The Devil's Board

0:00 Hi there. I'm K-Town, and on this edition of Mysterious Radio [mysterious music] . Well, I, I will tell you that I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, so I consider myself a Tennessee girl. Uh, but, you know, born and bred in the South. Uh, I've lived in Mississippi for many years.

0:40 Lots of writers come out of Mississippi always say it's because it's so rural, and there's not just a whole lot to do, so you kind of sit around, and it feeds your creative pursuits. You know, you have plenty of time, um, to dream. And, uh, but as a young child, um, I've always had just this fascination with the supernatural, the unexplained, and I tell people, you know, w- there... People are not born believing in the paranormal. Um, it's usually something that has happened to you during your lifetime that has caused you to be curious about it. But as a young child, my first paranormal experience happened when I was around eight years old. It was an encounter with a, a ghost, um, at the Lindenwood Mansion, which is in the book The Haunting of Natalie Bradford.

1:31 That was my first debut book. Sorry, I'm a little tongue-tied this morning. Um, but, um, that was my first book, and, um, that was my first encounter with the paranormal. And then the love of reading and writing began at, you know, this, at an early age, and I would be in the library, and, and I just would be checking out as many books as I was allowed to take home with me. And my, you know, the fascination that I had with ghosts and the unexplained and things just kind of over the years spawned, uh, into, um, L. Sydney Fisher as the writer, and that's kind of where it all began.

2:11 And, and today all of my stories are based on, many of them based on real-life experiences. Um, always an element of truth in everything that I write. Sometimes I spend two years, up to two or three years researching certain book projects such as the Phoenix series that I did. Um, so that's kind of where it, you know, how it all began. And ever since I have, uh, b- like I said, been able to go to the library and, and check out books. You know, for some, so for some reason I will say that, um, I have been interested in, um, psychic research or psychic development and that type of thing.

2:53 So I've, I've spent a lifetime, uh, researching this type stuff, and even as... From about the time I was 14 or 15 years old, I started recognizing certain, uh, clairvoyant abilities in myself, but I didn't know what it was. You know, I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't really know why it was happening to me. And so as I, you know, grew up and became older and that kind of thing, now as an adult I'm fully aware, um, of these abilities and, and how to use them and that type of thing, but as a teenager I, I wasn't.

3:34 So it's, it's just been this lifelong a- adventure. And so when I came across this book by Major Edward Dames, you know, years ago, um, I was just so i- interested, just absolutely enthralled with this particular program that the military was running. I was going, "Oh my gosh. You know, this just kind of validates everything that I have been thinking." I mean, you know, it's, it, it... Everything that I have been reading and studying all these years, and to find that our military was involved in a program like this, I don't know, it just kind of seemed to... It's, it's funny strange.

4:14 It almo- it's almost as if it made me feel better [laughs] about asking all of these questions for all of the... I didn't feel so alone. I felt, like, validated. This is real. This is really real. So it was one of those defining moments in my life. Now, Sydney, before we get into this book, I wanna give you a moment to tell us about a recent visit to a bed and breakfast and what happened to you there. Okay. Well, what I have been doing over this past weekend, well, I actually started this research, um, around the f- the first of the month in January. Um, I am working on volume three of my Haunted series that comes out in the fall. Um, that book should be released by September the 1st, and, um, the first two volumes are available on Amazon right now.

5:00 It's the Haunted series, volume one and two. But volume three, uh, is a project that I'm working on, and I am investigating, uh, a Mississippi city, uh, along with another county, some, some parts of another county, but haunted locations. And, um, it's, this particular area is extremely rich in history that, you know, dates back 200 years. But many, there are many, there's over 100, excuse me, there's over 100 antebellum homes that still exist in this particular location. So there's just a lot of opportunity there to go in if you love history like I do.

5:43 Um, you know, I can't wait to go and explore a place. But we stayed overnight in a haunted bed and breakfast this past weekend. It absolutely exceeded my expectations. It was the most incredible thing ever. Um, I was relieved that there was not any, uh, it wasn't ki- it wasn't like The Devil's Board, where I was dealing with the book that I wrote called The Devil's Board. It, you know, we weren't dealing with any negative entities, um, or, or spirits that, you know, just were mad about Their lot in life and, and they were gonna get even with anybody. We didn't deal with anything like that. But what we did, uh, contact and see was many, many- the, the spirits of children, um, that were still in the home, and they communicated with us through our spirit box.

