The Ouija Board is a board (usually made out of wood) the involves the use of a planchette and letters and numbers (or words Yes, No, Goodbye) are chosen in a sequence and that sequence is turned into words.
The letters are stretched over two semi circles in the middle of the board, the row on the top contains letters A-M and the bottom row contains N-Z, the numbers are strecthed in a staright line under the letters. The top right corner conatins the word "YES", left top corner contains "NO' and line immidiately below the numbers conatins the word "GOODBYE"
The board is supposedly used to conatct the spirits, the user asks questions aloud and the spirit moves the planchette over each letter, forming an answer. E.g. A user asks "What is your name?", the planchette will go over th letter s"A-L-E-X" one by one, forming the word "Alex" which answers the question.
But before that, the rules are supposed to be read out aloud for all of the participants to hear. The three main rules are:
1) Never use it by yourself (never play alone)
2) Always say Goodbye (when you want to end)
3) Never taunt the spirit (never make fun of the spirit, basically be respectful)
An Ouija is a fairly common sight among the thrill-seeking and curious natured teens, but not everyone knows precisely how it works. I have seen videos of adventurers going into abandoned places and playing with Ouija board and other videos, and while most of them read out the rules (Codes and Conventions, if you will) they are not from a reliable source, which results in confusion amongst the Ouija community.
There is a huge debate with either side having strong arguments against Ouija boards working, majority of the people stick with the spiritual belief, and the fact that they do actually communicate with the "dead" or "the other side", while the others have scientific facts that argue that the movement of planchette is purely a subconscious body reflex known as Ideomotor Effect which is 'a psychological phenomenon where a subjects make motions subconsciously'. Vox has a detailed article about the relationship of Ouija Boards and the Ideomotor Effect and if you want to see the Ideomotor Effect in action, here is a video by The Modern Rogue on YouTube.
Keeping the debate aside, the Ouija Board has long been an essential prop in paranormal related movies as a way of communicating with the Spirits.
More than often, a movie that includes the use of the Ouija Board has a storyline of something going wrong, a message that 'the other side should not be messed with'.
I wanted to keep that pattern in my production, so I followed a similar storyline where a boy stops his friends from doing it, but they still do it and regret it.
Planchette
A planchette is usually a triangular shaped piece of plastic, elevated by three small legs that glides over the board and has a hole through which the chosen letter is seen a,d the word in made out following a sequnce of letters.
ZOZO The Demon
The worst supposed demon on the board is Zozo who is related to extreme fevers, misfortune, financial, physical and mental damage, and even rape.
Zozo answers the question "What is your name?" by spelling Zozo twice on the board i.e. moving Z-O four times in total. Adittionally, the arrival of Zozo can be determined by the planchette moving in figure '8' rapidly (horizontally or vertically), scrapping on walls, or falling objects.
His interactions start out friendly, but grow malicious; he's known for cursing at and threatening contactees, sometimes personally. While he's often wrangled by a Ouija board, some believe that saying his name out loud can also summon Zozo from the depths of hell. In a way, Zozo is the Voldemort of the Ouija world.
This article by Thought Catalog has a detailed interview with Darren Waynes Evans, the first person to come in contact with Zozo, as well as being the reason for the popularity of Zozo over the internet and contemporary entertainment media texts.
Planchette
A planchette is usually a triangular shaped piece of plastic, elevated by three small legs that glides over the board and has a hole through which the chosen letter is seen a,d the word in made out following a sequnce of letters.
The worst supposed demon on the board is Zozo who is related to extreme fevers, misfortune, financial, physical and mental damage, and even rape.
Zozo answers the question "What is your name?" by spelling Zozo twice on the board i.e. moving Z-O four times in total. Adittionally, the arrival of Zozo can be determined by the planchette moving in figure '8' rapidly (horizontally or vertically), scrapping on walls, or falling objects.
His interactions start out friendly, but grow malicious; he's known for cursing at and threatening contactees, sometimes personally. While he's often wrangled by a Ouija board, some believe that saying his name out loud can also summon Zozo from the depths of hell. In a way, Zozo is the Voldemort of the Ouija world.
This article by Thought Catalog has a detailed interview with Darren Waynes Evans, the first person to come in contact with Zozo, as well as being the reason for the popularity of Zozo over the internet and contemporary entertainment media texts.
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