There’s something inherently spooky yet inviting about Ouija boards. The Ouija board’s intricate hand-drawn letters and numbers beckon you to trace the planchette along their curves and call on whatever lies beyond the wall of death. If you’ve ever been to a Halloween party, you probably have a few creepy Ouija board stories of your own. Scary Ouija board stories are particularly terrifying because they deal with an unknown presence that the victims invite into their homes, the one place where we’re supposed to be able to relax and escape the corporeal haunting that is real life. And once in a while, something is invited in that is more than disturbing – it is malevolent and evil.
I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.
SHOW OPEN=====
Welcome, Weirdos – I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you’ll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.
Coming up in this episode…
Just because the Ouija board is made by a board game manufacturer does not mean it should be treated like a toy – as many have discovered.
The similar game, Charlie Charlie seems more innocent – but is so dangerous that in one school where children were playing it, they had to call in an exorcist.
And you never know when playing any of these types of games what kind of spirit you might be inviting into our realm – but I can tell you this…. It’s never good. They might pretend to be good, but that’s far from the truth. And one particular demon has found notoriety through the Ouija board community, a demon you don’t want to risk opening a door for. It’s name is Zozo.
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Now.. bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness!
STORY: CHARLIE CHARLIE=====
For decades children have been using DIY Ouija boards to speak with demons. According to the Charlie Charlie are you there legend, by drawing your own Ouija board and asking some yes or no questions, you can invoke a creature named Charlie and have him tell you about your future. Unfortunately, there’s a catch.
Playing Charlie Charlie, like all demon summoning games, carries a ton of negative ramifications. You aren’t just talking to ghosts to answer your questions, you’re casually chatting with a demon who’s hanging out around your house.
There are plenty of spooky stories about Ouija boards, but the creepy Charlie Charlie school game has a history that’s as macabre as the related demon’s intentions. Kids have been possessed or attacked, and more than one player claims to have seen a dark figure watching them after they play.
Once you’ve invited Charlie into your life, there is no end to the creepy stuff it can do to you. Players across the world have found themselves in the grips of terror after playing the game.
Aneeqa Saghir from Buckinghamshire, GB, had her electricity cut by the fortune telling demon. She claimed she asked Charlie to turn on her tablet screen just before her laptop turned on.
When Saghir asked Charlie to leave them alone the pencil spun to no. That’s when she asked the worst possible question: if Charlie was going to dispatch with her. Of course it answered “yes.”
After Saghir’s friends left the lights went out, but only in her apartment. When she called her parents, her phone suddenly shut off. While Saghir lived to tell the tale, she actively discourages others from attempting the ritual.
On December 4, 2017, Catholic priest Father Catalano paid a visit to Telesio Primary School in Calabria, IT, because students had called forth a demon while playing Charlie Charlie. Their teachers, who dedicated their lives to worshipping and studying Jesus Christ, were understandably upset.
Speaking to the press, Father Catalano explained Charlie Charlie is not a game, but rather a Satanic rite that possesses children. According to the Father, “the problem does not concern only the Telesio school but many schools in Reggio, Calabria and, I would dare say, all of Italy.”
Charlie Charlie is a game that works similarly to a Ouija board. Essentially you set up your board (in this case a piece of paper with “yes” and “no” written on it) and ask questions. The best part about this game is you don’t have to spend any money.
To play, all you need is a piece of paper and a couple of pencils. First, draw an X on a piece of paper, then write “yes” on two quadrants and “no” on the other two. Set two pencils in a cross pattern on the paper, balancing one on top of the other.
Open the game by saying “Charlie, Charlie, are you there?” Once a pencil floats to “yes” you can start playing. While the game doesn’t allow for the same specificity as a Ouija board, you can still find out some important answers to yes or no questions.
For some Charlie Charlie players, summoning the demon turned their lives into a horror movie. Hannah Mckinley, who spoke to The Mirror,described a couple of violent outbursts that occurred after she played the game.
At first, Mckinley asked some questions and things were going well, but then she heard “a scream from a distance. Right after that, “my mirror slightly cracked. I get scared and ran into my sister’s room and her bookshelf tumbled.”
The biggest risk associated with playing Charlie Charlie is the demonic spirit you call forth can potentially possess your body. It’s also possible for another spirit to use the Charlie Charlie game to enter the human realm and wreak havoc in your life.