6:36 We also contacted, um, I can... You know, if, if Lonnie Lincoln could hear me, the ghost of Lonnie Lincoln, I absolutely owe it to Lonnie Lincoln to say thank you so much for an incredible weekend, um, you know, at the Lincoln home. Um, he was very, very prevalent. Um, it, it was- Well, there were two clairvoyants, myself and another, uh, lady that I took with me who has done paranormal investigations for about 30 years. Um, they've done many, many investigations. She is a very gifted clairvoyant. She and I are actually able to, um, see, um, you know, ghostly spirits and be able to describe them.

7:22 Um, so we work very well together, and we try not to ever, you know... We, we don't give each other information beforehand, so we just kinda go into places, and then we, we share our notes afterwards. But we don't- We go into places not wanting to know too much because that, you know, it's a way of validating, um, your abilities. But, um, Mr. Lincoln was, um... You know, we, we loved it. He opened the, the cabinet doors for us while we were eating breakfast. That was so cool. Oh, wow. Um, he smoked a ciga- cigar for us. He kept that going down in what used to be his, um, his office, and we didn't even know that it was his office.

8:03 It was downstairs in this basement area that is, uh, has been redone with the brick floors and the brick walls and things. It was the most quaint, wonderful place. I mean, it is like a writer's haven, and I even made the comment. I said, "I'm telling you, if I could move in here, you guys would have to come look for a body later. I would never want to leave this. It's just so wonderful." And, um, but what was used downstairs, it was the carriage house. This home was built in 1833, so it's, it's pre-Civil War. Um, you can just imagine, and it still has the, the smokehouse there on the property. Um, the downstairs area, there was a part in it that they now use as a laundry room.

8:53 It was right outside our bedroom door, and that is now, uh... Well, it was a kitchen. It was an old kitchen where, you know, the servants and things would cook and that kind of thing. Even the staircase going up the stairs into the main house is the original staircase from 1833, and it has indentions and grooves in the middle of the step where footsteps have placed that, those indentions in the staircase. It is amazing. And so there was so- And we constantly were seeing movement, orbs, flashes of light passing, um, shadows. I mean, it was, it was, it was wild. Was it difficult to book a room there? Was it relatively easy?

9:43 There is no waiting list, and the interesting thing about it is this particular home, um, it is on the market for sale right now. Um, Mr. Carradine, that owns the home, he lives, uh, in a home that it's all been family. It's all been in the family for all these years, and he lives next door, and he operated this as a bed and breakfast up until about two years ago, and then he just kind of, you know, closed it off and just stopped, you know, for whatever reason. Maybe he just-- He, uh, I know what it was. I do remember his wife had fallen ill, and so, uh, he had stopped operating it as a bed and breakfast. But he did tell me when I started doing my research, and I contacted him because this is what's crazy.

10:30 Before, in October, I went on a little ghosts and legends tour- Mm-hmm... where they put you on this bus and they drive you around the city, you know, and you stop at different historic places. When the bus was driving up to this house, Lisa, the girl that was with me, that is the other clairvoyant, she and I both saw an apparition in the front window. And I said, "Oh, my gosh. I have to come back to this house. I've got to find out the owner's name and leave them a business card and tell them I need to include them on my research for volume three." And so when we got out and was talking to them, the, the most ki- the kindest people ever, just wonderful people, um, they said, "Absolutely," you know, "Come back."

11:17 And so fast-forward a few weeks, and here we were, and, and I got permission to stay, um, overnight in the downstairs and, um, and actually bring three or four other people with me that could witness all of this and, and be a part of what I wanted to, to do this, this weekend. So, um, but he did indicate to me that he would rent it out to anyone that wanted to, to stay overnight, so certainly. I mean, that's almost unheard of that you are getting so much activity on your first night and your first time staying there at the bed and breakfast, so that's very interesting there. You know what?

