23 August 2013

The Internet, A Poem

August 2013 Blue Moon taken by me, Loren Morris
I was just going to bed last night and I felt like creating a poem.

"The Internet"

Cat meme
Birth of child
Friendships forged
Ouija bra
Share this
Look he's five!
Friendships lost
Dog shaming
Sign this
Watch this
Spy on you
Birth of child
Death of friend
Block him 
Block her
Stop thief!
Cat meme

Bacon

© Loren Morris, 2013

18 August 2013

The Horror of Talking Boards! Part 2

This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!

Bewitched, Season 2, Episode 28 Double Split


Since my last post I had an incident involving a Ouija.....well, not the board itself, but my phone cover, which looks like a Ouija board.

I went to visit a friend on my way home the other evening and she had another visitor. It was a man that I didn't know and I had never met him before. When I first arrived he was sitting in his truck and she and I walked next door to her mom's home to look at the new pool. 

We walked back to her driveway to talk for a few minutes, the guy jumps out of his truck to talk to us. She introduced us, we had chitchat, and everything was fine. I got my phone out to show her my son's backflip video on it and the back of the phone with the cover was pointed in the guy's direction. He took one look at it and said "A Ouija board, what have you got that for?" , to which I replied, "Because I like Ouija boards and I collect them" to which he came back with, "Those are of the devil!"  EYEROLLLLL (me). Really? Because they aren't stamped "Made by Satan"  The box plainly says Hasbro. 

I won't put the whole thing on here. It led to him telling me that I'm wrong with my beliefs, I have hell waiting for me, me yelling at him, and him apologizing to me later on. Yes, he did apologize, I accepted and told him it was okay. But, I came home, found him on Facebook and decided to go ahead and block him. Especially when it is someone that says that I am going to burn in hell when they are a grown man posting drunk pictures and belly selfies and they are married.  I don't need someone spouting anything on my wall, and I can't stand people like that. One day I am going to have a rant about this kind of stuff. 

Anyway, I had a Ouija story to share with you this week, didn't I?


So, this week will be about Ouijas, Spirit boards, and Talking boards on TV. 

1. Bewitched Season 2 Episode 28 "Double Split" I had a really hard time finding that picture of Samantha and Louise playing with the Ouija. I own the DVD collection, but I couldn't remember which episode it was. When I did a Google search, it wrongly lists Season 4, Episode 27 "Tabatha's Cranky Spell" as the Ouija episode. It is wrong everywhere. That episode actually has a crystal ball, not a Ouija. The right episode is Season 2, Episode 28 Double Split. I had to read scripts to find out which one it was, play it in the DVD and take the picture of it. I couldn't find one anywhere in the internet. So, there it is, so brief in time, Samantha and Louise  playing the Ouija. The script had them playing Pins, but they switched it to the Ouija for the episode. Nothing bad happens, and actually, no one even mentions it. 

Here's the part of the episode that has it.
  

2. CBS did a small news story about the Ouija. They interviewed a guy with over 500 boards. I would love to have that collection! Here it is:



It's actually not a bad piece, very informative.



3. "Ouija One"- Oddities    This one is fun with a little information. 





4. I Love Lucy "The Seance" Season 1 Episode 7  
    The Ouija only makes a brief appearance in this one, but its a fun episode. 



To watch the full episode go here:


5. Charmed Season 1 Episode 1 "Something Wicca This Way Comes"

One of the best scenes. Their spirit board is to die for. Nothing bad happens, of course.

The board also makes an appearance in Season 1 Episode 14 Secrets and Guys. A little boy uses it to communicate with Prue.

  



6. Dead Like Me "Curious George" Season 1, Episode 3

Georgia's little sister uses it to contact her. It is at the very end of this video. Its a touching scene.

Dead Like Me was an awesome show. Too bad it only lasted two seasons.




7. Married With Children Season 6 Episode 19 "Psychic Avenger"

A silly episode. There is a "Ouija King", that's about it.








