I had an interesting experience long ago when I was leading a girls' camp in a national park near Sydney. We were staying in an old cottage and the generator shut down at 9pm. The girls (around 13 -15 yo) wanted to hold a séance and I knew they would do it even if I said no so I allowed them to on the condition that I could be present.
They set up a makeshift Ouija board using torn up pieces of paper and a wine glass that they had brought from home.
We sat around the table in a room lit by a hurricane lamp.
The questions started out along the lines of
"Is there a spirit here?" (Yes)
Are you male or female ? This one caused problems because apparently the spirit couldn't spell so they narrowed the question to "Are you female?" (Yes).
"How old are you ?" More consternation as the glass went everywhere.
"Are you 15?" (Yes)
Apparently this spirit could only respond to yes/no questions.
I can't remember all the questions - it was a long time ago - but occasionally I threw in a question like "are you a Christian spirit?" and that caused confusion too because they couldn't make up their minds for yes or no. It became obvious after a while (to me at least) that the girl who came prepared for the séance was the one controlling the questions and the answers. She was constructing a drama where the spirit was angry with her. The others were getting very spooked and were also starting to get a little teary with fright.
Finally the question was "Give us a sign of your presence. Make the lamp flicker"
This was where I decided to intervene. "Fair go," I said, "give us a clear sign. Make the sugar bowl move".
At this they started to panic. If the sugar bowl were to move (which it did not) that would be too scary so I closed it down and ordered them to bed. Just then, one of the feral deer that roam the national park bumped into the outside of the house and they all squealed.
All in all, an exciting evening's entertainment.
Was the devil present? Too right, he was!
Later that night I was checking that all the lamps were extinguished because I didn't want a fire in the timber cottage and I heard something interesting going on in one of the bedrooms. It was a book reading. The title was "Black Stud's Whore" and was totally pornographic. I confiscated it and discovered a whole new genre of literature.
:eek1:
