my mom and my friend have both used them and had bad experiances with them. i wont use them ever because i believe they are portels for demonic beings to enter and once you open that portel it is really hard to close it!!

After reading all the pages in this thread, I am still unclear whether it actually works or not and in what way. Yes, I know many people seem really spooked by this, even people who have never tried it themselves, so there must be a reason, but...

It is so easy to spook people... I remember one night with two friends. I was tired and wanted to sleep, but they were full of trying to make a ouija and using it, and they would not let me sleep till I joined them. So I did.

When I was more than tired of waiting for something to happen and it didn't, I made it happen myself (I must be a fairly good actress when the mood takes me   ). And one thing I can tell you: I was the only one to sleep that night  

So I have never been able to find out if it really works, not that I am overly curious, but still... And what is this about spirits being poor spellers? You sure it wasn't the users who were poor spellers?

Frankly, all this information has made me a bit more sceptic, if possible. I mean, I read Tarot and analyze dreams and I find it natural because I know exactly how it works, but this...  

I don't know about demonic beings, but I think it was definitely not my mother doing it. I have heard that spirits lie, and that the messages you get from a ouija can be upsetting at the very least. They aren't toys and they shouldn't be played with unless you know what you are doing.

I'd have to figure that, if you're contacting an earthbound spirit, if it's not a ghost, it probably wouldn't mind having "fun" at the person's expense, and if it is - dying and not moving on probably doesn't make a spirit any smarter than it was before dying. If you're "just" tapping into your subconscious, there are probably other, simpler, ways to do that - meditation, Tarot, and dreams being the routes I take. Yes, I said probably about a million times, but we don't know for sure. I do know that the times I've tried the ouija have convinced me that it's not for me.

I haven't heard of anyone  who has had a positive experience with one yet.