8. X-Files Season 3 Episode 13 "Syzygy"

I couldn't find a video clip for this one. This is one of the darker Ouija TV episodes that I've found. Due to a planetary alignment, blaming Satanic cults, and the Ouija tells one of the girls that she is going to marry Satan.





9. A Haunting Season 2 Episode 2 "The Diabolical"

"A Haunting" is a paranormal ghost hunting re-inactment and eyewitness accounts type show.....that they've made into a series. It airs on the Discovery Channel. It features......tah dah.......Ed and Lorraine Warren....in some episodes. Now, you guys don't have to go far in this blog to know that I cannot stand the Warrens. I hate what they stand for, I hate what they do. To see what I'm talking about go here: Disgusting Warrens

Anyway, this episode seems to be about a little girl that cannot walk or talk, but she has the ability to hang out with spirits. A man visits and senses the presence of a spirit and they use a Ouija board....which ends up being a bad thing. 

Again, I couldn't find a video. Bummer.




10. Ghost Whisperer Season 5 Episode 14 "Dead To Me"

Margaret Cho stars in this episode as a professor that speaks to her dead fiance by using the spirit board...The video I have found is actually Margaret Cho talking about her role and her very own Ouija board collection. She talks about how she is scared of the board and that she throws out the planchettes! WHAT?! Margaret Cho?! Are you nuts?! Please tell me that by "throwing out" you actually mean sell....you know, for someone that is looking for it??







There are many more TV shows that feature boards, but I think that I've listed some pretty good ones. I am actually surprised how mild TV represents the board. Much better than the horror stories. It does seem to get darker with more modern shows. There are, of course, lots of ghost hunting and paranormal shows that feature the Ouija, but I really did not want to include ALL of those. And 95% of those shows actually blame the spirit boards and witchcraft for the problem they are "investigating" .

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of TV land concerning spirit/Ouija boards and remember if you plan to use a board, do it safely. Don't do it in fear. Don't be a pompous ass. Don't do it with drugs or alcohol. Board responsibly.


Blessings and Light






11 August 2013

The Horror of Talking Boards! Part 1


This article is part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over and read all the different flavors added by each chef. I know that you will love it!



As you know from my most recent post describing my collection., I am a lover of all things Spirit/Talking/Ouija. I have been for a while. I've also created art of the Ouija. I don't find them evil. They don't make me writhe in pain from demon possession. I'm not scared by them or of them. I do get mad when people tell really stupid stories about them. Because, c'mon, that puts that person right up there with the preachers that have to tell their one and only demon possession story of the local fortune teller over and over.

I have been using the board in some form for the past 14 years (give or take) and I have only been mildly scared a couple of times, in the beginning. I'm not going to say that I haven't because I would be lying. I attribute it to nervousness of using a (gasp) OUIJA. I started out using The Psychic Circle board., then I graduated over to a Ouija. Such horror stories surrounded this board, that I was scared the first couple of times. And I was much younger. And I grew up in East Tennessee. Get the picture?

As I used the Ouija more, I realized that if I used it the same way as my Psychic Circle and treated it with respect, then I understood it was not a portal for the demonic hoard to take over the world.

So, I got to thinking about what causes these beliefs surrounding these Talking Boards? Why are people so scared? What makes them all have a horror story from someone that they know, that once (and only once), used the board?

The first one is obvious. Religion. But, I'm not going to discuss that one today. I want to discuss this one:

MEDIA




Note* I've called this Part 1, later I would like to list TV shows with Ouija boards and perhaps later still, books. I also want to list some of the more ridiculous homemade Youtube videos out there, a page of informative videos, and I may even make a few myself.

First, lets review some movies that the Ouija has been featured in:

1. The Exorcist- 1973



The Exorcist is indeed a frightening movie. It was long banned in the UK by a number of town councils and the VHS itself was not approved for release in the UK until 1999. Today, if we adjusted what the film made with inflation rates, the Exorcist would be the top grossing horror film of all time.

