Shadow People – blacker-than-night, two-dimensional, human-like figures that seem to appear and disappear at will – have been reported worldwide. The reports, like “From the Shadows” read Casey’s, are never good.
“I've experienced this Shadow figure, the same one, numerous times,” he said.
It was December 2007 when Casey first met the Shadow Man. Right before Casey – a high school student – dreamed of the entity, his girlfriend broke up with him then his brother was in a car accident. As Casey lie in bed one night, the Shadow Man came into his sleep.
“I was in a car in the back as two girls were in the front,” he said. Both girls had brown hair, but Casey couldn’t see who they were. “They were driving and the thing that sat beside me was a Shadow Person.”
The Shadow Man kept motioning Casey to come closer to him, but he didn’t.
“I was feeling a little scared but then the girls are saying to me, ‘we need to get you and your friend away from here now far away as possible,’” he said. “I look at the Shadow thing and all it did was motion faster and faster and it was getting angry at me, signaling at me to come over.”
Then Casey’s vision went white, he heard the car crash, the girls screamed and he woke up confused. But later, Casey realized his dream might mean something.
“My ex-girlfriend that broke up with me dyed her hair brown a few days before I had this dream and so did her mom,” he said. Her car had the same interior from his dream, and there was his brother’s car accident …
“I started to put stuff together like this Shadow Person is running my dreams and he’s using things that hurt me when I'm awake to hurt me in my dreams,” Casey said.
His next Shadow dream was in February.
“This time me and this Shadow were like best friends,” Casey said. “We were laughing walking down the street. Then all of a sudden this little boy ran by with a bloody knife, crying.”
Casey and the Shadow Man caught the boy.
“He told me that his mom stabbed his dad in the chest and he grabbed the knife and now the cops were after him,” Casey said. He recognized the boy – he was a friend with a past Casey never knew.
“The little boy was my friend but grown up,” he said. “His mother stabbed his dad and the cops thought he did it. When I woke up I looked around fast and saw nothing. I thought that something wanted to help me through my old mistakes – but it was torturing my mind.”
A week later, the Shadow dream visited again.
“I was a old man working at a high school as the janitor,” he said. “I was retiring and I was happy and I saw that Shadow Guy just watching me. This time he just stood there and he was shaking like a laughing way. I didn't know why but I looked around and everyone started talking about my brother saying, ‘what if he hit a deer?’ ‘what if he was just too drunk?’”
Casey had heard those rumors and knew the Shadow entity was using them to hurt him.
“I felt confused and inferior to this thing. I woke up screaming that night,” he said. “Right then I knew it was out to get me. I was scared of going to bed and not waking up or waking up somewhere else.”
His last dream encounter was in June.
“I was dreaming of the first day of school,” he said. “I get to first period and these Army troops burst into the school speaking some language I didn't know.”
The soldiers took the students to a large, desolate, fire-damaged building with steel garage doors.
“They only gave us pillows,” Casey said. “I laid there and beside me sat this Shadow guy in a Indian-style sitting (position) staring at me.”
Casey’s best friend was there, along with his ex-girlfriend.
“I flipped out screaming at her saying, ‘what do the hell do you want from me?’” he said. “When I did this a guard came over telling me to get up.”
Casey stood, but his friend jumped up to protect him and was shot in the arm.
“This Shadow guy ran up and got into the soldier’s face yelling at him telling him that he can’t have me that he needed me for something,” Casey said. “The soldier laughed at him and said, ‘why?’ The Shadow got up really close and whispered something to him and all I got out of it was, ‘brother.’”
Casey wonders if the Shadow Man isn’t just torturing him in his dreams – but outside his dreams.
“Right now I’ve been scared and confused,” he said. “I don't know what to do but my doors do open by themselves now and my lights do turn off by themselves and I sense there’s something in my spare room that stands there. I can’t go in there without getting really cold and the chills like something right behind me is breathing on my neck.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, black-eyed children, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The Ghost of Yeater Hall
The red brick walls of Laura J. Yeater Hall stand amongst the trees that surround its entrance. A single window pointing from its attic looks toward the center of campus.