In 2016, a 12-year-old girl from San Pedro, AR, was supposedly possessed by Charlie after asking the spirit a few questions. During the possession she freaked out and threatened to kill her sister. Her mother claimed, “it’s like having a person inside that will not let her be quiet.”
No one knows what Charlie looks like, but since it’s a demonic creature, it likely isn’t bound to one specific appearance. Multiple players have claimed they’ve seen Charlie, and each new description is creepier than the last.
One player saw a dark figure on the roof of her neighbor’s house watching her from afar. Another player claims they heard someone scratching at their bedroom door, and after that they heard “dark laughter.” Charlie’s also been described as a dark figure with red eyes, which is definitely something you don’t want to see in the middle of the night.
If you asked 10 different people who the titular “Charlie” is, you’d likely end up with 10 different origin stories. One version of the legend says Charlie is the spirit of a young boy who died after a physical assault.
In other iterations of the tale Charlie committed suicide, or it’s a Mexican demon who uses the name “Charlie” to warm up to players. Maria Elena Navez of BBC Mundo claimed that while Mexico has a vast amount of supernatural beings, there’s nothing named Charlie in their demonic hierarchy.
A game this simple probably has a lot of parallel origins, but Mexican school children were likely the first people to play. People believe that over time Charlie Charlie may have taken on aspects of other games to become what it is today.
Supposedly, the crossed pencils style of play comes from a near-identical game called “Juego de la Lapicera.” Originally, Charlie Charlie required colored pencils, possibly as a way to signify a yes or no.
While there’s plenty of evidence pointing to the contrary, it’s possible there’s no demon involved with Charlie Charlie. Some believe the whole thing is in players’ heads.
According to a 2012 study published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, people experience something called “response expectancy” in situations where they know something might happen.
This theory is similar to the “ideomotor effect,” AKA the influence of suggestion or expectation on involuntary and unconscious motor behavior. When someone expects a spirit to move their hand, they sometimes move it without consciously meaning to. It’s theorized this is how people are able to receive messages using a Ouija board.
Response expectancy could explain why spooky things seem to start happening after you play Charlie Charlie. You want to believe you’re in a room with a creepy ghost, and thanks to that overwhelming feeling, you’ll begin to attribute everything that happens to a ghost haunting your house.
It’s entirely possible the thing answering your questions while playing Charlie Charlie is actually just gravity. Because the pencils are precariously placed, they’re bound to make a couple of ill-timed spins.
Depending on whether the room you’re playing in is built on an incline, you can get more yes or no answers to your questions. If this is true, you don’t need to worry about demons, but rather the crushing weight of gravity. But really… is it worth risking it?
BREAK=====
The Ouija board has become a subject of fascination and fright, entertainment and terror. Some believe it opens a door to speak with loved ones who have crossed over, while others believe it actually is inviting demonic entities to invade your home and life. Up next, we’ll look at some true stories of people who have had some disturbing experiences either while using a Ouija board, or shortly after using one… when Weird Darkness returns.
STORY: TRUE OUIJA BOARD STORIES=====
Ouija board stories all have a few things in common: groups of friends who underestimate the power of the spirit realm, entities that lie about who they really are, and mysterious occurrences that even the most ardent of skeptics have trouble explaining. Whether you’re a true believer or one of those skeptics, these stories of spirits haunting the living from the confines of a Ouija board will chill you to the bone and make you think twice before communicating with entities from another dimension.
***Redditor /u/iamaballsack-ama went out of their way to get haunted by something that came through their Ouija board. After trying and failing to contact a spirit the first time, they cut the lights, lit some candles, and turned on an old radio to play nothing but white noise while they tried to make contact with the other side. That’s a pair of bad idea jeans if ever there was one. When a spirit finally responded, the Redditor and their friends learned that its name was Zozo, and from there, things went about poorly as they could: “We began to try and move the planchette in circles like you do when you’re expecting an answer, and all of the sudden, it stopped on the “hello” spot of the board and would not move. We actually slid the whole board off the table trying to get it to move. It was being pushed down, hard.” The planchette continually alternated between “Hello” and “No,” the radio emitted screeching sounds, a bunch of objects fell off the top of the refrigerator, the candles blew out, and a cat that lives at the house began walking with a limp the next day. Weird activity continued in her home for the next two weeks.