As you know, the movie story is about a young girl, Regan, who becomes possessed by a demon through her contact with a Ouija board.


The back story:

A young boy, "Roland Doe", becomes possessed in Maryland and the book, written by William Peter Blatty in 1971, and the movie were made from this story.

Peter Blatty used two sources of information for his novel, the diary of  Father Raymond Bishop and testimony of Father Walter Halloran.

The book supposes that Roland was introduced to the Ouija by an aunt and when she passed he tried to contact her with it. Soon after is when the noises and things moving began. Which was followed by of 30 exorcisms in a two week time period.

Later, another author, Mark Opsasnick , wrote a book about his investigation of the events and he concluded that Roland was just a "was simply a spoiled, disturbed bully who threw deliberate tantrums to get attention or to get out of school." If this is true, I bet after all those exorcisms, he was a changed child, just for the sheer fact of having to endure it.


2. Deadly Messages- 1985





Laura is a single woman with a Ouija board. The previous owner of the board was murdered and it now gives Laura warnings that she could be next! This movie is from TV 1985 and it is not based on a true story. This movie seems scary but has a happy ending. She is being stalked and she gets help in the form of a supernatural entity.

3.  Witchboard- 1986


A guy brings his Ouija to a party. He leaves it at a girl's house. She plays with the board alone and she thinks that she is talking to a nice spirit, but in movieworld reality, IT IS THE MOST EVIL SPIRIT IMAGINABLE. Also not based on a true story. 

I'm also going to include Witchboard 2 and Witchboard 3 here. 


4. Don't Panic- 1988




Michael's best friend, Tony, gives him a Ouija board for his 17th birthday. Soon, they open the gates of hell with it, and there begins a spree of terror and murder, with Michael being the suspect. I think what we can learn from this is that fully grown boys should not wear printed pajama sets if they expect to be taken seriously.


5. Koko The Clown- Ouija Board -1920





Silent and also the first cartoon to feature a Ouija


6. The Uninvited-1944




A brother and sister move into an old, seaside haunted house. They have a seance and use a board that they make from scrabble letters and a wine glass. The lesson learned from this movie, you parents don't have to worry about that Pink Ouija corrupting your young ones at that slumber party. All they need is paper, a pencil, and a shot glass, snuck from the parent's kitchen cabinet. 


7. Alison's Birthday- 1981



Alison gets a dire warning from her father, who is now a spirit. Again, this movie shows us that young girls can prove to be quite clever when they want to speak to those behind the veil.


8. The Devil's Gift - 1984




This movie is not based on Stephen King's short story "The Monkey", however the plot is so close, that many believe that it was plagiarized. A witch talks to a spirit on a Ouija, the spirit kills her, puts her spirit in a monkey with cymbals. The monkey ends up in a suburban home where it starts taking over the mind of a housewife. What's scarier than that Ouija? Those dolls. 


9. Awakenings-1990




This movie is based on the memoirs of Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist. So, it is a true story. Although the trailer doesn't show it, in the movie Robin Williams' character uses the Ouija to communicate with his patient. Nothing scary here.


10. Repossessed- 1990





I think that once you watch the trailer, there's no explanation needed for this one. Obviously a comedy, but it still ties the devil with the board.


11. Only You- 1994





Nothing scary here, unless you find romantic movies scary. I've only got this to say: Robert. Downey. Jr.



12. What Lies Beneath- 2000




This trailer doesn't show the Ouija that Claire uses, but it is in the movie briefly. Claire believes that something is haunting her home. She is trying to find out what going on, she uses a Ouija to help. I like this movie because the Ouija doesn't cause the terror that is happening in the film, it aids in uncovering what is going on.



13. Long Time Dead- 2002





Group of friends partying turn to using a Ouija, they all end up dead. The movie is the evil spirit killing them. Its the typical horror/Ouija coupling. 


14. Paranormal Activity-2007




The demon sets the Ouija on fire....but why would it set a demon portal on fire? Anyway, another typical horror story. 