Generations of college students at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg have whispered about a woman sometimes seen looking out from that window, a window inaccessible by the students who live there. Yeater Hall, they say, is haunted.
That’s what I was told more than 20 years ago when I was enrolled at the school – and students are still talking about it.
Yeater was built in 1940 and named after the former head of the college’s Latin and Greek department. While Yeater taught there, from 1901 to 1914, she pushed for women’s housing on campus. By 1940 she raised enough money to build the first the school’s first women’s dormitory.
Over the decades since Yeater’s death, many residents of the hall have reported mysterious footsteps, the sounds of moving furniture, blankets ripped off beds and strange lights. Maybe Yeater put so much of herself into the construction of the dormitory she couldn’t bear to leave.
I met director of residence and Greek life Alan Nordyke and custodial worker Carol Mullins at the entrance of Yeater Hall. It was late summer.
“It’s a very old myth that Laura Yeater, her ghost supposedly is here,” Nordyke said. “I’ve never heard any encounter that couldn’t be explained.”
Mullins, however, is more certain of the unexplained.
“Oh, there are ghosts,” she said. “The first three years (I worked here) I hadn’t experienced anything that would convince me that there were ghosts here. But there’ve been enough the past two years to convince me something’s here.”
Hard wood floors run through each room and windows look out on either a tree-lined path or a spacious courtyard. Banquets and dances were once held in the large rooms downstairs, and sororities lived on the upper floors.
But I wasn’t concerned with dances or sororities. I wanted to see the third floor where footsteps, scooting furniture and unexplained lights have been reported. A metal latch and padlock hold tight the entrance to the third floor. No one has lived there since Spring 2001.
“It’s closed because of electrical problems and the decline in occupancy,” Nordyke said as he open the lock with one of a very few keys on campus that open that door. “The only people who’d have access are employees. Students don’t have access.”
Some ceiling lights were on as we walked down a dusty hall lined with doors.
“I thought there were electric problems,” I said, pointing toward the lights.
“Some lights are left on,” Nordyke said.
On an abandoned floor with electrical problems?
Strange lights have been seen coming from the third floor of Yeater, such as lights in rooms 337 and 343 that occasionally come on after 10 p.m.
“The lights have been going on for 20 years,” Mullins said. “Nobody’s going to (play a joke) for 20 years.”
As we walked by room 337, I stopped and noticed the ceiling light was on.
“This shouldn’t be,” Nordyke said.
He switched the light off, blaming the light on maintenance workers, then we walked a few doors down to 343.
“The light comes on when no one is here,” Mullins said about room 343. “I had (another maintenance worker) lock the door and I duct taped the light switch. When I came back up the doors were still closed, but they were unlocked. When I went in, the duct tape was pried open to turn the light on.”
Finished, we turned to leave and, as we walked back by 337, we stopped. The light was on again.
We had been in full view of the only door into room 337, and no one had been in or out. I poked my head into the room – the light switch I had watched Nordyke turn off, was in the “on” position. No electrical problem could have caused that. Maybe Laura Yeater was just telling us she’s still around.
As we turned to leave the third floor, Mullins said, “Thank you, Laura,” as Nordyke padlocked the door shut again.
“There’s too many stories,” Mullins said. “Even though I love this building, sometimes it gives me the heebie jeebies.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
Generations of college students at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg have whispered about a woman sometimes seen looking out from that window, a window inaccessible by the students who live there. Yeater Hall, they say, is haunted.
That’s what I was told more than 20 years ago when I was enrolled at the school – and students are still talking about it.
Yeater was built in 1940 and named after the former head of the college’s Latin and Greek department. While Yeater taught there, from 1901 to 1914, she pushed for women’s housing on campus. By 1940 she raised enough money to build the first the school’s first women’s dormitory.
Over the decades since Yeater’s death, many residents of the hall have reported mysterious footsteps, the sounds of moving furniture, blankets ripped off beds and strange lights. Maybe Yeater put so much of herself into the construction of the dormitory she couldn’t bear to leave.
