THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
July 28, 2012
The Magic and Mystery of the Ouija Board Explored on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
We Hope You'll Send a Donation to The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, at the bottom of the sidebar on the right. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Brand New Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present Rosemary Ellen Guiley, who recently released a fascinating book, "Ouija Gone Wild," co-authored with Rick Fisher, which examines the mind-bending history of the spooky Ouija talking board. You'll hear "shocking true stories" about this curious device, which is often sold as a toy or for entertainment, and whether it really has the potential to contact beings from "the other side."
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. We recently completed a major update that makes our community easier to navigate, and social network friendly.
Using Ouija Boards for Fun and Something Else
By Gene Steinberg
Way back when as a teenager, I spent a lot of time (at least after school) discovering the world of the strange and unknown. I read a fair amount of UFO oriented material, including books and magazines, plus works about other paranormal subjects. I even had a chance to experiment with skywatching (without success) and, for a time, hypnosis.
Not that I became an expert hypnotist, but I remember when I gave a neighborhood kid a post-hypnotic suggestion to help him give up his smoking habit. The suggestion was based on something I read in a book on hypnosis, where he was given a directive that, henceforth, cigarettes would give off a bad taste when he tried to inhale. Well, it worked for a while, but his friends wouldn’t stop egging him on to try a cigarette again and again. Once the suggestion’s influence disappeared, he resumed his smoking habit.
Well, I lost touch with him a while after that, so I never followed up on what happened to him over the years.
There was also the Ouija board that I purchased using some of my modest earnings from a part-time job. I called up an old and dear friend, Ken Alpert, who also had a deep interest in the world of the offbeat. Ken actually helped me edit a UFO magazine in the 1960s.
Well, we weren’t faring too well with that Ouija board. It was one of the original Parker Bros. designs that would probably fetch a decent figure if I still had it and wanted to sell it on eBay.
Well, Ken’s mom, Edith, had a really tolerant attitude about her son’s ongoing interest in the paranormal. So on several visits to his home, she decided to give my Ouija board a try. She had the routine down pat, and within a few moments, got the planchette moving around the board and delivering cogent messages about something or other. It appeared some of those messages may have come from some sort of spirit or entity in a world beyond.
All right, a reality check: Ken’s mom was a really smart, hip lady in her time. She came across as very well-informed, so I suppose she guessed that it was easy to “encourage” the planchette to move where she wanted it to go. But it was a compelling illusion, at least for a while.
Some years later, I again worked on a Ouija board with my first wife, Geneva, and some of our friends who followed the world of the paranormal. Again, we got some weird messages, but nothing that you’d necessarily consider as evidence of some genuine contact with the spirit world, another dimension, or anything similar.
Now my life has been essentially free of any potential paranormal encounters, except for two incidents. In the 1970s, when Geneva and I were living in a row house in Coatesville, PA, she awakened me one night to announce that she had just seen a “water elemental.” Well, with my eyeglasses placed elsewhere, I struggled to see something in the dark room. Perhaps there was a shadow at the edge of my vision, or maybe not. We went back to sleep and the episode did not repeat.
A few years later, after Geneva and I broke up (it was all friendly, thank heavens!), I visited a close friend, a WICCAN woman, who decided to give me some sort of psychic reading using Tarot cards. At the time, I had attempted to start a business with a former newspaper reporter, and it wasn’t doing very well. I knew I had to break free of that enterprise and find a better way to make a living.
Well, my friend told me that I was destined to “ply my trade,” in another part of the country. Once the session had concluded, I felt extremely tired, and soon fell asleep on her living room sofa; I awakened a few hours later, strangely refreshed.
Having few prospects left in the area in which I lived, I sold my interest in the business and moved to the New York City area where, in fact, I did soon find steady work in the prepress industry. I was, as it were, plying my “trade.” Within a few months, my wages increased to the point where I could catch up on late bills and, for once, actually consider plans for the future.
Within a year, I met a beautiful young lady, Barbara Kaplan, via a dating service; one that curiously went out of business shortly after our first date. Within six months, we were married. It happened nearly 36 years ago, and we’re still together.
I have not had any Tarot card readings since, nor have I played with a Ouija board. But I got to thinking about all this history in reading “Ouija Gone Wild,” a new book that psychic researcher Rosemary Ellen Guiley wrote with Rick Fisher. The book is featured on this week’s episode of The Paracast, and I think you listeners will have a blast hearing Rosemary tell fascinating stories that appear to relate to the presence of a Ouija board. Listen for the tale of someone who actually left her estate to an entity whom she contacted via her Ouija board. This is an episode with loads of thought-provoking information. Those thoughts led to my recollections of the incidents that I’ve recounted in this column.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2012 Making The Impossible, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
July 28, 2012
The Magic and Mystery of the Ouija Board Explored on The Paracast
Special Announcement: The Paracast is heard Sundays from 2:00 AM until 5:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
We Hope You'll Send a Donation to The Paracast: Although ads help cover a small part of our expenses, the income they produce is never enough. Also, we do not receive any revenue from the ads placed on the show by our network or local stations. So we hope you're able to help fill the gap if you can to help us cover increasing server costs and other expenses -- or perhaps provide a little extra cash for lunch. No contribution is too small (or too large
. We have a Donate link on our home page, below the logo and audio player. There's also a Donate link on our forums, at the bottom of the sidebar on the right. Or just send your PayPal donation direct to sales (at) theparacast (dot) com.Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Brand New Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present Rosemary Ellen Guiley, who recently released a fascinating book, "Ouija Gone Wild," co-authored with Rick Fisher, which examines the mind-bending history of the spooky Ouija talking board. You'll hear "shocking true stories" about this curious device, which is often sold as a toy or for entertainment, and whether it really has the potential to contact beings from "the other side."