Well, the majority of these movies that use the Ouija definitely have the Ouija as the cause of the problem, the portal of the devil...etc. So, this is definitely one of the causes of people's fear. People also like horror movies. People believe the Ouija can and will do these things. 

Spirit boards are a tool for spirit communication. The key to them is to not use them frivolously, don't use them if you are scared of them, don't abuse them, and don't be arrogant while you are using them. My use of spirit boards has went from using them quite often to only using them every now and again. I enjoy them, but now they have become more of a collector piece for me. 

Some good websites that have lots of info are:


Their Facebook page, which has lots of great pics of different spirit boards



And, of course, we can't leave out the William Fuld site



I hope you enjoyed this article, I know that I didn't list ALL the movies and I'll add more to it at a later date, but this is a good starting point. I think I will try to find a copy of Only You and watch it.





























10 August 2013

Those Disgusting Warrens

Today I woke to disturbing, disturbing news. I am so disgusted. The very first piece of news that I heard when I awoke was a video of Andrea Perron. Ms. Perron was angry. She was angry because the grave of Bathsheba Sherman was desecrated.

Well Ms. Perron the grave was desecrated because of you and the Warrens. This is your fault. You allowed AND aided the Warrens with the making of this movie. Greed has caused this. Did you really think that saying that Bathsheba was tormenting your family as a ghost and pushing the evil "witch" story (with NO proof other than town rumors) would have no repercussions? You are damning her name even in death.

There are stupid and mean people in this world and you have fed into their fears. You can say it was delinquents all you want, but you and the greedy Warrens pushed the first domino.

The REAL history of Bathsheba


The news story of the desecration


The video of Ms. Perron's plea



Here is another video of someone being completely silly while they visit this graveyard with Bathsheba's grave. The remarks she makes while there........ugh. The graveyard looks like Disney? Seriously? Creepy? I can't stand it.







Also, on IMDB, underneath the movie title and rating, they have ads for books. I did a screen capture of the ones that I had the pleasure of looking at today.


The first one is an Impact Christian book entitled "Destroying Witchcraft"


To read the first blog that I wrote about the Warrens, please go here



I'm just totally disgusted today. Totally.

08 August 2013

My Spirit/Talking/Ouija Board Collection

I am a huge spirit/talking board fan. I have an okay sized collection. I don't have any of the old wooden ones...yet, but I'm happy with the ones that I have.

When I started using spirit boards, I was pregnant with my son Brevin. He is turning 14 on Friday, so I have used them off and on for a while.

The first board that I purchased was The Psychic Circle Board. That poor board was run through the ringer with me and my group of friends. We would meet every weekend....anyway, that's another story.

The Psychic Circle is still my favorite board. I have since been through 6 of those. This is my 7th and it is starting to show some wear.

See the wear? 


I love this board. The colors, the happiness. When I use one for the first time, it does what I call "whitewashing"........it's a type of cleansing, where the planchette goes over and over in spirals, at the corners, the middle, etc. 
It also does this if it has been a while since I used it. But, that is also for another post. 

The board is made by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber. 

You can purchase one here:


They also make the Enchanted Spellboard. I use it just every now and again and it has gorgeous colors and design.

You can purchase this board here:


Another one they make is The Pathfinder. 



You can purchase a pathfinder here:



Amy and Monte make wonderful products. I have quite a few of their items.



The next non-Ouija talking board that I have is one that I had a really hard time getting. It was all over the internet, and then my husband said that I could have it for a Yule present and BOOM, it was nowhere. I ordered from FOUR people, only to be told that it wasn't really in stock. Finally, one of my Facebook friends told me that there was one for sale on Amazon at a reasonable price. I love it because I also collect Buffy comics. I have every Buffy comic, so of course, I had to have this. It is the Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Conversations With Dead People Board. It comes with a little Buffy spirit board comic.




I have since come to love and enjoy the Ouija. There is nothing wrong with this talking board. If you are going to have a session with it and you are scared, don't use it. Its not for you and those scary Ouija stories are just tiring.