***After reading this collection of spooky Ouija stories that happened to Redditor /u/kimmygibblersaywhat, you’re probably going to buy a ticket for the “no thank you” train just like us. The writer’s most terrifying story comes from an evening when a spirit named “Deb” proved that it exists by explaining that it knows where she and her friends smoke, possibly insinuating that it’s watching them as they get their fix. Not freaked enough by this information to stay inside, the Redditor and her friend Hailey pressed Deb to prove she is real: [I said “How will we know [you’re real]?” and she said “TREES.” I am like “screw that” and Hailey says we have to do it. So, we’re smoking outside, I’m looking into the forest sweating balls in fear, thinking I’m going to see a demon face in the branches or something. Eventually we relax, but then Hailey, mid-sentence, her face drops and goes white and shes like, “Get inside NOW.” I toss my cigarette and jump in the window. We close the blinds and we’re breathing super heavy. I’m like, “What the heck happened?” She says that behind me, in the distance, there was a big-ass, like, 100-foot-tall tree. There was NO wind, I remember this because I was watching my cigarette smoke go directly up and I was blowing perfect O’s without them disappearing. She says the tree was still, then suddenly the WHOLE tree, including the trunk, moved back and forth, then went back to perfectly still.
I was like “HECK NO,” and after awhile of freaking out, sat back at the board. When we put our fingers on it, it said, “Did you see?”]
***Redditor /u/huxleypearl relates a Ouija board story that seems to be more about a family of intuitive people who live in a haunted house than anything else. But it’s worth noting that their spooky troubles didn’t begin until they horsed around with a Ouija board. Afterward, their ghostly issues included phantoms pulling on a baby’s limbs, a black-clad ghost slave family, and the appearance of a creepy red door. What’s more, the sister in this family may have summoned up something very troubling: “Anyway, her sister said that she was playing with the board one day, and when she asked who she was ‘speaking’ to, she got a weird name. It struck her as odd, but she didn’t really worry about it. Weeks later, she watched a special on the History channel or something; they were discussing demonology. She recognized one of the names as being the strange one she had encountered through the Ouija board.”
***While stationed in Germany, a former Redditor and some fellow soldiers decided to light some candles and contact the dead. The first spirit they spoke with was a young woman who had perished while she and her boyfriend were driving home from a Grateful Dead concert, and now she was looking for him. After she went away, they actually spoke to the boyfriend, who asked if they could tell his girlfriend that he was sorry. Then they spoke to the ghost of an older woman who said that the reason the spirit of the young woman couldn’t find her boyfriend is that he’s in hell!
***While messing around with a Ouija board as a young man, the stepdad of a former Redditor was visited by a demon who told him that his firstborn child would perish. Understandably, the next morning the guy tried to get rid of the board first by throwing it away, then by burning it, and finally burying it with a Bible on top for good measure. Years later, his wife miscarried their first child.
***While playing with a Ouija board with some friends from high school, Redditor /u/Helvin3 and some friends encountered a spirit named Niall who said that he had been slain by his father. The group tried to move on from this conversation, but the spirit continued to insist that he wanted answers, even going so far as to spell out “satisfy my requests.” After that, the friends “abandoned everything: the board, the house, the street.” Truly, the only way to bust a ghost.
***After building a spirit board with his sister, Redditor/u/lifeinhexcolors says the duo contacted a spirit named Roger who perished of food poisoning and knew that the brother and sister’s older sibling “wanted to talk to them.” Shortly afterward, the older sister, who was upstairs vacuuming, called for the kids to help her with the household chores. The spirit-boarding duo got so freaked out that they threw their board away, only for it to return the next day.
***Imagine a Ouija board that was so pent up with spooky energy that it didn’t even have to be used to start screwing around with your life. That’s exactly what happened to Redditor /u/zombiethoven, who took the board in question from a friend who said that every time she tried to use it, the same spirit continued to show up. After taking the board to its new home, things began to move around in the middle of the night, footsteps were heard, and the cats were not happy. But really, when are cats happy?