11:57 The thing is from the-- Well, I can tell you who's there. The, the house was originally built by the mayor, the first mayor of that city, of Columbus. Um, his name was, I can't even-- It's terrible. I don't remember his first name, but it is called the Lincoln Home for a reason, Mayor Lincoln. His son, Lonnie Lincoln, though, is a prevalent spirit that is still in the home. Um, the mayor is still there. That-- I-I, uh, saw him immediately, uh, when I went to conduct an interview with the family before we actually booked the weekend to stay overnight. A lot of times I will go, you know, I may book a weekend to, to bring in a little team and stuff, but I go beforehand to do some research, preliminary research on my own when I'm working on book projects because that's the work part of it.

12:47 And then the staying overnight stuff can be just the fun stuff, you know, because it's-- you're so involved in your paranormal investigation that you're not gonna have out a notebook walking around, you know, writing notes and things. But, um, the mayor was there immediately and, and it's so funny, in the very front parlor is where the, the guys, you know, the, the men in town, this was a carriage house originally, and they would all get there and just kind of hang out and smoke cigars and talk shop. And I clearly could see him. I described him to a T and, um, I said, uh, you know, "Who is the man with the mustache wearing the black? He's got on a black jacket.

13:30 His trousers are black, but he wears them high on his waist, and he's kind of a little round there in the front, got a little pooch." And it was so funny, you know. Um, and so they go get a picture of him. And I said, "Oh, my goodness, there he is. He's here." Uh, in fact, while I was looking at some pictures and things with one of the other gentlemen there that was helping me out with some historic research, um, he was standing right beside me, leaned over, looking at the things that we were looking at. And I just, I just thought it was so funny. I, I thought, you know, he's so curious about who are you and what are you doing here and, you know. Um, but there's been at least six or seven people who have passed away in the home, and, and they've all been-- and, and they died of yellow fever, and there's been children who have died there.

14:20 But you're right, you know, you're, you're asking how can you go and, and you get all of this activity. Maybe it was our lucky day, but I'm telling you from the minute that we went into this place, and I already knew that this would be a great place to do this type of weekend because, you know, I had already visited there and we had already seen. And so I kind of knew using two clairvoyants, we, we can pick up on this stuff without equipment. Um, and sometimes it is dull because, you know, nobody will be around. I mean, they just, you know, you can't manipulate ghosts and just say, "Hey, we're here." Um, but in this particular location, it's a hotbed. It really is a hotbed, and it's-- and they're, and they're nice.

15:07 They're nice, and they're friendly. It was just phenomenal. Well, do you think that since homes are lived in by different families over and over throughout the years and during that time we're all infusing our own psychic energy into these places, that the majority of homes are more than likely to have some type of paranormal activity, but that level of activity is more prevalent in some places than others? Absolutely. Um, absolutely. And I think that, that it w- it depends, too, on the energy that was there, the people that lived there, uh, their feelings at the time that they lived there, their attachments to the place. I mean, the, the answer to that, you know, again, absolutely. Um, but it, it, it does depend on several different factors.

15:53 And a lot of times, I mean, look, a place like that that is this old from eighteen thirty-three, um, you know, it may have-- But now it was all family. Uh, uh, all these years from eighteen thirty-three fast-forward to now, it has been in one family. There has-- it's been members of the same generation, not generation, but family name that have lived and died in that one home. And they had a, um, a, a maid by the name of Molly. I have a picture of Molly. Um, I loved Molly. She's a little short African American lady, um, just a, a precious-looking sweet face and, um, they took a picture of-- They had her. I mean, she was, you know, she was family. She, she was considered family.

16:48 And she was with this family for years. But Molly's presence was prevalent to me in the, um, it was the covered back porch. It was the sunroom of the Lincoln home. And, um, and you could tell that she kind of made that place hers. You, you could really pick up on her energy. And she had a, a particular family member that was favorite, one of her favorites. She went everywhere with Gladys. Gladys and Molly were the best of friends. And Gladys taught Molly how to sew and how to do lots of different things, mainly the sewing.

17:28 It, it-- From what I was told, the sewing was the main thing with these women that lived there. They loved to sew. And, and even Mr. Carradine has, um, because it stayed in the family, he has some of the original, all of the original furniture that's in there, he says, in his house for sure, is, um, it's still been there since the very beginning when they, the family first moved into the home. His home is on the, uh, pilgrimage tour that they do in this particular city in April of every year. It's, like, listed as one of the best pilgrimages in the South, actually. But it, it's amazing. All right, very good.