The oldest Ouijas that I have are these. I have the super large one and the regular sized one. I'm actually planning on having the larger one framed one day to use as decor.


I think these are 60's 70's era

The back of the box of the larger Ouija:


Here is a site that has some like mine for sale:



My next Ouija is one they put out (ToysRUs exclusive) and people threw a fit over it. See an article here: Ridiculousness It was subsequently phased out. 
The board was geared toward tween girls and it came in it's own carry case. You know, for slumber parties. It also came with cards with suggested questions. They have things like: "Will I be rich one day",  "Who is thinking of me right now", and "At what age will I get married"

I love the bubble lettering on the board. One of my friends remarked that it looks like an accessory for Witch Barbie.




Don't you just love it?!


Next is Glow-in-the-dark Ouija. SpooooOOOOoooky! I haven't really tried to see if it glows. I may need to stick it in the freezer to activate the glow.





Next  is the NEWEST Ouija! It just came out! I love the design and the board feels rough, not slick like the others. It kind of makes me think of an older type fortune teller's board. 

The planchette takes batteries. It lights up with a ghostly purple glow. When I first put the batteries in the lights stayed on and I had to press the reset button to make it work right. There is no on/off switch on the planchette. When you rest your fingers on it, it activates the light, then when you lift your fingers, the light goes off. It makes the planchette thick and kind of heavy. I haven't tried out the board yet, I'm hoping to soon.


I tried to capture the ghostly purple glow, but it was too light in here.


See the thickness of the planchette?

You can get one here:



My next one has the Ouija name, but it isn't a board. ...and I don't really like it. It is the Ouija Oracle Card Game. I give it a MEH rating.




My next one, is from a kit: The Compleat Fortune Teller Kit by The Pacific Game Company made in 1975. It has 10 ancient arts and the "spirit board" is a contact sheet that you would stick to a wood board to make it an actual board. Mine is unused and still rolled up in the box. I had to put a couple of knick-knacks on it to hold it down so that I could take a pic.


The planchette is at the top of it next to the box (I'm sure you recognized it) and it is made of plastic. The whole kit is pretty neat.

Here's the back showing the peel off part:



Here's one like my kit, that is currently for sale on Ebay:



And finally, here are some books that I have enjoyed reading and find useful. I especially love Christian Day's book, The Witches' Book of the Dead. I also love My Friend, The Ouija Board by Virginia Kent Roberts. She describes several things in it that I have had happen to me while on the board. This book is very had to find. If you find it, grab it, because it didn't publish for very long at all.







I hope you enjoyed my "tour" of my Ouija and Spirit boards. I will enjoy all questions and comments, but I don't want to hear any ridiculous demon possession stories. I have used these for over 13 years and I have not had any problems with them. 








05 August 2013

May you receive the blessings of PugDonna.

I had the most delightful request for a painting.

My friend Mario requested his sweet little pug be painted as the Madonna.

I won't lie. I was worried about making it look good...but I think that I did okay.

I present to you PugDonna. May you receive her blessings.


This is the sweetness that I will paint. Look at the little face, the happiness just shines out of it! I love it!


My sketch: I almost made her head straight, but at the last minute I kept her tilt in. I thought that it added to it.



My final product! PugDonna

Now she's on her way to Mario :)


04 August 2013

Those Pesky Warrens

*This article is also part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over there (when you are finished here) and read all of my friend's contributions. Trust me, you will love the flavor that each chef has to offer :)




Over the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of uproar over the movie, The Conjuring. I’ve heard about the movie, and both sides of the argument in the Pagan Community.  Some of you are mad about the movie, because it is being passed as “truth”. The rest of you say it’s just a movie, a horror story, not real. We shouldn't take it seriously.

But……….is it?

I mean, I know that the Hansel and Gretel witches aren’t real. The Hocus Pocus witches aren’t real. The Wizard of Oz witches aren’t real.  Hollywood always creates elaborate fantasies. We know when it says based on a true story, that really….it isn’t.

