If you've been longing for a ghost adventure all of your own, then perhaps you can attract ghosts with a game. All around the world, people play games in order to attract spirits. And while summoning ghosts is no game, these creepy activities may just have you seeing spirits.
Ouija or Talking Boards
Ouija is probably the most famous game of all for attracting and communicating with spirits. Manufactured by Hasbro, Ouija boards have been sold in the toys and games section of stores since the 1800s, although versions have actually been around since about the 12th Century. Ouija gameplay is simple; two people sit with the board balanced between them holding their fingers lightly on the planchette, and they begin to ask questions. Many people believe spirits manipulate the planchette to answer those questions. User beware, however. Proceed carefully or you just may become the subject of a creepy Ouija board story.
Hide and Seek Alone
In his book, Haunted Toys, author, paranormal investigator, and lecturer Ross Allison describes a spooky way to summon ghosts if you're all alone in the dark at 3 a.m. with some time to kill by playing a game called Hide and Seek Alone. The author described the game during an episode of Paranormal Underground Radio (listen starting at about 41:37). To play:
- Slash a stuffed doll open and fill it with rice. The doll must have arms and legs.
- Add some of your fingernails or hair trimmings to the doll's stuffing.
- Sew the doll shut with red thread. Wrap the remaining red string around the doll.
- Name your doll.
- Turn out all the lights and turn on a radio to a static station.
- Fill the bathtub with water. At 3 a.m., take the doll into the bathroom and say, "First tagger is (your name)" three times. Submerge the doll in the tub and walk away without looking back. Count to ten slowly and return to the doll.
- Say, "I found you (doll's name)" and stab the doll three times. Then say, "(Doll's name) you're it!"
- Go hide.
To protect yourself from the doll, you are supposed to fill your mouth with saltwater and keep it there, never swallowing it. Supposedly, the doll will be possessed by a spirit and come find you. Just a little fun for the brave in the middle of the night.
Bloody Mary
Another well-known game is that of Bloody Mary. To play this game, look in the mirror by only the light of candlelight and say "Bloody Mary" three times. The game's premise is that the spirit of Bloody Mary will appear in the mirror after you do this.
The Bath Game (Daruma-San)
The Bath Game comes from Japan. It is believed that by playing the game, you will summon a ghost to follow you around throughout the day. Start the game at night alone in the dark.
- Fill your tub with water, turn out the lights, and get undressed.
- Get in the bathtub and sit facing the tap and drain.
- As you sit repeat, "Daruma-san fell down" over and over while washing your hair. Keep your eyes shut and imagine a Japanese woman standing in a tub falling and hitting the tap with her eye, which kills her. Do this with your eyes still shut until you sense the presence of a ghost behind you.
- With your eyes shut, get out of the tub leaving the water undrained. Exit the bathroom, shutting the door behind you. Go to bed and don't re-enter the bathroom until the morning.
- In the morning, the game is afoot. Drain the tub. Everywhere you go, the woman will follow you just beyond the edges of your vision. If she gets too close, yell, "Stop!"
- To win, catch a glimpse of the ghost in the mirror and yell, "I cut you loose."
Table Tipping
Table tipping became popular during the late 1800s in the Spiritualist Movement as part of a seance to summon a ghost. While skeptics debunked the phenomena, others feel it is a valid form of spirit summoning and communication.
To table tip:
- You will need four participants and a small, round table with a pedestal.
- Darken a quiet room and have everyone sit around the table, placing the fingertips of each hand on the table lightly.
- Keep your hands on the table at all times, no matter what happens.
- Now, ask for spirits to come tip the table. Have everyone at the table focus on that intention.
- The table may begin to move and tip on its own.
The Philip Experiment
While not exactly a game, people have tried to repeat the Philip Experiment to summon a ghost, using it as a game. The original experiment was carried out in the 1970s by a group of Canadian researchers who decided they wanted to see if their focused thoughts could create a spirit.
- They gathered eight people who, together, created a fake "historical" persona they called Philip. They gave him a background, associates, and experiences and all agreed on his back story. They even sketched Philip so they could see what he looked like.
- They began meeting for seances to try to summon Philip, meeting regularly.
- After more than a year, the group began receiving what appeared to be paranormal communication from Philip. The Philip they had summoned responded as one would expect an actual spirit to, though he was created entirely from their minds, a manifestation of group focus resulting in psychokinetic manifestations.
- They followed this experiment by creating and summoning other fictional ghosts.
If you'd like to try this yourself, gather a group of eight to ten patient and focused people and create your own fictional historical character with a detailed background. Then, meet regularly, commit to your story as if it were true, and persistently to focus on summoning him.
Summoning Spirits
While summoning spirits isn't a game, many people treat it as such either to give themselves a thrill or to learn something about spirits from the other side. While these games may seem tempting, realize you have no way of knowing truly what you are doing, who you are interacting with, what you will summon, or what the consequences will be. Even knowing that, if you choose to continue to play games to summon spirits, do so with caution.