***While using a Ouija board to contact the spirit of a young girl’s grandmother, Redditor/u/ouououiii and a group of friends were contacted by the spirit of something that wore wooden clogs and had the touch of something not quite human. After being called, the spirit entered the room and “touched” everyone in the circle, causing them to hyperventilate: “Suddenly the girl sitting closest to the door starts hyperventilating and tears fill her eyes. We’re all basically frozen in fear at this point. It’s really hard to get a feeling for how fast time went, but not long after it started, it stops and starts with person on her left side doing the same. I don’t think I really understood at that time, that I was next in line. It ended with the person next to me, and I suddenly felt something touch my shoulders. It wasn’t completely like the physical touch of a human, but it definitely was something that put weight on my shoulders. I of course freeze and start hyperventilating at the shock of something unknown touching me. When this had gone halfway through the circle, it jumps straight at the granddaughter, who starts with the same hyperventilating and breaks down crying.”
***While playing with a Ouija board late at night, Redditor/u/frostfromfire asked for a simple sign so they could know they were actually communing with the spirit realm and not just absentmindedly moving the planchette around. That’s when their local flood alarm sounded three times, even though there was no rain that night.
***Redditor/u/TwistedMissy tells a Ouija story about their grandmother, who decided to pass some time with her lady friends and husband one spooky eve. After reaching a spirit and asking the basics, they cut to the chase and asked how the ghost passed. The ghost said it would tell them, but not until the “boy” left the room. After the grandpa left, the spirit began to relay the story of its demise, but when the grandpa returned to fetch his wallet, the spirit cut its chilling tale short.
***While playing with a Ouija board with his cousin Donny in a camper outside of his house, Redditor/u/Roblicki kept receiving the same message again and again. The letters “H” and “A” followed by “You are trapped.” When the two cousins decided to leave the camper, they discovered that the door handle had broken off – they were trapped. Eventually they got out of their prison, but that was the last time either of them messed with a Ouija board.
***On New Year’s Eve 1991, while drinking like only teenagers can, Redditor/u/eatmycupcake and their siblings contacted a spirit named Eugene: [We asked “Why are you contacting us, Eugene?” We received the answer “Afraid.” That seemed a bit more serious. We asked “Why are you afraid, Eugene?” It replied “Music. Music.” over and over. Nonsense. Then we got a series of numbers. Puzzling. My brother had the bright idea to turn on the radio to [the] station indicated by the numbers. To our surprise, there really was a station there. The song “Don’t Leave Me Stranded” by Heart was playing. The board immediately started saying “Heart. Heart. Heart.” I thought my brother was just playing off of what he was hearing and was screwing with me. Then it started saying “Don’t go. Don’t leave me. Don’t go. Church. Church. Afraid. Don’t go.” over and over and over. We assured it we weren’t going to go, but it dwindled into nonsense after a while. It was getting really late (early?) and we decided to go to bed.] The next afternoon, while everyone was eating breakfast, the family’s father received a phone call letting him know that his uncle, Eugene, had had a heart attack the previous night and died multiple times on the table, only to be revived very early that morning. He had been terrified of losing his life because he hadn’t attended church in decades.
***It’s a well-known fact that the Queen Mary, a historic cruise ship permanently docked in Long Beach, California, is one of the most haunted sites on the planet. So it makes perfect sense that someone would have a very scary Ouija experience on board the ship – even if they made their board out of two pieces of paper and some Band-Aids. When Redditor /u/gardn198 and some friends decided to experiment on the ship, they spoke with a spirit who said that its name was Zack, and who may have tried to physically assault the team after they went to bed that night. Each member of the crew suffered night terrors, with one of them running through the “Our Father” prayer in a state of lucid dreaming.
***Redditor /u/Wuwuhu tells a couple of stories about their strange Ouija board that predicted major events in the lives of those who used it, but the most interesting thing they mention is how the board consistently had 35 cents in its box. One of their friends ended up taking the change “for luck,” and kept it on them at all times. Months later, the change was able to help them make pay phone call that got them out of a sticky situation.
***When Redditor /u/Wuwuhu decided to use her Ouija board in the wilderness one afternoon, she and her family spoke to a spirit who may have been reaching out for help. After meeting something calling itself Patrick, the family had a good time joking around with the ghost until it told them that he’d been brutally assaulted and slain near where they were hanging out. After the family shut the conversation down, they returned home and checked up on the story, which had been reported in the local news.