I guess my problem with the new movie isn’t that I know deep down that it’s fake. Of course I do. My problem with the movie is the couple that is behind it.

I also want to make clear that I'm not a total naysayer when it comes to ghosts, spirits, or other un-explainable things. I, myself, enjoy the use of Spirit Boards, tarot cards, etc... I have a nice collection of Spirit Boards. My reason for this article is the direction that the Warrens always take their cases. Demons. They blame it on witches and witchcraft, and equate them with evil. They make people scared of things and scared other belief systems. That is why I don't like the Warrens.

Ed (now deceased) and Lorraine Warren, are self-proclaimed ghost busters and demonologists.
They make my list of evil people. Yep, right up there with Pat Robertson. They lie. They manipulate. They lie some more. They get other people to lie. And even though I, and even you, may know that this is fake, there are people out there that really believe that what they say really and truly happened just like that big movie screen says that it did.

So, today my focus is on this lovely couple. I just want to point out some damning evidence against The Warrens.  I don’t want to make this some kind of long and boring post. I’m just going to give points of interests and links.

The first movie based on Warren accounts is The Amityville Horror. This is the case that made them famous:
Amityville summary:

Ronald Defeo killed his family in the beautiful Long Island suburb home.  The Lutzes later purchased the beautiful home for a great purchase price and 28 days later, they fled in terror from it. Please keep in mind that two people that investigated before the Warrens said they found the haunting to be a hoax.

The claims made by the Ed and Lorrain Warren and the Lutzes included:


  • Demonic presence in the home (Lorraine)
  • That Butch Defeo was possessed by an evil spirit when he committed the murders of his family members (Lorraine).
  • The Lutzes claimed that after a snowfall they found cloven hoof prints in the snow. These, supposedly, were made by Jody the Pig, a spirit that only a child could see. Apparently, there was not a snowfall during the time that they claimed.

There are many more claims, but these are my favorite.

The best site I have found with a multitude of information that refutes these things and more:

Part 1
http://swallowingthecamel.blogspot.com/2009/05/ghostbusters-ed-and-lorraine-warren.html

Part 2
http://swallowingthecamel.blogspot.com/2009/05/ghostbusters-ed-and-lorraine-warren_29.html

The Warrens and A Haunting in Connecticut

Like the above story, there are claims of demonic presence and activity by the Warrens. This home was a former funeral home.

The Warrens hired an author, Ray Garton, to write a book about this case. He did and it was named "In a Dark Place, The Story of a True Haunting". Mr. Garton had troubles with the Snedekers (the homeowners), however. It seems that they could not keep their stories straight. He went to the Warrens and was told by Ed that “They’re crazy,” he said. “All the people who come to us are crazy, that’s why they come to us. Just use what you can and make the rest up. You write scary books, right? Well, make it up and make it scary. That’s why we hired you.” [sic] - See more at: http://www.damnedct.com/damned-interview-ray-garton/#sthash.PSu4bFAT.dpuf

On another case, The Devil in Connecticut (book and TV movie), there is more trouble for Lorraine Warren. She is being sued by brothers involved in the case.

http://www.mmdnewswire.com/brothers-sue-world-famous-psychic-lorraine-warren-for-false-accusations-in-devil-book-2347.html

And finally, The Conjuring, the movie that got me to thinking about the Warrens. For this movie, I wanted to link to Christian Day's note. He explains it very well and he graciously allowed me to link back to him for this article.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/christian-day/a-critique-of-the-conjuring/10151753437568281

EDIT: As a late edit, I am also going to include a link to this article by Jason Pitzl-Waters at The Wild Hunt

http://wildhunt.org/2013/07/the-conjuring-and-witchcraft.html

I hope you have enjoyed the information. I tried to make it "not boring", and I think it sheds good light on the real Warrens.

02 August 2013

Winner Announcement!



Old Kitchen Witch!!!!

Congratulations, your blog is going to get a makeover!

Tara will be contacting you!