I met director of residence and Greek life Alan Nordyke and custodial worker Carol Mullins at the entrance of Yeater Hall. It was late summer.
“It’s a very old myth that Laura Yeater, her ghost supposedly is here,” Nordyke said. “I’ve never heard any encounter that couldn’t be explained.”
Mullins, however, is more certain of the unexplained.
“Oh, there are ghosts,” she said. “The first three years (I worked here) I hadn’t experienced anything that would convince me that there were ghosts here. But there’ve been enough the past two years to convince me something’s here.”
Hard wood floors run through each room and windows look out on either a tree-lined path or a spacious courtyard. Banquets and dances were once held in the large rooms downstairs, and sororities lived on the upper floors.
But I wasn’t concerned with dances or sororities. I wanted to see the third floor where footsteps, scooting furniture and unexplained lights have been reported. A metal latch and padlock hold tight the entrance to the third floor. No one has lived there since Spring 2001.
“It’s closed because of electrical problems and the decline in occupancy,” Nordyke said as he open the lock with one of a very few keys on campus that open that door. “The only people who’d have access are employees. Students don’t have access.”
Some ceiling lights were on as we walked down a dusty hall lined with doors.
“I thought there were electric problems,” I said, pointing toward the lights.
“Some lights are left on,” Nordyke said.
On an abandoned floor with electrical problems?
Strange lights have been seen coming from the third floor of Yeater, such as lights in rooms 337 and 343 that occasionally come on after 10 p.m.
“The lights have been going on for 20 years,” Mullins said. “Nobody’s going to (play a joke) for 20 years.”
As we walked by room 337, I stopped and noticed the ceiling light was on.
“This shouldn’t be,” Nordyke said.
He switched the light off, blaming the light on maintenance workers, then we walked a few doors down to 343.
“The light comes on when no one is here,” Mullins said about room 343. “I had (another maintenance worker) lock the door and I duct taped the light switch. When I came back up the doors were still closed, but they were unlocked. When I went in, the duct tape was pried open to turn the light on.”
Finished, we turned to leave and, as we walked back by 337, we stopped. The light was on again.
We had been in full view of the only door into room 337, and no one had been in or out. I poked my head into the room – the light switch I had watched Nordyke turn off, was in the “on” position. No electrical problem could have caused that. Maybe Laura Yeater was just telling us she’s still around.
As we turned to leave the third floor, Mullins said, “Thank you, Laura,” as Nordyke padlocked the door shut again.
“There’s too many stories,” Mullins said. “Even though I love this building, sometimes it gives me the heebie jeebies.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Zig-Zagging UFOs
The green ball of light moved horizontally across the sky as I drove home. The time was around 10 p.m. on a winter day in 1999 as I pushed my Dodge Stratus down a straight stretch of rural highway in the flat Missouri River bottomlands.
The light wasn’t an airplane, I thought. It moved – for the moment – like an airplane, but the color was wrong. It seemed to fly slowly, almost paralleling my car. Then it changed course, suddenly shooting up at a right angle and disappearing from view within seconds.
What was it?
Flying? Of course. Unidentified? To me, yes.
Do other people see these lights in the sky that move unlike any aircraft we’re used to? Yes, they do. Here are three stories.
The Crescent Moon
“From The Shadows” reader Garrett was driving from Olathe to Kansas City at about 9:30 p.m. in August 2007 when he saw the lights; three or four “strange lights” hovering.
“These lights were in a crescent moon shape and were disappearing randomly then appearing again in another area of the sky,” he said. “They were also moving in ways that a normal aircraft could not.”
The lights moved side-to-side, zig-zagged and flew in circles.
“Did anyone else see these things?” he asked.
More zig-zags
“Shadows” reader Simon saw lights like Garrett’s numerous times in 1988 when he was eight years old in Pennsylvania.
“I saw a light in the sky moving quickly in a zig-zag formation,” Simon said. “The light was bigger and brighter than a star, and it continued to move at very high speeds, back and forth across the sky.”
Simon never told anyone about these sightings except his brother – because his brother saw them, too.