***After having some success speaking with spirits via a Ouija board in college, Redditor /u/Donnienarco89 claims to have accidentally “attached” themselves to two ghosts who followed them home after graduating school. The spookier of the beings was an old man who wore a hat and smoked a pipe while sitting next to the Redditor as they slept and shouted at them to “WAKE UP!” The haunting became so bad that the Redditor and their mother had to cleanse their house.
***If you’re using a Ouija board and the spirit gets tired of you and wishes you a good day, don’t get offended – and definitely don’t keep pestering the entity, because things won’t go well. While playing with a Ouija board in their teens, one former Redditor and their friends continually pestered a spirit after it told them “Good Bye” multiple times. Finally, the spirit got so tired of these meddling kids that it called them on the phone, spoke to one of their dads, and said, “Don’t f*ck with me.”
***Take some advice from Redditor /u/bluejake42, who accidentally invited a demon named Caus into his dreams, and leave well enough alone when you’re using a Ouija board. The writer says that while they don’t necessarily believe in spirits, the conversations they had with this entity on an abandoned basketball court have made them believe that something is out there: [He said he was blonde, blue eyed, and burned. All of which I thought was a weird description and when I asked what he meant by burned he said “F-I-R-E.” Fire. I asked, “Did you die in a fire?” There was some hesitation. I thought I hit the wrong nerve or something with this spirit. It was a long pause… then, “YES.” I asked what year and it said “1-8-1-6” 1816. Okay, so at this point I just start talking to Caus like an old chum or something. I begin to ask about his family life and things like that. While I didn’t believe it, I still had fun. I asked him if he could visit me because I thought he was “an alright guy.” Caus said, “D-R-E-A-M-S” Dreams. I said, “sure, visit me in my dreams. That’d be alright.”] Spoiler alert: Caus did indeed come visit the Redditor in their dreams, and it wasn’t pretty. After speaking to the creature and inviting it out of the board, no one else was able to contact anything, so it’s possible that the demon took over the Ouija board and is still waiting for the Redditor to return to their game.
***When Redditor /u/DorianGray98 and their cousin, who live together, decided to dig up an antique Ouija board and play around with the spirit world, they may have gotten more than they bargained for. After goofing around with a spirit, they put the board away without dismissing the spirit, thus inviting it to creep them out constantly, even when they were going to the bathroom. They destroyed the planchette, burned the board, and buried it – but then the board reappeared on their doorstep.
***While using a Ouija board with some friends to communicate with a spirit from beyond the grave, Redditor /u/n8sobes1216 chatted with a young woman named Bridget, who claimed to have perished in a car accident. When the friends grilled her about the facts of her passing (make and model of the car, the year of the event, etc.) the spirit freely gave up her answers until the game ended. The Redditor says they looked up Bridget’s info online and discovered that it was true, and ever since then, they’ve felt like something is following them.
***Maybe Redditor /u/slackerish’s first mistake was getting cross-faded before invoking a demon through a Ouija board. Or maybe it was not shutting down the conversation when they discovered they were talking to a demon.
Either way, they kept chatting with this alleged demon until it said that it wanted to hurt everyone using the board, which is never a good sign. When the players went home, they discovered all of their furniture moved around and all of the cabinets open. Whether this was simply a prank or the work of a demon is yet to be seen.
***If you’ve seen any horror movie with a Ouija board, you know that the last thing you want to do is burn a spirit board. We don’t know the exact science behind it, but something about setting one of these things on fire angers all of the ghosts and then you have to figure out how to get them out of your house. Redditor /u/0rphantear decided to get spooky with his friends one day and printed out a Ouija board from the internet (ugh, the internet), and after they failed to get anything going with the ghost, they burned the board in the fireplace. But then everything got creepy. A set of downstairs doors opened randomly, and they heard continual banging from downstairs. The creepiest part of the entire story is that one piece of the board survived: the word “Yes.”
BREAK=====
When Weird Darkness returns… of all the stories of Ouija boards, the ones of a demonic entity coming through are the most terrifying. But something unbelievably horrifying is taking shape when you start comparing the stories – a pattern begins to emerge, a pattern where one particular demon surfaces to terrorize, oppress, and even possess those who play with what they do not understand. It’s name is ZoZo – and don’t let the quirky name fool you. This dark, demonic entity is anxious to drag your soul to the depths of hell… up next.