18:09 All right, so let's get into the story about the devil's board and this true story that happened. Before we get started, though, Sydney, can you give us some history about the Ouija board itself? Well, the board itself was, and I, and I, I talk about this in the very beginning parts of, uh, The Devil's Board. It was, um, the board, the Ouija board was actually used to contact the world. It was developed for commercial distribution in 1891. It was named by Charles Kennard, which was the f- he was the founder of the Kennard Novelty Company. Um, and supposedly while Mr. Kennard was playing the game, a spirit spelled out the word Ouija. Um, it's, it supposedly is an ancient Egyptian word that means good luck.

18:55 But I will tell you that the Ouija board, or, you know, as it's called, as we call it today, this type of spiritualism or, or attempts to contact the dead has been going on for centuries. Uh, not necessarily, you know, from the point that Charles Kennard developed a game, a game board, and boy, did he make a mint off of it 'cause it still sells today. You know, spiritualism became very, very popular during the Victorian age and, you know, everybody was sitting around doing seances and, you know, so they were looking for ways to, to contact the dead and, you know, the Ouija board was perfect tool to do that. Nowadays, you know, I don't use a Ouija board at all. I have used a Ouija board before in the past. I have had some negative experiences with the Ouija board.

19:46 Um, it, it's not something that I recommend to people because you have no control over who that you're actually contacting. I mean, how do you know who those spirits are that are speaking through the board? It's just not a tool that I personally use. There are other people though that will tell you that that is all just a bunch of hogwash, that the Ouija board can be a, a very valuable tool in your spirit communication as long as you know what you're doing. So I mean, you know, but there again, that's the whole thing, if you know what you're doing. Um, and I got into this story, this book, the w- uh, The Devil's Board is a book based on an event that happened back in 1987, in the fall of 1987. I knew some of the characters in this story.

20:37 It is a fascinating story about, you know, it is creative nonfiction. It is inspired by true events. Probably 90% of it is word for word as it really happened. The, um, Rachel and Josie got themselves involved in, um, a Ouija board playing club that, um, ended up being detrimental to all of them. That community college is still standing today. When I was doing the research, I did go back, uh, and it, that whole story is just, that is the scariest thing ever. It really, really was. That was the scariest thing ever. All right.

21:20 So let me ask you this, and I think this, uh, is, this is something that is confusing for a lot of people, but does the board itself hold any power? You know, and, and that would be my personal opinion because, um, my personal opinion is that when you buy a board, you know, you can go to your local retail store, a Walmart or a, a Target or wherever that sells Parker Brothers Ouija boards, and you buy and you get it, and you're think- you know. So if I'm, if someone says, "Sydney, do you think that my board that I just bought, uh, has energy attached to it?" No, uh, I don't think so because it is, um, you know, you have bought it.

22:06 It's gonna become your personal board, so whatever energy though that you're using, you personally are using to, and whatever spirits that you're summoning, then there it is. They will though become attached to that board, and I have always been taught and told that some spirits will attach themselves to those boards. A- again, I think it is based on who's using the board, who they're actually conjuring up or, or what spirits are speaking through that board for that to happen. So I think that can happen. I do think it can happen, where there is energy that can be attached to the board, but I don't think it comes from the box when you get it at Target.

22:46 Now, Sydney, uh, go and tell us who are the main characters in your book. Um, the main characters are Josie and Rachel, and, um, those two are the main ones that are the main characters. There are, you know, of course the other characters. There's Spencer, Stephanie, uh, and Nate that also were involved in this. Okay. So this was an unusually large group of people. I know this wasn't all of them that you named, but do you know exactly how many there were total that participated in this group? Well, it started out with just, you know, three or four friends that were playing around with it. Um, and then it grew.

