ouija board nearly trapped us for hours and i'm still not okay

okay so this is my first time posting something like this but i genuinely cannot keep this to myself anymore. back in 2007 my aunt lived in philly and i was visiting for winter break. first time flying ever so i was SO hyped, not gonna lie.

anyway i get there, meet my aunt and uncle, settle in. next day i'm bored out of my mind watching english tv so my cousin's like "hey there's a korean girl who lives nearby, she's around our age, wanna go hang?" and i was like sure whatever at least she'll speak korean.

so we get to her place and we're just chilling in her room when i see this old wooden board and i'm like what's that. and she goes "oh that's a ouija board." i knew what they were but i'd only ever seen the paper ones so i'm kinda surprised there's a wooden version?? anyway she tells me some lady gave it to her like 3 months ago and it's FIFTY YEARS OLD and made in germany. she wanted to try it but was too scared so it's just been sitting there.

and then she's like "wanna try it with me?" and i was like absolutely not but then i got curious and she was like "we'll do it together, just follow the rules, what's the worst that could happen?" LMAO. famous last words btw.

so we end up getting her brother and sister too, five of us total because three felt too scary (spoiler: five was still terrifying). she explained the rules real quick:

1. don't play for more than 15 mins

2. don't ask the spirit about the future

3. only end the game with the spirit's permission

4. if it says no, you HAVE to keep playing or something bad happens

5. if it says no, try to convince it

basically the way it works is you put your fingers on the pointer and ask a spirit questions and it moves to letters and yes/no to answer you.

so she asks "are you ready?" and there's like 2+ minutes of nothing and we're all like... okay this is bullshit. but then suddenly the pointer ZOOMS to yes. and i'm looking at my cousin and her sister and their faces are NOT normal. the sisters start asking questions in english and translate for me.

"what's your name?" all that stuff. we're like ten minutes in asking about this spirit and then we're like hey can we stop? and the pointer just FLIES to no. like a completely different speed than before. we're all getting nervous now.

we ask why won't you let us leave and it spells out "it's up to me." NOPE. at this point i remember hearing stories about people who quit ouija without permission dying in accidents or getting possessed and i'm literally shaking.

so the cousin's brother is like fuck this and just pulls his hands away and STANDS UP. and right then the window just SLAMS SHUT with this insane loud noise. i'm not making this up. it was like a horror movie moment.

the cousin's sister starts crying. everyone's freaking out. we calm her down and ask if she can leave and the spirit says yes. she just rips her hands away and runs out of the room sobbing.

then my cousin is like "i have plans elsewhere, can i go?" and it says yes so she leaves. now it's just me and the one cousin (whose house it is) left. we're asking please let us go and it keeps saying NO. NO. NO. NO. over and over. the sun's going down, it's getting dark, we're sitting in silence just staring at each other terrified.

she asks when will you let us leave and it's like "whenever i want. keep playing." we're CRYING at this point. all of us.

we tell it we HAVE to leave soon or we'll just walk away and it says "don't regret it." we're desperate now, we're like okay we're actually leaving now if you don't let us go and it finally says YES.

i pull my hands away and i'm sobbing for like the next hour. but my cousin is alone now and absolutely TERRIFIED so she has to keep going. she asks the spirit to let her go in 20 minutes and it says yes. she's crying but relieved, asks a few more questions, 20 mins pass.

she's like can i stop now and the spirit goes NO.

and that's where it cuts off in the post but like. bestie i am NOT okay. i cannot imagine being in that room alone with that thing saying no over and over. this happened over 15 YEARS AGO and i still get chills thinking about it.