Ouija board and a Portuguese message for an arriving friend
A caller, whose name and location are not stated, reports a Ouija-board session in a three- or four-room apartment with about fifteen to twenty people present. The board allegedly repeated a meaningless letter pattern until a friend who had learned some Portuguese entered. After that, the letters changed and were read as Portuguese-language messages. The caller says they never touched a Ouija board again. The host later offers the audience an explanation based on subconscious movement.
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The story as told
The caller, whose name and location are unstated, describes a Ouija-board session in a three- or four-room apartment with about fifteen to twenty people present. The board reportedly produced what the caller calls a six-, seven-, or eight-letter pattern. The caller says it meant nothing and was written down as letters were called out. The same pattern allegedly repeated five or six times. The caller says a friend then came in from another room. The caller describes the friend as extremely educated, a person who scored 1,500 on their SATs and had spent the previous summer in Brazil, where the friend picked up some Portuguese. The caller states that neither they nor a girl involved knew any Portuguese. As soon as the friend came through the door, the caller says, the pattern changed to a different set of letters and repeated until the friend wandered toward the person writing the letters. The caller says the earlier pattern was read as [quote withheld] and that as the friend reached the door, before the friend read the page or knew what was happening, it changed to [quote withheld] The caller says this was the last time they touched a Ouija board. Asked about booze, the caller says they have done that on occasion. Host Art Bell thanks the caller and later offers the audience a possible explanation based on subconscious, unconscious muscle movement.
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller describes a Ouija-board session producing the same six-, seven-, or eight-letter pattern.
- 0:13
The caller says about fifteen to twenty people were in the apartment, with people in other rooms.
- 0:24
The board allegedly repeated the pattern over and over while someone wrote the letters down.
- 0:28
A friend came in from another room.
- 0:36
The caller says the friend was extremely educated and had scored 1,500 on their SATs.
- 0:41
The caller says the friend had been in Brazil the previous summer and had picked up some Portuguese.
- 1:03
As soon as the friend entered, the pattern changed to a different set of letters and repeated.
- 1:29
The earlier message is read in the transcript as [quote withheld]
- 1:50
Before the friend read the page or knew what was happening, the message changed to [quote withheld]
- 1:37
The caller says this was the last time they touched a Ouija board.
- 2:09
Host Art Bell says he had a disagreeable Ouija-board experience he will not discuss.
Claims
Each claim is labeled as something the person telling the story noticed (observation), what they made of it (interpretation), something others told them (hearsay), or something the host said (host statement).
- observation· 0:04
The Ouija board repeatedly produced the same six-, seven-, or eight-letter pattern.
- observation· 0:24
The board kept repeating the pattern while a person wrote the letters down.
- observation· 0:13
About fifteen or twenty people were present in the apartment, with people in other rooms.
- observation· 0:36
A friend who entered from another room was described as extremely educated and as having scored 1,500 on their SATs.
- observation· 0:41
The same friend had spent the previous summer in Brazil and had picked up some Portuguese.
- observation· 1:03
As soon as the friend came through the door, the board’s pattern changed to a different set of letters.
- observation· 1:10
The new pattern was another five-, six-, seven-, or eight-letter sequence and repeated until the friend walked toward the person writing it down.
- observation· 1:29
The earlier repeated pattern was read as the message [quote withheld]
- observation· 1:50
Before the friend read the page or knew what was happening, the message changed to [quote withheld]
- interpretation· 1:37
The caller says this was the last time they touched a Ouija board.
- host statement· 2:37
Host Art Bell suggests the board’s movement could have come from the subconscious of the people holding it, but notes the foreign-language aspect.
- host statement· 2:09
Host Art Bell says he has had a disagreeable Ouija-board experience that he will not discuss.
Scores, with reasons
An AI model gave these scores using a fixed set of scoring rules (scoring-v1). They are editorial judgments and rough guides, not the odds that anything paranormal happened. How scoring works.
This is a clear firsthand story with some concrete details and a coherent sequence. It is weakened by the lack of names, place, and date, and by the lack of backing from anyone else on air. Ordinary Ouija-board mechanics could also easily explain the letter movement, though not all of the foreign-language element.
Evidence for and against
- The caller speaks as a firsthand participant: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The story includes specific details: a six-to-eight-letter pattern, five or six repetitions, about fifteen to twenty people, a three- or four-room apartment, an SAT score, and a friend’s Brazil trip.
- The story has a coherent order: repeated pattern, friend enters, pattern changes, earlier message is read, message changes again.
- No names, dates, or location are given, so the story cannot be checked.