STORY: ZOZO=====
Stories of the Ouija board demon Zozo have been circulating for just about as long as the Ouija game itself has been around. Who is Zozo? Depends on who you ask, but most people familiar with Zozo believe it to be either a demon, a Tulpa, a mischievous ghost trying to scare and impress the living, or just a product of the ideomotor effect. Regardless of Zozo’s true identity and origins, tales of harrowing encounters with it have become so widespread that they’ve inspired books and horror movies.
Of course, Ouija is a board game, and your chances of accidentally speed-dialing a bona fide evil spirit in the middle of your Halloween party are pretty low. Still, just in case, it can’t hurt to keep an eye out for signs that Zozo is haunting your Ouija board or spirit board. Read on to find out what to do if Zozo appears the next time you say HELLO.
Several people claim to have been possessed by Zozo, and the experiences they describe are absolutely nightmarish. Paranormal researcher Darren Evans recounted having a nervous breakdown when Zozo stalked and tormented his daughter until she had to be admitted to a hospital.
The Internet is also rife with spine-chilling tales of meeting Zozo and facing the aftermath of each encounter. According to one witness, Zozo first asked a series of questions about players’ families through a spirit board before mysteriously extinguishing a candle and going on to cause a streak of nasty luck for the witness and her friend.
Another witness, who also claimed to have contacted Zozo through a spirit board, allegedly spent some with a friend talking to a spirit named Zozo until her friend began experiencing strange symptoms that started with a headache and culminated with her inexplicable disappearance from the house in the middle of the night.
The first recorded account of a supernatural encounter with an entity calling itself “Zozo” dates back to far before Darren Evans’s reports. In the last published edition of Le Dictionnaire Infernal, the same book that contains the symbol that Evans claimed was a representation of Zozo’s name, the author documented a case of demonic possession that took place in the village of Teilly in 1816. The case concerned a girl who claimed to be possessed by three demons. Their names were Mimi, Crapoulet… and Zozo.
According to another theory, Zozo is another name for the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu. If Zozo really is a nickname for Pazuzu, this creature has been terrorizing occultists and party game enthusiasts for at least 2,700 years.
Most descriptions of Zozo refer to it as a demon, but the truth is that nobody knows what it is. Zozo’s MO is to introduce itself to unwary spirit board users, interact with them through the board for a little while, and then slowly begin to spread its influence over their lives. Though a few connections exist between the name “Zozo” and the identity of a Mesopotamian demon, it’s not entirely clear if Zozo calls itself a demon or if reports of its malicious behavior have earned it a demonic reputation.
Zozo may not be just one entity, either – after all, if ghosts exist and we can truly speak to them, there’s nothing preventing them from using the name Zozo to scare us. In fact, there might not even be a Zozo – the trademark bizarre planchette movements and negative feelings associated with Zozo could easily be produced subconsciously by anyone familiar with the nasty rumors surrounding its name.
While not every Zozo story involves ongoing torment at the hands of a mysterious force, even temporary contact with Zozo can be an unsettling experience. People who claim to have encountered Zozo often describe experiencing sudden intense feelings of anger, fear, depression, or suicidal ideation while speaking with the entity through a spirit board.
Some victims even say they’ve experienced physical symptoms, including headaches, sleepwalking, and in one case, an infection. Inexplicable strings of bad luck have also been attributed to Zozo. To date, there are no confirmed instances of actual deaths caused by Zozo, but the incidents recounted by alleged victims are ghoulish enough to lose sleep over.
Almost every story of an encounter with Zozo involves a spirit board, but even if you don’t pick up the planchette, you might be unlucky enough to attract Zozo’s attention. Some have contacted it through pendulum dowsing, a system similar to a spirit board that uses a suspended weight instead of a planchette to indicate answers. Others have reported meeting Zozo through automatic writing sessions or hypnosis.
Researchers have also captured what they claim is EVP audio footage of Zozo. Darren Evans, the most well-known researcher of the Zozo phenomenon, has even taken what he believes to be a photograph of Zozo.
