(Hotel resident Steve with Room #3's Ouija Board in question)

OUIJA BOARDS... BAD IDEA
by Mike Petrunak

So, Blair wanted me to tell the story of the night in the Canopy Room with the Ouija board. I learned some lessons that night I will never forget and I'm passing them on to you... Here it goes...

I. Just because other people do it doesn't make it a good idea...

Margaret and Crystal (of Typewriter Girls fame) decided that they wanted to use the Ouija Board in the Canopy Room, which for those of you that don't know, one of the most haunted rooms in the hotel. I was curious about what might happen but didn't really expect much. Adam said it was a very bad idea but that he would sit in if they were going to do it. Blair fetched the video camera and off we went to the Canopy Room.

II. Just because it never happened to you before doesn't mean it won't...

Up to the night in quest I experienced nothing of a ghostly or supernatural nature in the hotel for myself other than a creepy vibe here or there. I heard stories from others that I consider reputable sources but it never happened to me... until that night.

Now for those of you that say "Its a Ouija Board! What do you think would happen?!" I was naive, I felt safe with Blair and Adam there, and hey... Parker Brothers used to put them right next to Monopoly and Risk... What's the worst that could happen? Well in hindsight things could have been worse... But it was still pretty bad.

III. Ouija Boards are BAD NEWS...

Blair started rolling the camera, Crystal and Margaret worked the board, Adam stood in the corner, and I sat in the rocking chair with my back to the window.

At first it looked like we made contact with something...

Crystal and Margaret thought they had reached a little girl...

eh I get the creeps just thinking about this...

as time went on I joined in and asked some questions... as did Adam.

IV. Ouija boards are REALLY BAD NEWS! YOU CAN BE ATTACKED!

Margaret just started to cry uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face...

Crystal was acting strange, very focused on the board.

I was sitting there thinking, this is weird... but we kept on going.

Then the window started rattling... eh its just the wind. Knocking? No just my imagination...

My shoulder is starting to bother me... no big deal, gets a little achy from time to time... right? But my right should gets achy.... never the left one... and it wasn't aching anymore. I hurt but maybe I was just being a wimp, right? But it got worse and from elbow to neck I felt like my arm was being pulled from the socket! I started tearing up, I couldn't conceal the pain anymore and it was apparent that something was seriously wrong.

Adam ended the session immediately and threw holy water on my arm... it was surreal. The pain went away though and we headed outside...

V. Don't play with Ouija Boards or you'll get more than just Casper...

Crystal and I were out on the porch first. Something kept tapping my shoulder like we were playing some sick game of tag. Crystal's hands kept moving wildly like it wanted her to write something. I felt this intense pressure on my shoulders as if something were hanging on my back or pushing me down...

At this point Adam and the rest of the crew came out... he basically pulled me aside and helped me get rid of whatever it was that was bothering me.

VI. Summary: This is why Ouija Boards are bad news...

It was explained to me later that night why what happened happened. And to lighten the mood because I'm really freaked out right now just reliving it... I will explain it with some pop culture references, not necessarily to make it more interesting, or to trivialize it, but because its very uncomfortable to talk about and hard to relate to... this will make it easier for both of us...

A Ouija board is not like using a phone line to talk to a friend. It is more like talking to a creepy stalker in a chat room, only he knows where you're typing from without snooping for information. It will lie like crazy and it's incredibly dangerous... It's like the "To Catch a Predator" specials they used have/may still have on Dateline NBC.

Instead of being from the neighborhood, in this case the hotel, or your (insert haunted location here) it will travel a long way, at very high speed, from somewhere else to get into some trouble even if it knows that there is a good chance that Chris Hansen and some friendly police officers are waiting in the wings... in this case, Angels are waiting in the wings. They are there watching over us, and if we are really that naive, will come to our rescue when stuff goes bad... But they also want us to learn our lesson, which I did. But if we don't learn our lesson... well I don't want to know what happens then...

SO DON'T PLAY WITH OUIJA BOARDS! EVER! NO NOT EVEN THEN! NO! NEVER! IT'S REALLY REALLY BAD! SO DON'T DO IT!

Thanks for reading,

Mikey P.