“He saw it with me from our backyard the third and final time I witnessed this phenomenon,” Simon said. “He and I still do not know how to talk about what we saw.”
A Diamond in the Night
A “Shadows” reader who goes by the name Prairie Girl saw something one night in the cold North Dakota sky in October 2007. She and her nephew were outside looking at the Northern Lights when she saw a shooting ball of light.
“We noticed a light going across the sky in the north through the Northern lights,” she said. “Then it suddenly stopped and shot straight down to the north below the horizon. Then another light appeared and weaved through the sky back and forth again, through the Northern lights.”
Another light appeared. Then another.
“They eventually all went out of sight, zig-zagging across the northern sky,” she said. “And we just sat there a little flabbergasted.”
Then Prairie Girl’s nephew shouted, “look.”
“I look straight up where he is looking and there above us is a very large diamond-shaped light,” she said. “Very, very bright. It hurt my eyes to look at it.”
The light was much larger than a star, but smaller than the moon.
“We just sat there staring up at this thing and really marveling over the whole experience, maybe two minutes in all,” she said. “And then all of a sudden I got a rush of fear run through me, and as soon as I felt that fear the light started to move away from us.”
The light moved north, slowly zig-zagging across the sky.
“But what's really weird is I don't remember how it disappeared after that or how long after that we could watch it,” she said. “The last thing I remember is watching it zig-zag its way to the north.”
The next day, her eyes ached – so did her perception of what is real.
“There is no one on God’s green earth that can tell me that we are alone,” she said. “Unless it is some kind of government technology that we don't know about.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
The light wasn’t an airplane, I thought. It moved – for the moment – like an airplane, but the color was wrong. It seemed to fly slowly, almost paralleling my car. Then it changed course, suddenly shooting up at a right angle and disappearing from view within seconds.
What was it?
Flying? Of course. Unidentified? To me, yes.
Do other people see these lights in the sky that move unlike any aircraft we’re used to? Yes, they do. Here are three stories.
The Crescent Moon
“From The Shadows” reader Garrett was driving from Olathe to Kansas City at about 9:30 p.m. in August 2007 when he saw the lights; three or four “strange lights” hovering.
“These lights were in a crescent moon shape and were disappearing randomly then appearing again in another area of the sky,” he said. “They were also moving in ways that a normal aircraft could not.”
The lights moved side-to-side, zig-zagged and flew in circles.
“Did anyone else see these things?” he asked.
More zig-zags
“Shadows” reader Simon saw lights like Garrett’s numerous times in 1988 when he was eight years old in Pennsylvania.
“I saw a light in the sky moving quickly in a zig-zag formation,” Simon said. “The light was bigger and brighter than a star, and it continued to move at very high speeds, back and forth across the sky.”
Simon never told anyone about these sightings except his brother – because his brother saw them, too.
“He saw it with me from our backyard the third and final time I witnessed this phenomenon,” Simon said. “He and I still do not know how to talk about what we saw.”
A Diamond in the Night
A “Shadows” reader who goes by the name Prairie Girl saw something one night in the cold North Dakota sky in October 2007. She and her nephew were outside looking at the Northern Lights when she saw a shooting ball of light.
“We noticed a light going across the sky in the north through the Northern lights,” she said. “Then it suddenly stopped and shot straight down to the north below the horizon. Then another light appeared and weaved through the sky back and forth again, through the Northern lights.”
Another light appeared. Then another.
“They eventually all went out of sight, zig-zagging across the northern sky,” she said. “And we just sat there a little flabbergasted.”
Then Prairie Girl’s nephew shouted, “look.”
“I look straight up where he is looking and there above us is a very large diamond-shaped light,” she said. “Very, very bright. It hurt my eyes to look at it.”
The light was much larger than a star, but smaller than the moon.
“We just sat there staring up at this thing and really marveling over the whole experience, maybe two minutes in all,” she said. “And then all of a sudden I got a rush of fear run through me, and as soon as I felt that fear the light started to move away from us.”
The light moved north, slowly zig-zagging across the sky.
