By Gary Val Tenuta

The following is Part-3 of a multi-part true story adapted exclusively for The Paranormal Report from the author’s ebook on CD, The Secret of Nine. It is a story about a series of Ouija board sessions which began much like many Ouija stories, recounting tales of communication with the spirits of the dearly – and some not-so-dearly – departed souls. This story, however, took a most unexpected turn when a list of strange words began to appear and suddenly the three participants – of which this author was one – found themselves fully immersed in a series of communications with ETs. Not dead, dearly departed ETs, mind you. No. These ETs were quite alive and well – thank you - living on a planet called Grek-5 in a dimension they described as being “…in your future time.” Sound strange? Improbable? Impossible? Unbelievable? Or was it all something quite different than what it appeared to be? Here’s Part-3 of the story. Decide for yourself.

THE DEVIL YOU SAY

In Part-2 of the story, you may recall, I was describing what happened the night we turned the lights out and were working the Ouija board by eerie candle light. All was going well, we were having a good time, snacking on chips and beer,  even though nothing really dramatic was coming through the board. Then, suddenly, everything changed. The board spelled out: HELL IS MY PALACE. I AM AT YOUR DOOR. LET ME IN.

I remember those words verbatim. It was as if some entity had simply pushed its way, uninvited, into our little party. There was an immediate change to the whole ambiance of the room. I was actually more intrigued than frightened and I told Tom and Edie that I was going to go over to the door and open it. They didn’t know if that was such a good idea, but I did it anyway. When I returned to the table I put my hands on the planchette and Edie did the same. I was curious to see what would happen next.

We sat tense, poised, waiting in anticipation for the planchette to move. The room seemed heavy with a presence we could not see. Then, shockingly, the glass around the candle popped and shattered! It scared the holy hell out of all of us!

Always the skeptic, I immediately analyzed the situation. Ok, I thought, if this really was the Devil or Satan or Mr. Evil Guy Of The Universe, or whatever, it would be able to go anywhere it wanted to go, including our living room, and it wouldn’t need someone to open the door. I think I was hoping to somehow satisfy myself with this line of reasoning but in the back of my mind another explanation was gaining ground.

The opening of the door was symbolic. It was a gesture of blatant invitation. “Hey, hi! Come on in!” I opened the door out of sheer curiosity and now that one simple act was about to ruin our entire night. The Ouija board spelled out a disturbing message:

I realize it seems bizarre that we could take this seriously but, as the saying goes, you had to be there. We really didn’t want to leave. It was winter. It was cold outside. It was the middle of the night, and we didn’t have a car.

We debated the situation amongst ourselves realizing, on the one hand, how silly it would seem to actually bundle up and leave in the middle of the night, packing a baby cocker spaniel, and go wandering the streets of Long Beach looking for a church, all because a Ouija board told us to. On the other hand, the Ouija board did spell out HELL IS MY PALACE. I AM AT YOUR DOOR. LET ME IN. I did open the door. It did seem as if we felt a heavy presence in the room and the candle did pop and shatter onto the table. Taking all of that into consideration, we decided to err on the side of caution. We put on our coats, gathered up the dog, packed up the Ouija board and left.

If it had been any place and time other than southern California in the late 60’s, we would have been a pretty weird spectacle. However, weird was the norm at that time and place, so if anyone had seen us and asked what we were doing they probably would have nodded their heads knowingly and said, “Wow. Groovy.” and continued on their way. Fortunately no one saw us. There didn’t seem to be another soul around anywhere. Why would there be? It was dark, it was cold, it was late and anyone in their right mind was inside, keeping warm, and doing… well, anything but what we were doing.

We walked around the streets for awhile wondering what the hell we were doing and keeping an eye out for a church. We finally found one but the doors were locked.

Shivering from the cold, I shrugged. “I guess God closes at six. What’ll we do now?”

We decided to try the Ouija board. It was sort of like making a phone call to see if it was ok to come home yet. So, sitting on some porch steps by the light of a street lamp in the chill of the cold winter night, we phoned home on the Ouija board.

We were told it was not yet safe to return. Swell. Now what? We were cold and tired and we wanted to get into some place warm. Then we had a brilliant idea. The Service Men’s YMCA was open twenty-four hours a day. So we headed off to the Y.

When we got there we found Clovis, the head of the organization, and Rich, his assistant. They were working late on some project. Clovis was one of those rare individuals who leaves a lasting, positive impression on nearly everyone fortunate enough to come into contact with him. He had a gift of inspiring people to reach goals they never dreamed possible. As we walked in he looked up from his desk.

“What the heck are you guys doing here at this time of night?” he asked, quite surprised.

“Um,” I started. “It’s a little difficult to explain.”

“Okay,” he said. He sat back and waited for me to gather my thoughts.

“Well, remember we told you about this Ouija board that Kelli gave Tom?”

“Oh, man.” He replied, rolling his eyes. He knew he was in for a real humdinger. “Okay. Go ahead.”

 So we gathered around his desk and proceeded to tell him the story.

As was customary for Clovis, he listened attentively. In the end, though, he didn’t really know quite what to say. I remember a short discussion about the forces of good and evil, the reality or perceived reality of such concepts, and so on. Finally, we decided to give him a demonstration of Ouija board communication. I was afraid it wouldn’t work and then we’d look really silly. Fortunately it did work and, like the perfect ending to a good movie, it told us the battle was over and it was safe for us to return home.

 (To be continued in Part-4: RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE BATTLE)

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