23:28 The group grew to 30 or 40 people that were meeting up over at, you know, uh, the theater department, and they would do this in the afternoons and things. And then some of them were doing it in their dorm rooms and things. So it became a, a big, you know, a campus-wide thing among around 30 or 40 people for sure. Okay. So whose idea was it to get the board? Well, you know, it always starts as fun. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be an innocent game plan thing. It's just a cool thing to do. And you know, Josie is the one that brought the, the, the board on campus. Uh, Amber Simmons and Stephanie, the other two girls that lived there in the dorm, uh, with Rachel and Josie, they became though so engrossed in the board and, um, it went from something that was just an occasional fun thing, of course Rachel was against it all along, you know, she was spooked by it, um, to where it was, it, it become, it b- got very much out of hand.

24:26 And, and that's where the story comes in about what happened there. Okay. So were they reporting unusual experiences right away after using the board, or was that later on? They started to have unusual experiences with the board. They all started to, uh, suffer from paranoia. Um, they started having, uh, paranormal, uh, events happen in their dorm rooms. Um, some of them felt like that they were being haunted by the entity that, uh, was making itself known. They actually contacted one spirit who came through most prevalently through the board and, um, I changed the name of the spirit in the book, but, uh, the spirit came through.

25:12 His name was Ron Banks in, in the story, and he claimed to be, uh, someone who had lived on campus, uh, at one time. He, he s- told these people that he was twenty-one-years old when he died, and that he shot and killed himself, um, because people were mean to him there, and that he had just had this negative experience. And it was really terrible because this particular spirit at first came across a- as, you know, benign. Um, he made them feel sorry for him, and then usually that's the way it always starts. But he made them feel sorry for him. They felt really bad. He had told them that he was a baseball player there, uh, during his time on campus as a student, and so they wanted to talk to him.

26:01 I mean, literally, Amber Simmons, though, became so involved in communicating with this spirit that she began to feel a friendship with a spirit that she had no way of really verifying, um, if he was real or not. But these are the things that the spirit was telling her. And so she would actually even, even though she was told, "You know, you should always play with two people. Don't play alone," she would hide the board in her room. She would play by herself. Oh my. She would play by herself and, uh, you know, it was, it was- became very wicked, um, the way that she, her personality started to change. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, she, sh- literally she was completely consumed with this board and the spirit communication, and it, it ju- it became an addiction, and she could not get away from it. She would skip class to go sit and, and talk on this board.

27:04 She would do this at the end of the hall. But here's the, here's where it got really, you know, bad, is because the spirit started to tell her... He became, he became mean, um, at certain points, and he started, you know, trying to control her. By telling her what exactly? Well, tell her, "You know, you come back here and, and you talk to me at this time," or, you know, "Don't, don't let Stephanie in on the conversation," or, or some su- He wanted control. This is the way demons and evil spirits will take control. They, they, they want... They find someone vulnerable, and they get that person to do their bild- bidding. Um, you know, they plant ideas into your head, and he was sucking her into that, and she was, um, you know...

27:50 And Rachel was trying to tell her the whole time, you know, "You really need to be, y- throw that damn board away. You know, don't, don't be doing this anymore." But she absolutely would not, and she, uh, just continued to play this board, and it started to alien- it started causing trouble, fights, um, you know, verbal fights between friends. Uh, that's the first part of it, you know. It, it's something that's wedging its way between, in a relationship that's causing people to have arguments and things. Uh, nobody was able to really verify who the spirit was, and they were all trying to tell them this. Nate had an, uh, uh, an episode over at the theater, uh, performing arts building at one point, and literally w- we- they thought he was choking to death. I mean, he passed out on the floor. It was, it was not good.

28:42 It just was not good. Well, I tell you what, it sounds like textbook examples of what a demonic entity would do in order to separate one person with the eventual goal of possession. I don't know what you think about that, but [laughs] that's what it sounds like to me. She didn't care. I mean, she absolutely did not care. Um, a- and she was a vulnerable-type person. But, you know, Spencer went through the same thing. Spencer was, uh, he was an atheist. He, um, he, he made jokes about the entire thing. He was the gu- I'll, you know, I'll never forget these people because I, I can see their faces. I knew some of these people that are in the book, the characters, and Spencer was a good guy.

