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I don't think you are handing me a line of BS, and I don't think you are dumb. You could not have studied physics and computer science, and be dumb. I am not arguing against the spiritual word or religion, (even Einstein had a belief in God or the ancient one) just the idea that communicating with another realm is a common occurrence, if it happens at all. I do not find demons or ghosts behind every bush, puff of smoke, creepy noise or game board. In fact, I've never seen, heard, smelled, felt or tasted one of either, and I've been alive for 52 years.

A crude physics examination of the Ouija board: If you ask questions aloud, they take the form of pressure waves that radiate outwards and dissipate not very far off, so the spirits must be close by. Do non-living entities have ears? If they have anything that is sensitive to pressure waves, they are made of matter. There are only two things known in the entire universe, light and matter. If the entities are not material, they can't hear you. But if they did somehow, some mysterious way unknown to science, then their answers must propagate from their realm to ours. If so, what is the manner of propagation, and at what speed do they travel? If the entities can even affect you or the planchette, what is the source of the energy that is doing the work? Even if these questions sound silly, it is still fair to ask them and see if any scientific basis can be established first.

If you asked these types of questions yourself, concerning your experience with a Ouija board, did you give fair consideration to the idea that the most appropriate and believable explanation is that your imagination was getting the best of you? If you rejected that, why?

I'm not saying that physics is the complete answer of all things, in fact, many aspects of quantum mechanics is very spooky (literally) and quite unexplainable today. However, education, examination and information is strong armor to protect you from being easily and endlessly deceived, when the attraction to the unknown is exploited by people with unsavory intent or their ignorance merely wants company.

A crude physics examination of the Ouija board: If you ask questions aloud, they take the form of pressure waves that radiate outwards and dissipate not very far off, so the spirits must be close by.

It was not necessary to ask the questions out loud, especially when the sole operator. The entities are not made of matter, they really hear your thoughts. It is necessary for some people to speak before their thoughts are coherent.

The Ouija board is not an essential part of the process. It merely provides a focal point for the intent to communicate.

…what is the manner of propagation, and at what speed do they travel? If the entities can even affect you or the planchette, what is the source of the energy that is doing the work?

I really don't have a clue. I believe that the planchette is moved by their influence on the motor system, so the energy of motion comes from our own muscles. The nature of that influence is a matter for which I have no theory. I had to assume that there is something we mortals haven't figured out about life and the universe. The observed phenomena did not fit with anything I know about physics. The only recourse, barring insanity, is to assume there is something going on that surpasses our understanding. This isn't supposed to be a cop-out, it is the best I can do when fitting the observations into my knowledge base.

I assume that the external entities can hear the thoughts, and seemingly sense other signals in our minds. I experienced one event where the entity expressed gratitude for the classical music I was playing, and said that he could hear it with our ears.

…did you give fair consideration to the idea that the most appropriate and believable explanation is that your imagination was getting the best of you? If you rejected that, why?

Of course, I did give consideration to physical realities and even some sort of group-induced psychological effect. I started off a rather staunch skeptic, but was unable to reconcile the observations with anything I knew to be reality. It took a long time for me to acknowledge that something extraordinary was taking place. It is easy a lot easier to scoff this off than to objectively get one’s belief system destroyed. The most convincing evidence that we didn’t have an overactive imagination was the interruption of a session to get report that an absent member of our group just had a close call with a car wreck. That was verified once she showed up to the apartment. In another case, we sent a message to another group in another town without any other form of communication other than the boards. Imagination would be hard-pressed to provide those events, wouldn’t it?

Bear in mind that all of this happened in the mid 1970s. Communications was strictly land-line based in those days; and, we did validate long distance communications. We knew well the disposition of the telephone in the apartment.

I don’t spend any time with these things now. There is nothing useful to be gained, and I have a lot of things to do. The game THEY play is to influence your life’s decisions and perhaps tap into your sensory perceptions. They are very peculiar parasites.