Most encounters with Zozo start off as deceptively benign conversations before they start to turn sinister. However, there are several signs that can tip you off in time for you to disengage before anything truly creepy happens. Here’s how you’ll know it’s time to put the game away:
• The planchette will move in a rainbow pattern from side to side, sometimes pointing to O and Z over and over.
• The planchette will move in repeated figure eight movements.
• The planchette will spell out any version of Zozo’s name (watch out for Zozo, Zoso, Zaza, or Mama in particular).
• You might see what look like shadows moving around the area where you’re playing.
• You and whoever you’re playing with will start to feel scared, uneasy, or upset.
If you suspect you might have made contact with Zozo, the best thing you can do is to stay calm. If Zozo really is a demonic spirit, your fear will just make it stick around. If you’re using a spirit board, close the session by moving the planchette to GOODBYE. This will formally end the game, and you won’t be able to make contact with Zozo anymore.
If you aren’t using a spirit board, end your game or session according to its official rules as quickly and calmly as you can. Even if Zozo is nothing more than a product of the ideomotor effect and an overactive imagination, just removing the source of your fear will help you escape the feeling of being haunted.
The easiest way to avoid forming an unwanted connection with Zozois to stop communicating with it for a while. If you use a spirit board, put it away for a while or use it somewhere besides the place where you believe you’ve run into Zozo. Cleansing your home (or anywhere in particular where you feel like Zozo is more likely to bother you) is also a pretty reliable way of staving off negative influences and regaining some peace of mind. If you’re a spiritual person, go ahead and give your place a cleanse with whatever tools work best for you, such as sage or holy water.
If you’re dealing with a run of bad health or cruddy luck, your best course of action is to take care of yourself – remember that what goes down will come up again. Don’t ignore your physical or mental health, whether it’s creepy spirits or garden-variety health problems that have you worried. And if you’re 100% convinced that what you’re facing is an actual demonic spirit, you can’t go wrong with a good ol’ exorcism.
Zozo goes by many other names—Zoso, Zaza, Zo, Oz, and even Mama or Abacus. Some sources also associate Zozo with Pazuzu, the Mesopotamian demon king of the southwest wind and the inspiration for the villainous spirit in The Exorcist.
Darren Evans, a paranormal researcher whose reports brought Zozo into the public eye, described encountering Zozo through a Ouija board with a symbol etched into it that could be read as the name “Zozo.” Curiously, this symbol is almost identical to the “Zoso” symbol used to represent Jimmy Page on the inner sleeve of the fourth Led Zeppelin album. While it’s not impossible that Page took graphic design advice from a demon, it’s more likely that he adapted the symbol from Le Dictionnaire Infernal, an encyclopedia of demons written in 1818.
However, this book lists the symbol as a protective sigil, not a demonic one. This means that Evans, a Zeppelin fan, probably took Zozo’s name from the symbol he saw in the album and gave it a demonic origin story—or Zozo just happens to be really into Zeppelin.
There’s no guarantee that any given spirit board session will bring you face to face with Zozo – but why leave it up to chance? Before you pick up the planchette, take a minute to set some ground rules for whoever – or whatever – you’re hoping to contact. If Zozo does indeed exist, it might think twice before trying to intimidate you if you’ve shown that you’re willing to take control of the encounter. Just dedicate a minute or two before your session to state firmly that you’re not interested in talking to anyone who wants to scare or control you, and that if they try, you’re going to tell them GOODBYE.
This might not sound like it would do much to deter a demon, but it definitely won’t hurt to introduce yourself as someone willing to fight back against any unruly spirits looking for someone to haunt.
SHOW CLOSE=====
Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do! You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren@weirddarkness.com – and you can find the show on Facebook and Twitter, including the show’s Weirdos Facebook Group on the CONTACT/SOCIAL page at WeirdDarkness.com. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, click on TELL YOUR STORY – or call the DARKLINE toll free at 1-877-277-5944. That’s 1-877-277-5944.
All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true (unless stated otherwise) and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes.
“Charlie Charlie” and “Ouija Boards” were written by Jacob Shelton for Graveyard Shift
“ZoZo the Ouija Board Demon” by Maggie Clendenin for Ranker
Again, you can find link to these stories in the show notes.
WeirdDarkness™ – is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions.
Now that we’re coming out of the dark, I’ll leave you with a little light… “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:7-9
And a final thought… “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
I’m Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.
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