actual principle behind it is not speculative, or a narrow-minded refusal to accept evidence of spiritual activity. It works perfectly reliably in all sorts of situations, and can easily be shown to be the guiding force behind the magic of the Ouija. The answer lies in a fascinating principle called 'ideomotor movement.' From understanding this fully, we can use it to perform many other supposedly 'spiritual feats,' and achieve many seemingly inexplicable phenomena without the use of trickery.
The principle works like this. If you focus on the idea of making a movement, you will likely end up making a similar tiny movement without realizing it. If, undistracted, you concentrate on the idea of your hand becoming light, you'll eventually find that you make tiny unconscious movements to lift it. While you may be consciously aware that these movements are happening, you are not aware that you are causing them. In the same way that a nerve repeatedly firing can cause a twitch that feels outside your control, so too an ideomotor movement (from idea + movement) will feel that it is happening outside your control. Certainly some people are more susceptible to it than others; indeed it seems vaguely to go hand in hand with hypnotic susceptibility, but it is a very common thing that we all experience in one way or another. For example, you may have caught yourself involuntarily kicking at an imaginary ball while watching a football match, or making sudden brief empathetic movements as you follow characters in a film.
You can actually witness this phenomenon yourself by hanging a small weight from a string and holding it out in front of you. After a while it will start moving without you seemingly doing anything; this particular effect you will experience is known as Chevreul's Pendulum. Read more here:
BBC: What makes the Ouija board move? Psychology Today: The Ouija Board Explained If you are still sceptical about this scientific explanation, you can test the legitimacy of Ouija boards rather easily. Invite some people to play with the Ouija board and you will most likely witness the ideomotor movement; you don't have to participate yourself if that makes you feel uncomfortable. After a couple of questions, blindfold the subjects and quietly rotate the board. If you ask questions once more, the planchette will probably move again, but this time the answers will be complete gibberish. This has been tested and filmed. I highly recommend watching
The Science of Scams for video footage. Don't you think these supposed spirits and demons should be able to give correct answers, regardless of how the board is turned?
On the notion that Oujia boards are only used by "Satanists" and those wishing to contact the dead or demons I should also mention that it is hardly true. While many people have used it to attempt to contact the spirits of the deceased, among which fraudulent "mediums" and unsuspecting teenagers, the Ouija board has long been marketed as a
toy. It was introduced in 1890 and was regarded as an innocent parlour game unrelated to the occult until it was popularised as a "divining tool" during WWI (
American folklore: an encyclopedia). Moreover, because it is considered a toy by so many people, it is certainly not connected to Satanism. In fact, if you read the preface to The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey, you will find that the founder of the Satanic Church actually compares it to "sanctimonious fraud - guilt-ridden ramblings and esoteric gibberish."
I hope this has been educational and that you won't think poorly of Larian Studios for adding a Ouija board to their Collector's Edition. Using it may show you how little control you have over your unconscious movements, but it is certainly not rooted in evil or spiritual activity. Of course, if you choose to believe it is a tool for contacting demons and ghosts, you can get rid of it easily. Donate it to the Museum of Talking Boards, salt and burn it if you have not used or "opened it yet, or follow these instructions:"
One of the most highly regarded methods for disposing of a Ouija board is to cut the Ouija board into seven pieces and to bury the pieces in the ground, and a more elaborate version of the same method tells how you should cut the Ouija board into seven pieces, and bury those pieces in seven different holes shaped as a pentagram, each hole should then be blessed with holy water, and then filled in. (
www.theparanormal.me)
Cheerio!
I'm sure Larian will turn it into something amazing; they have some great artists over there!