- No second witness speaks on air to back up the board’s messages.
- The host immediately offers an explanation based on subconscious movement, which fits ordinary Ouija-board use.
- The automatic labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent, and one relevant line is marked low confidence.
- The opening is mid-story, and the beginning of the session is not fully described.
- The labels for some lines alternate between the caller and the host, so exact attribution is uncertain.
- The number of people actually using the board versus merely present is unstated.
- 0:04
- 0:36
- 1:29
- 2:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects coherence and specificity, minus the lack of checkable details and the easy ordinary explanation for board movement. It is an editorial judgment about what the caller says, not a probability that the events were paranormal.
The evidence is essentially what the caller says, plus claimed witnesses. Some specific details could in principle be checked if names or a location were known, but nothing was checked on air.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives some specifics that could in principle be checked: an apartment size, number of people, a SAT score, a summer in Brazil, and repeated letter lengths.
- Multiple witnesses are claimed: about fifteen to twenty people were said to be present, and specific people are mentioned as involved.
- No photograph, recording, written page, or other physical evidence is presented or examined.
- No other witness speaks on air.
- No names, exact place, or date allow independent checking.
- The exact role of the fifteen to twenty people (participants, observers, or merely present) is unstated.
- The transcript’s labels showing who is speaking are unreliable, so it is hard to know whether every quoted line comes from the caller.
- 0:13
- 1:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): This falls at 11 to 25 because specifics that could be checked and claimed witnesses are present but not backed up. It cannot exceed 50 without an outside check.
The story has an eerie, unsettling quality because the board allegedly produces responsive messages in a particular language. It lacks direct threats, violence, or sustained dread, so it sits in the mid-range rather than high horror.
Evidence for and against
- Something unseen appears to understand and respond in Portuguese, a language the caller says neither they nor the girl knew.
- The message changes just as the Portuguese-speaking friend enters, and again before the friend reads the page, implying awareness by the source.
- The caller’s statement that this was the last time they touched a Ouija board conveys lasting unease.
- There is no reported threat, injury, physical contact, or malevolent presence.
- The ending is conversational rather than ominous, with the host joking about booze and thanking the caller.
- The incident is confined to a board game and ends with the caller avoiding the board.
- The caller’s tone and delivery cannot be used as evidence, and the transcript does not fully convey how the experience was received at the time.
- It is unclear whether the board sessions were experienced as frightening or mainly as puzzling.
- 1:29
- 1:50
- 1:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness judgment is based on the story’s content: responsiveness in a foreign language and the caller’s decision never to use a Ouija board again.
This is a familiar Ouija-board setup with a distinctive language twist: the board allegedly responds in Portuguese and acknowledges being read. The core motif is not unique, but the specific sequence is unusual.
Evidence for and against
- The board allegedly spells in a language the caller says the active participants did not know.
- The message allegedly shifts to acknowledge a Portuguese-speaking friend’s arrival and reading.
- The phrase [quote withheld] and its change to [quote withheld] is an unusual detail.
- Ouija-board stories are a recurring motif in paranormal stories.
- The setting, a gathering in an apartment with a board, is familiar.
- The originality score compared with the rest of the archive may change once this story is compared with the full archive.
- Transcription uncertainty around the Portuguese phrases could affect how distinctive the motif is judged to be.
- 1:29
- 1:50
What the model inferred (not said on air): Provisional originality score assigned from content only. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not computed here.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.64 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story only; Claimed multiple witnesses or people present, but none speak on air; No physical evidence, recording, document, or photograph examined. The originality score blends the model's score (58) with how rare the story's details are across the archive. This method is still provisional.
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- Unconscious muscle movement by one or more participants produced the letter patterns. · The host states that people holding the board could move it to letters coming from their subconscious, and the transcript describes letters being called out and written down.
- Someone present, or the arriving friend’s later presence, could have influenced the board’s letters or supplied knowledge of Portuguese. · The caller says about fifteen to twenty people were in the apartment and people were in other rooms. A friend who arrived had picked up some Portuguese in Brazil.
- The apparent Portuguese phrase may reflect later interpretation, or transcription uncertainty around letter sequences that first made no sense. · The story is preserved in an automatic transcript with uncertain labels showing who is speaking and one low-confidence line.
What stands out
The alleged Ouija-board message appears in a language the caller says neither they nor the girl involved knew. It reportedly changes just as a friend who had learned some Portuguese enters, and again before that friend reads the page. The message itself acknowledges being read in Portuguese, which is an unusual detail.
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