Christopher O'Brien's Site: Our Strange Planet
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums. We recently completed a major update that makes our community easier to navigate, and social network friendly.
Using Ouija Boards for Fun and Something Else
By Gene Steinberg
Way back when as a teenager, I spent a lot of time (at least after school) discovering the world of the strange and unknown. I read a fair amount of UFO oriented material, including books and magazines, plus works about other paranormal subjects. I even had a chance to experiment with skywatching (without success) and, for a time, hypnosis.
Not that I became an expert hypnotist, but I remember when I gave a neighborhood kid a post-hypnotic suggestion to help him give up his smoking habit. The suggestion was based on something I read in a book on hypnosis, where he was given a directive that, henceforth, cigarettes would give off a bad taste when he tried to inhale. Well, it worked for a while, but his friends wouldn’t stop egging him on to try a cigarette again and again. Once the suggestion’s influence disappeared, he resumed his smoking habit.
Well, I lost touch with him a while after that, so I never followed up on what happened to him over the years.
There was also the Ouija board that I purchased using some of my modest earnings from a part-time job. I called up an old and dear friend, Ken Alpert, who also had a deep interest in the world of the offbeat. Ken actually helped me edit a UFO magazine in the 1960s.
Well, we weren’t faring too well with that Ouija board. It was one of the original Parker Bros. designs that would probably fetch a decent figure if I still had it and wanted to sell it on eBay.
Well, Ken’s mom, Edith, had a really tolerant attitude about her son’s ongoing interest in the paranormal. So on several visits to his home, she decided to give my Ouija board a try. She had the routine down pat, and within a few moments, got the planchette moving around the board and delivering cogent messages about something or other. It appeared some of those messages may have come from some sort of spirit or entity in a world beyond.
All right, a reality check: Ken’s mom was a really smart, hip lady in her time. She came across as very well-informed, so I suppose she guessed that it was easy to “encourage” the planchette to move where she wanted it to go. But it was a compelling illusion, at least for a while.
Some years later, I again worked on a Ouija board with my first wife, Geneva, and some of our friends who followed the world of the paranormal. Again, we got some weird messages, but nothing that you’d necessarily consider as evidence of some genuine contact with the spirit world, another dimension, or anything similar.
Now my life has been essentially free of any potential paranormal encounters, except for two incidents. In the 1970s, when Geneva and I were living in a row house in Coatesville, PA, she awakened me one night to announce that she had just seen a “water elemental.” Well, with my eyeglasses placed elsewhere, I struggled to see something in the dark room. Perhaps there was a shadow at the edge of my vision, or maybe not. We went back to sleep and the episode did not repeat.
A few years later, after Geneva and I broke up (it was all friendly, thank heavens!), I visited a close friend, a WICCAN woman, who decided to give me some sort of psychic reading using Tarot cards. At the time, I had attempted to start a business with a former newspaper reporter, and it wasn’t doing very well. I knew I had to break free of that enterprise and find a better way to make a living.
Well, my friend told me that I was destined to “ply my trade,” in another part of the country. Once the session had concluded, I felt extremely tired, and soon fell asleep on her living room sofa; I awakened a few hours later, strangely refreshed.
Having few prospects left in the area in which I lived, I sold my interest in the business and moved to the New York City area where, in fact, I did soon find steady work in the prepress industry. I was, as it were, plying my “trade.” Within a few months, my wages increased to the point where I could catch up on late bills and, for once, actually consider plans for the future.
Within a year, I met a beautiful young lady, Barbara Kaplan, via a dating service; one that curiously went out of business shortly after our first date. Within six months, we were married. It happened nearly 36 years ago, and we’re still together.
I have not had any Tarot card readings since, nor have I played with a Ouija board. But I got to thinking about all this history in reading “Ouija Gone Wild,” a new book that psychic researcher Rosemary Ellen Guiley wrote with Rick Fisher. The book is featured on this week’s episode of The Paracast, and I think you listeners will have a blast hearing Rosemary tell fascinating stories that appear to relate to the presence of a Ouija board. Listen for the tale of someone who actually left her estate to an entity whom she contacted via her Ouija board. This is an episode with loads of thought-provoking information. Those thoughts led to my recollections of the incidents that I’ve recounted in this column.
The Paracast Copyright 1999-2012 Making The Impossible, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!