29:25 It, you know, he just didn't believe in this stuff. You know, he was, uh, that was his way of thinking and things. Um, but he, he unfortunately, [laughs] unfortunately Spencer became a believer because he found himself, uh, being attacked, and, um, it was very unfortunate. Uh, he actually ended up leaving campus and not coming back. Um, something terrible happened to him, and, um, don't wanna give away too much because of the book, but I, I will tell you that, you know, like you said, these, these negative entities will attach to whoever they think that is, for one thing, is gonna be easy.

30:07 You know, I don't see them necessarily as being a- a- you know, anybody that's gonna work real hard on s- to get at somebody. I mean, they will. Sometimes they'll torment you for years. But people who are naturally are vulnerable or whatever, th- that's who they target it seems to be, and, and he ended up being a target. Nate was the opposite of Spencer, and they were all friends. Nate came from, um, you know, a family that was a very devout Christian or You know, had religious upbringing. He, he had that type of background. He wasn't necessarily... They were all targeted, and you'll see this. You will see what happened even to Rachel and Josie, and one reason that Rachel was so adamant about removing the board from the dorm, I mean, she didn't even want it in the...

30:56 She made Josie take it out of the room, but it ended up in Amber's room, and Amber then took over and played it all the time. Sh- first she started out with she and Stephanie, and then th- she just did this on her own. She, she didn't even need anybody else there. She would light her little candle, sit down on the floor Indian style with her legs crossed, put the board on top of her legs and, you know, it would, there would not be that very much light in the room, but she would just talk and talk and talk and to this Ron Banks. But you will see in the story where Rachel and Josie's room, you know, there's [laughs] there is all types of paranormal activity that starts to happen, and Rachel felt like she knew that this would, would happen because, you know, you're conjuring up a spirit, and it could g- it could stay.

31:47 It could get attached to you. But I will tell you, there, there's more to that story actually that even, you know, during the research, it, it was, it was fascinating some other things that I found out after the fact. Okay, so did anybody try to alert college officials about what was going on with this group of students that were playing with this Ouija board and h- you know, experiencing all this paranormal activity on campus? They did. They did, and you'll see this in the book, uh, at one point, um, in real life and real story. Um, the, the Officer Bobby is his name in the story. Uh, names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved, but he had warned these, these kids, I call them kids, these students, he had warned these students, uh, several times, you know, "You guys quit playing with that stuff.

32:37 It's nothing but trouble." And they were going over to the performing arts, and you'll see a, you'll see something that happened. You'll read about something that happened in the book where they all met over there, 30 or 40 of them met there. And, um, it, it, you know, they were summoning. They were summoning these spirits. Rachel was involved. People were getting sick, literally, and they had already... Somebody had told, you know, the, the local security, the local campus security, this one particular individual officer had told them, you know, "You all need to go and, and spread out. No more meeting together here at, you know, performing arts. No more... None of this. You know, quit doing that."

33:20 And it got to a point to where actually this, this part is not included the book, but I will tell you this. Over the course of the months that they were all involved in this, you know, occasionally someone would go that was kind of friends with Officer Bobby, and I do know that Josie was friends with him. He was just a great guy. He was just an officer that was friends with all the students and, and stuff, so they would talk, you know, uh, and, and tell things and stuff. And he was constantly discouraging these, these students from participating in this. He was very firm i- in what he told them to not be involved in it. Now, as far as it reaching administration, you know, other areas, that I'm not ever aware that that ever happened until the final thing, and I can't tell you 'cause that'd be, it would be a spoiler in the book.

34:08 Until the final scene in the book, of course, then it became very well known all over campus and in administration that this had been going on all along and that Amber Simmons had this in her room in this particular dorm, and here you are. This is the climax of months of, of fooling with this stuff. Well, even today, I mean, we have the ability to research things and, and, uh, find out how dangerous is it to use a Ouija board. It still doesn't deter some people, so I don't get it. Um, can you tell us something about this case that was frightening and shocking to you? What was disturbing, really disturbing to me is that while I was doing research on this, I w- I had no idea, um, I was talking to, uh, an individual on Messenger, on Facebook Messenger, who had, uh, was, you know, asking me some questions about my books and, and the things that I do and that kind of thing.

