For the people reading me for the first time, I'll tell you what my followers already know: This is a 100% true story.
Anytime you mention the supernatural, people get freaked out and / or choose to not believe. Well, call this a series of coincidences or something evil, but back during my college days, something strange happened that to this day, my roommate and others do not discuss. In fact, outside of The Mrs., I'm not sure if I've told anyone else this story...
We're in our dorm neighbors' room playing Super Nintendo. It's a little league baseball game that seems tailor-made for me. I'm playing my roommate and dropping the usual beat down on him. There are seven people in the room, not including me, and they're waiting their turn to play... at least so I thought.
All of a sudden, I hear, "Man, stop playing! Put that thing up!"
My "roomdog," Tim, and I turn around and we both get our first up close look at a Ouija board. For those who don't know, this board (a game to some, but a communication tool to others) is rumored to be a supernatural gateway. Stories say that you can use this board to communicate with the dead. I was always told that Ouija boards were used to worship Satan, so I was ready to bounce at this point. Tim gets up to leave and one of the board users motions for us to stop. "We've already activated the board and if you open the door, the spirit will escape," he whispers.
"Man, you all need to stop playing!" yells Robert, a 19-year old from Memphis.
"We're just going to ask a few questions, that's all," resumes one of the board users whose name was Jeff. "First question: Is this Dwayne?"
Jeff and the other user, whose name escapes me, place their hands over the board and the dice appear to magically move without them touching it. Dwayne was a guy who stayed on our floor. He was killed four days prior by a drunk driver. Dwayne was walking from the store with his girlfriend, Sharon, when a car swerved towards them. He pushed Sharon out of the way, but was struck instead. Jeff slept with Sharon two nights after that incident.
After asking the question, the dice rested on "Yes." Jeff looked visibly more afraid than any of us, but he continued on. "How old am I?
The dice moved to a "1" and then an "8" which is Jeff's correct age. Now, Tim and I are standing towards the door not knowing if this is legit or not. We think that maybe this is a hoax, but neither one of us was willing to be the person to let the spirit out of the open door. However, Tim gets bold and tells Jeff to ask the board a question. "Who has a crush on me right now?"
Jeff obliges and the board spells out "Theresa." Immediately Tim and I turn white as the rest of the room look at him for confirmation. There was a girl who stayed off campus named Theresa who had just given Tim her number less than a week ago. No one should have known that outside of me and Tim. And even if someone did find out, would they have spelled her name "Theresa" instead of the traditional "Teresa?"
Hoax or not, Tim and I are sold that this thing is real at this point. So, Robert decides he wants to ask a question as the room starts to fill with more uneasiness. "How many kids will I have before I graduate?"
The board reveals "3."
"Before I graduate? Man, whatever!" Robert says as he dismisses the board.
"Y'all shut and let me finish before we put the spirit back!" Jeff exclaims. "Dwayne, are you upset with me over Sharon?"
This is where this story gets the creepiest. Out of nowhere and I absolutely mean nowhere, a clap of thunder shook the entire campus without a rain cloud in the sky. Jeff kicks the board as he's startled by the impact. The next thing I know, Tim and I have five other people crowding the door next to us. What just happened?
Jeff has had enough. After 15 more minutes and the temperature in the room increasing (Jeff's A/C wasn't working at the time), Jeff is still trying to coerce the spirit to leave the board. "If the spirit is from Hell, then it doesn't want to leave the board," he informed us. "As long as the spirit is on the board, it avoids Hell's flames. Besides, you can't be sure if the spirit is who they say they are because evil spirits will mimic someone you know just to get out of Hell temporarily."
Now, to a room full of teen agers, this is the absolute most scariest thing we've ever heard. We were willing to starve to death in that room before opening the door and forever releasing the spirit. After a couple of more minutes, Jeff said, "he's gone."
We almost took the door off of the hinges. I was covered in sweat, but I wasn't sure if it was from the heat or the fear I felt that I was in the room with something wicked. Something beyond explanation that knew more about us than we could have imagined.
That night, Jeff told Sharon that he never wanted to see her again. Tim never called Theresa for a first date. The next day, Robert, Tim, and I were standing in line at the cafeteria when we overheard someone ask, "Man, did you see that huge bolt of lighting near the stadium yesterday?"
The guy replied, "Yeah, it was weird because it wasn't raining or anything."
Robert, Tim, and I didn't even look at one another out of fear of acknowledgement. We didn't want to discuss what happened the day before. Since we couldn't disprove everything that was revealed, we just chose to ignore it as if it didn't really happen. Well, we couldn't disprove everything except Robert's question.
And I know you think that I forgot, but I was saving it for last: Robert's girlfriend (and eventual wife) gave birth to twins three months before he graduated in '93. That was no big deal to me until four years later at Homecoming, I ran into him and he told me that he found out that he had a six year old son (born 1991) that he knew nothing about until after returning to Memphis after school.
It had never even dawned on Robert what that meant until he saw the look on my face. It was as if I'd seen a ghost...
And for the record, here's where I got the title of this post. It's a funny video from some reality show: