in 1986 or 87 i was in high school. my friend jason liked this girl diana and vice/versa. diana's parents were out of town so she and two friends invited jason and me to her house for a seance with a ouiji board.

i didn't know anything about it. it seemed like an excuse to get together. so we lit a candle and sat in a circle holding hands and chanting something i can't remember. seemed silly and embarrassing but i was holding hands with girls on either side which at that time in my life was what you would call a very successful evening.

all of a sudden diana's face and voice changed into something not necessarily scary but so damn different that there was no denying something very weird was happening. then actually her face did get really scary and she yelled something unintelligible with a deep loud male voice and the candle blew out to pitch black. not just a scary feeling but somehow got an evil feeling, whatever that means. girls were screaming and it was chaos for 3 or 4 seconds until someone could get the light on. what a relief, lights were on and diana was acting like she lost time and couldn't remember what happened. i assumed i was being pranked but i just couldn't figure out who was in on it and who else besides me was getting got.

then the dust settled and someone pointed out the candle that had seconds before been burning calmly was all distorted and had melted in an upward arc so that it reached up and to the side an down to the board, creating kind of an arch. defying gravity and physics and any normal experience. there was no room and no time for anyone to have removed/replaced the candle with a prop. everyone else in the room claimed to have seen the same thing i did.

i left feeling sure i must have been pranked but couldn't believe the skill with which it had been done. looking back on it, and having experienced some other weird shit in the world, now i think there was no prank. don't know what happened but i damn sure don't express any interest in ouiji board if it ever comes up.