“But what's really weird is I don't remember how it disappeared after that or how long after that we could watch it,” she said. “The last thing I remember is watching it zig-zag its way to the north.”
The next day, her eyes ached – so did her perception of what is real.
“There is no one on God’s green earth that can tell me that we are alone,” she said. “Unless it is some kind of government technology that we don't know about.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
A Ouija Experience in India
The Ouija experience isn’t all Milton Bradley and slumber parties. Sitting around a Ouija board, fingers on the planchette, asking for spirits to show themselves may seem harmless, but all too often it’s not.
And, as Jake Kayen discovered, Milton Bradley doesn’t even have to be involved.
“I’m from India and I’d like to narrate my one and only Ouija experience,” Kayen said. “It was nothing dramatic, mind you – very plain, simple and straightforward.”
Kayen was an undergrad in Poona, India, when early on a winter’s morning he and three friends sat on the floor around a Ouija board Kayen had drawn.
“I enquired as to why these early hours,” he said.
A friend, Surya, “ever the joker,” thought the question was funny.
“You’ll probably get fresh (spirits),” Surya said. “Maybe one who died while exerting in the toilet.”
The group laughed and they prepared for their séance. Someone lit an incense stick and collected smoke under a bottle cap they placed on the board as a planchette.
“We touched (it) with the tips of our forefingers,” Kayen said. “Gaurav, the senior in the group, got into a meditative mood and intoned in a solemn sonorous voice, ‘Any spirit close by, please come here and answer our questions.’”
Gaurav said this three times. Then said, “If you are here, please give us a signal. Move the cap to ‘Yes.’”
The cap started moving.
“I was sure it wasn’t me,” Kayen said. “Kumar looked at me suspiciously. Modi was looking around half-expecting a joke, but did not want to disturb the experience. Even Surya was silently watching the board.”
Members of the group asked a number of questions that the cap moved to answer.
“Satisfactory answers were given,” Kayen said. “At least to my questions. What’s my pet’s name? It (answered) correctly, spelling out each alphabet, ‘K-u-t-t-a-n.’ Well, I was satisfied as this was an unusual name for a dog.”
Anxious, Modi asked the board, “Will I win the Nobel Prize?” The board answered, “No.”
“There were snickers,” Kayen said. “Surya cracked a rude comment and Modi shot an angry glance at him.”
After a while, the cap started moving erratically.
“Oh spirit, do you want to go away?” Gaurav asked.
The cap moved to, “Yes.”
“We shall count to 10 and remove our fingers from the cap, OK?” Gaurav asked.
The cap again moved to, “Yes.”
“Go in peace, o spirit,” Gaurav said. “Our thanks.”
And the cap stopped moving.
“We had a good laugh afterwards over tea,” Kayen said. “Modi was talking about the spirit not knowing anything, deliberate sabotage by us, and the ‘polygon of forces,’ the resultant vector being a pure reflection of our subconscious, etc. We teased him a lot on his Nobel Prize afterwards.”
But Kayen wasn’t finished with the spirit world. He soon found his cousin had made contact, too.
“I related this incident to Manu, my cousin, when I visited Bombay,” Kayen said. “Apparently, he and his friends had organized a tryout of the Ouija board for himself in an apartment in his building that had been empty for some time.”
The board was the one Kayen had drawn.
“They started around midday, following the same procedure till a spirit had come,” he said. “They asked the spirit it’s earthly name – apparently that’s something prohibited – and it replied ‘Kulkarni.’”
Manu and his friends were surprised at a response.
“They had a lark, but soon tired of it,” Kayen said. “When they asked whether it wanted to go away, the spirit would point to, ‘No.’ This happened twice. Then one of them asked, ‘What would happen if we just got up and left?’”
The cap slowly spelled something vulgar … and threatening.
“When the meaning of this arrangement of letters dawned upon them, they realized the spirit, or whoever it was, seemed quite earnest in its interest and could endeavor to be with them somehow,” Kayen said. “With a yell and a bang, they broke up the meeting, threw away the Ouija board and quickly vacated the premises.”
Manu and his friends have since avoided both the apartment and the Ouija board.
