Burning Down the House (1)

Hi. This is a true story about my girlfriend from high school. I witnessed part of these events and she told me about the rest.

Michelle, my twin sister and myself along with two other friends spent the night at Michelle's house. She had been telling us for weeks how she had a Ouija board and wanted my sister and I to experiment with her on it. I was very hesitant to do so because my sister and I have had some very psychic experiences and I didn't want anything weird to happen. I had heard all the stories about people getting possessed by the devil using the Ouija board and that frightened me. Well they talked me into it and we were just waiting for it to get dark out to set the mood for the whole adventure.

I think it is the appropriate time to tell you that Michelle did not buy this Ouija board. Her and her mother found this board in an upstairs closet when they moved into the house. The board was old and well worn. I don't know where it came from but it wasn't like the new kind you can buy at the toy store with the plastic dial with the see-through circle on it. It was very ornate and antique looking with a wood dial and glass opening in it. The closet that they found the board in was in a room that looked as though it was used for a child. There was wallpaper with little spaceships blasting into outerspace on it. Also there were some other discarded toys left in the closet in that room. They appeared to be toys for a little boy. The house was not old. In fact it had only one previous owner. The house was approximately 10 years old when they moved into it. It was a two story colonial painted yellow and white located in a nice neighborhood. Michelle was in an upstairs bedroom, but not the one that the Ouija board was found in. That was made into an office due to it's small size.

Well it got dark that night, as you could have well guessed and we turned out all the lights in her room and shut the door. Her mother knew we were going to do this, she didn't mind. We lit candles to set the mood and had a flashlight in the ready in case anything went wrong. My sister and I were using the board along with Michelle. I was so naive I didn't even know what to do. All the girls, including my sister, told me how to place my hands and how to concentrate my energy onto the board. So I did. And it wasn't long before we got a response to our questions. It was quite eerie the way this "spirit" knew things about ourselves that no one else should have. Then we started asking us to tell us what was in store for us in the future. We got all the usual responses about marriage, children, jobs and homes. But then suddenly the room grew really cold. It was summertime, and I know the air conditioner was on in the house but it dropped down really quickly. The dial started moving really quickly and was spelling something out over and over again. I got very scared and was going to take my hands away when the girls begged me not to. They thought it was exciting. My sister and I were getting nervous. The new "spirit", and I know it was a new one because of the change in the room and this strange feeling that came over me, was spelling out the words "GET OUT, FIRE, FIRE". This really spooked me and I broke the connection. Michelle was a little aggravated at me. She wanted to ask it more questions relating to these words. I just wanted to go home. I was beginning to feel very sick to my stomach and had a pounding headache. I don't know why but I had to get out of that house and go home. I called my mother to come and pick my sister and I up and we went home. The other girls stayed the whole night with Michelle. They said the next day that they had a ball and that we were chicken for not staying. I didn't mind the name calling because when I got home I started to feel better and was able to fall asleep. It was very late by the time we got home and got to bed and I didn't know if I would be able to sleep but I had to admit I was feeling very tired.

When Michelle called the next day she wanted us to come over and do it again the next night and I told her that I wasn't going to do it. I looked at my sister and told her what Michelle wanted and she got a very weird expression on her face but didn't answer me. I told Michelle that neither of us were going to come over. I hung up the phone and asked Kelly what was wrong and she said that when she was looking at me she had a vision of a flash of fire go across my face. That really unnerved me. I almost called Michelle to tell her not to use the board that night but I changed my mind because I thought she would think we were nuts.

A few days went by and we hadn't heard from Michelle so I tried to call her. But when I called her the operator said that the number was not in service. I tried one of her girlfriends that lives a few doors down and found out some horrifying news. Michelle's house had burned down the night before. No one was hurt but her and her family were staying at her grandmother's house. I got the number and called her there. The rest of the story is what she told me happened.

Her and her family were sleeping peacefully when her mother smelled smoke. She woke up and got her robe on so she could have a look around. When she opened her bedroom door she saw smoke pouring out of the small office. This room is situated directly across the hall from her room. She immediately turned and woke her husband up and rushed to Michelle's room that was situated at the end of the hall. Her room faced the stairwell so when they were all together they ran down the stairs and out the front door. They ran to the neighbor's house and called for the firemen. The firemen came but were unable to save the bulk of the house. They have since rebuilt on the same property.

They were to find out later what the cause of the fire was. This is the part I hate talking about. Because the cause of the fire was unknown. They never did find out what it was from. They did however find out where it started. You guessed it, in the closet where the Ouija board was found and always kept with the other games the family liked to play. The only problem was that the Ouija board was hardly even singed in the fire. The firemen found it among all the ashes in the worst part of the house. Michelle and her mother took the board to the garbage dump and left it there. They have never seen it since. Now that I look back on the situation Kelly and I were probably used to warn Michelle and her family about the fire. I wish we would have known then what was going to happen. I'm just glad no one got hurt.