35:08 And, and I told them I was, you know, me- messaging back and telling them that I was involved in the research on this that had happened in a community college campus, and he identified the community college that he attended and he said, "You know," he said, "I wonder if it's the same one." I said, "Well, I can't tell you exactly, um, but you know, uh, what happened to you?" You know, so I was kind of leading him to tell me, to talk. And so he began to talk and tell me about some strange experiences that he was having while he was a student on this particular community college campus where the Devil's Board happened. And I let him talk and, and he was messaging and, um, it was just absolutely insane because I could not believe what I was reading.

35:54 He was saying that during the time that he was in this particular dorm, he was experiencing strange phenomena, paranormal activity, horrible thoughts, horrible depression, so bad he said his personality went through some sort of change. And he said that it was so bad during the time that he was there that he actually visited the local Catholic church, the, the nun there, and she is a real person, the lady that was in the story. Um, the... I did change her name as well, but she's been visited many times from, from kids, uh, or students from that campus.

36:36 But he told me that he visited, uh, the nun over at the church and had her pray with him because of some things that were happening to him, uh, while he was a student there. So he continued to talk and continued to talk, and I absolutely just could not believe what I was reading, and I'd never told him anything about which dorm it was, which college campus, nothing at all. So finally, uh, as we were talking and I was messaging, he messaged me and he said It was in blank dormitory, and it was up the stairs and to the left, the last door, uh, on the, on the left, or the door right before the last door on the left, and that particular room is where I stayed.

37:21 Well, I absolutely just had to stop what I was doing. I just absolutely could not believe what I was reading 'cause there was no way for him to have known that. Not only did he not know what research I was involved in, and the book was not published yet, but he was at that particular college four or five years after that incident even happened. So what, uh, you know, he was living, long story short, he was living in the same room that Amber Simmons was using the Ouija board in 1987. Oh my goodness. It sounds like something was let loose in that room. It is.

38:01 It is, it, she... That is exactly. And then I contacted another lady, uh, this was a male that told me this. Another lady contacted me and was talking to me and told me, th- and, and now the, the male that contacted me and the other lady, they don't know each other. They do not know each other at all, and they were on campus at different times. She told me a very similar story, and she told me that she had visited the nun and asked for prayers, and that she actually ended up taking, that was a group of five people, she said, and we were under some sort of spiritual attack, and we ended up all five of us going and asking for help.

38:41 And it j- I just couldn't beli- I just, it validated, you know, it was confirmation that every single thing that was what Amber Simmons was doing and what she was conjuring up, there it is, and it's still there. Now, even to this day, there are people who have told me now that the book has been published and it's out, there are people who have told me that even in different locations on the campus, that there is spiritual happenings there, that there are other types of thi- And they, they feel like it is because of the, of them playing the Ouija board. This has gone on at this campus. They even still do it to this day. And I, I'm, I don't know what it is, but it's, they love to play the Ouija board there, but, but it, it can be dangerous.

39:24 Knowing what you know now about the Ouija board through your research, what would you tell people that are thinking about using it? I, I can't say that I would tell them, uh, that I would encourage them to use it, but I would encourage them i- if, if they just absolutely think that they have to play, um, I would encourage them to always have someone with them when they play the Ouija board, and that if they feel at all that whatever it is that they have contacted is not, um, that they're not in control of the board. The main thing is, is that that particular person that is m- has their fingers on that planchette, you must be in control of that board. If you ever start to f- feel like that something else is taking over, say goodbye and be done with it, and put it away for a while. Because that's the way they get themselves in, and they take advantage of you.

40:15 That's the main thing. All right. That's some excellent advice. Cindy, why don't you take a moment now to tell my listeners where they can find more information about you and your books? Thank you. I have enjoyed so much just speaking with you all. If you want to find out more about the stories that I write, um, you can visit my website at lsydneyfisher.com, or you can find me on Amazon under L. Sydney Fisher, where you'll find a listing of all of those, uh, books that I've written inspired by true stories. [mysterious music] To find out more about our guest and all others, please visit our website at mysteriousradio.com. And I wanna give special thanks to our co-creator and executive producer, Kim Kyle, who brought this show to you today. And working hard behind the scenes, our team of four, I wanna thank them as well.

41:04 Follow us on social media and share the show with others that may like the subjects that we cover. I am your host, K-Town, and you're listening to Mysterious Radio. [mysterious music]