“Ah, the way I laughed,” Kayen said, although he knows his contact with the spirit world was anything but funny. “After that one Ouija session, I felt kind of, dirty, soiled, sad. I’ve never ventured into such stuff again.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
And, as Jake Kayen discovered, Milton Bradley doesn’t even have to be involved.
“I’m from India and I’d like to narrate my one and only Ouija experience,” Kayen said. “It was nothing dramatic, mind you – very plain, simple and straightforward.”
Kayen was an undergrad in Poona, India, when early on a winter’s morning he and three friends sat on the floor around a Ouija board Kayen had drawn.
“I enquired as to why these early hours,” he said.
A friend, Surya, “ever the joker,” thought the question was funny.
“You’ll probably get fresh (spirits),” Surya said. “Maybe one who died while exerting in the toilet.”
The group laughed and they prepared for their séance. Someone lit an incense stick and collected smoke under a bottle cap they placed on the board as a planchette.
“We touched (it) with the tips of our forefingers,” Kayen said. “Gaurav, the senior in the group, got into a meditative mood and intoned in a solemn sonorous voice, ‘Any spirit close by, please come here and answer our questions.’”
Gaurav said this three times. Then said, “If you are here, please give us a signal. Move the cap to ‘Yes.’”
The cap started moving.
“I was sure it wasn’t me,” Kayen said. “Kumar looked at me suspiciously. Modi was looking around half-expecting a joke, but did not want to disturb the experience. Even Surya was silently watching the board.”
Members of the group asked a number of questions that the cap moved to answer.
“Satisfactory answers were given,” Kayen said. “At least to my questions. What’s my pet’s name? It (answered) correctly, spelling out each alphabet, ‘K-u-t-t-a-n.’ Well, I was satisfied as this was an unusual name for a dog.”
Anxious, Modi asked the board, “Will I win the Nobel Prize?” The board answered, “No.”
“There were snickers,” Kayen said. “Surya cracked a rude comment and Modi shot an angry glance at him.”
After a while, the cap started moving erratically.
“Oh spirit, do you want to go away?” Gaurav asked.
The cap moved to, “Yes.”
“We shall count to 10 and remove our fingers from the cap, OK?” Gaurav asked.
The cap again moved to, “Yes.”
“Go in peace, o spirit,” Gaurav said. “Our thanks.”
And the cap stopped moving.
“We had a good laugh afterwards over tea,” Kayen said. “Modi was talking about the spirit not knowing anything, deliberate sabotage by us, and the ‘polygon of forces,’ the resultant vector being a pure reflection of our subconscious, etc. We teased him a lot on his Nobel Prize afterwards.”
But Kayen wasn’t finished with the spirit world. He soon found his cousin had made contact, too.
“I related this incident to Manu, my cousin, when I visited Bombay,” Kayen said. “Apparently, he and his friends had organized a tryout of the Ouija board for himself in an apartment in his building that had been empty for some time.”
The board was the one Kayen had drawn.
“They started around midday, following the same procedure till a spirit had come,” he said. “They asked the spirit it’s earthly name – apparently that’s something prohibited – and it replied ‘Kulkarni.’”
Manu and his friends were surprised at a response.
“They had a lark, but soon tired of it,” Kayen said. “When they asked whether it wanted to go away, the spirit would point to, ‘No.’ This happened twice. Then one of them asked, ‘What would happen if we just got up and left?’”
The cap slowly spelled something vulgar … and threatening.
“When the meaning of this arrangement of letters dawned upon them, they realized the spirit, or whoever it was, seemed quite earnest in its interest and could endeavor to be with them somehow,” Kayen said. “With a yell and a bang, they broke up the meeting, threw away the Ouija board and quickly vacated the premises.”
Manu and his friends have since avoided both the apartment and the Ouija board.
“Ah, the way I laughed,” Kayen said, although he knows his contact with the spirit world was anything but funny. “After that one Ouija session, I felt kind of, dirty, soiled, sad. I’ve never ventured into such stuff again.”
Copyright 2008 by Jason Offutt
Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”
Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.
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