A ouija board ('ouija' comes from the French and German words meaning 'yes') sometimes looks like the one pictured above, and is sometimes made from all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 1-9 written on scraps of paper, arranged in a circle on a smooth surface with a glass in the centre of the circle. The user(s) rest their hands lightly on the glass or pointer and ask questions, which the glass or pointer then spells out answers to.

Is it just a game, or not?

While some people maintain that the ouija board answers questions by channeling supernatural spirits, sceptics think that the glass or pointer is moved by the people using it, either consciously or subconsciously. If more than two people have their hands on a glass, it can often get moved to one letter without anyone actually moving it there all by themselves - so everyone thinks it was moved by supernatural forces.

What are all these scary stories about ouija boards?

A usual ouija-board story goes something like this: A group of teenagers in the house by themselves decided to play with a ouija-board. Everything was going well at first, until the board's answers started getting frightening. By the time they finished playing with the board, they were clearly terrified, unable to speak, shaking with fear, with one member of the group sometimes being admitted to hospital. Some people claim that this is an example of malovelent spirits communicating through the board, but it's more likely that a group of teenagers got scared to the point of mass hysteria by what they thought was a spirit giving them answers.

What about strange stuff happening when people use ouija boards?

Some people who have used ouija boards report strange things happening at the time - electrical appliances switching themselves off, dogs barking for no reason, breezes coming from nowhere inside the room. Before attributing these to the paranormal, it would make sense to ask whether these things would have been considered so strange if they hadn't happened when someone was using a ouija board. A television switching itself off could have been because of a faulty switch, a power surge or cut, someone sitting on the remote control... Dogs sometimes do bark for no reason... Draughts often appear to come from nowhere... and so on. If it wouldn't be considered a strange thing normally, why consider it a strange thing if it happened when someone was playing with a ouija board?
      Also, stories often get exaggerated after a while. It's unlikely that everyone who claimed to have odd things happen to them during a ouija board session is lying, but there's a good chance that some of them are 'remembering' things that didn't happen the way they described.

How do ouija boards know the answers to the questions they're asked?

If the pointer or glass is being moved by the participants, then the ouija board will be able to 'answer' any questions that the participants know the answers to. If none of the participants knows the answer, it would be difficult to check whether the answer was right or not.
    'Selective reporting' also plays a part in stories about ouija boards answering questions correctly. If a ouija board got an answer wrong, it doesn't make a good story and people aren't likely to hear about it. If it got an answer right, they are. If you only hear about the right answers, it's easy to believe that all the answers were right.