WEBVTT - Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:14.080 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.680 My name is Robert lamp and I'm Julie Douglas. In 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.239 today's episode, we would like you to take you to 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.960 a slumber party. All right, So go back to your roots, 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.320 go back to your your childhood memories if you have them, 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.680 of a slumber party, you know, dressing your long pajamas, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.440 huddle around the floor and and start thinking long and 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:38.080 hard about the occult in the supernatural world and who 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.280 you are going to pick to put their hand in 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.080 a bowl of water when they fall asleep. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.600 that old trick. I have heard that one. Or there's 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.559 the putting the food cream in the hand or the 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.440 shaving cream in the hand, and then tickle the nose 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.120 and then and then want wont even cream on the head? 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:57.640 The the amusing thing. When we were talking about this 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.160 episode and getting things together for you have some legitimate 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.280 slumber party memories and some anecdotes about horsing grounds with 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:06.080 a lot of this stuff. But I don't think I 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.679 ever did any of this stuff. I can only think 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.360 of a like a few like a handful of slumber 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.560 party type things that I went to. And I don't 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.240 even think we call it. You call them slumber parties 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.520 necessarily if it's little boys, I feel like they were 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:23.399 just like sleepovers or something. And and I think we 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.960 just basically played a lot of video games. And I 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.480 remember once, uh, the kid whose house it was, he 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.880 was grounded because he ran through the house naked, and 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.319 like that was the extent of the excitement. All right, Well, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:37.560 I don't want to get off on a tangent already 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.280 before we've started the podcast, because obviously we're gonna cover 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.760 some of these slumber party hijinks of our youth and 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.959 talk about the science behind them of what seemed like 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.640 it could be possible or not possible. But I wanted 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.080 to point that out, the gender difference. I wonder if 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.680 the obsession with the occult has something to do with UM. Well, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.080 not I'm not saying all kids girls are witches the 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.360 inherent evil of of the male set exactly, That's what 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.600 I meant to say. But I wonder if that has 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.560 some sort of root in um interest in this, because 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:09.560 there was a sort of, if you look at it, 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:14.799 at least historically, a power in invocating things and looking 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.760 towards the dark arts well for power as opposed to 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.560 actually having a lot of power in your life, and 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.760 I'm thinking's sixteen hundred years. Yeah. Well, one thing that 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:24.839 definitely comes to mind is that a lot of these 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.920 games kind of remind us of ice breakers, and they 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.280 are they're they're forcing people to interact with each other. 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:35.800 It's more of a communal, open experience, and by and large, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.880 it seems like females are often more inclined to that 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.720 than the males when they're in their individual groups. For instance, 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.280 when I think of j Ju Saana, which is here 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.280 in Atlanta, this koree in Sanna that a lot of 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.639 people go to, and it's really cool, but they divide 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:53.679 you into into sexes for part of it. There's the 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.720 men sauna and the women sauna, and so I only 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.880 know what goes on in the men sana obviously, so 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.360 I'll my wife it's like, well, what's it like in 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:02.760 the in the women's son and it's like, well, there's 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:04.880 a lot of talking. There's a lot of women within 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:06.880 their own group talking without each other, and then you 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.600 may meet other women that are in the that side 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.600 of the sauna, whereas on the men's side, it's completely different. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.520 It's just like a bunch of naked dudes staring at 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:17.959 the at the tiles. You know, there's not really any 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.560 talking going on. And granted that's a little different than 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.600 a childhood slumber party. But but but I can see where. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.720 I mean, guys are just gonna they're not gonna be 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.799 as as open to say, doing light as a finger. 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.200 Stiff as a board. Well, I don't know. I think 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.400 that next time you go that you should bring Auji 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.480 board in with you to the sauna and see if 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.080 you can strike up some conversations. Yeah, yeah, maybe so, 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:45.240 maybe so. Yeah. Alright, so you have mentioned, uh, let 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.760 his feather stiff as board, which is something known as 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.040 party levitation. Yes, this was apparently made famous by the 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.680 film The Craft, which I think I saw, but I 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.600 only remember that actress Faruza Bach was in it and 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.040 she's all Gothian. You know that. That's my full experience 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.600 with that film. Well, here's a setup. Okay, you've got 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:09.160 your sleepover, and this is a a sleepover staple, by 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.440 the way, party levitation. So imagine four nine pound girls 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.240 who are all arranged around their friend and she's laying 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.039 on her back on the floor, okay, And they all 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.680 get just one finger, each finger from each chant under her. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.640 And then they are going to lift up this nine 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.040 pound girl just using their index fingers. So inevit believe 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.200 they try. They're like, all right, let's lift her using 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.039 our fingers. And nothing happens. Right, It's just a bunch 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:39.600 of people lifting up on their fingers, tickling the person 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.600 a little bit, and it's it's hilarious, but nothing happens. Yeah, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.560 and then someone says, hey, let's let's hearken back to 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:51.240 our Wiccan ancestors and and uh repeat a chant that 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.560 may give us the power, supernatural power, supernatural strength to 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.480 lift her. And so they chant four times, as though 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.080 they are now a coven of witches casting their spell. 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.119 And they chant light as a feather stiff as a board. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.320 Light is a feather stiff as a board, Light as 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.360 a feather stiff as a board. And on the fourth one, 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.960 miraculously they levitate their friend. Well, they don't quite levitate her, 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:20.800 but they lily in the proper environment, with the proper expectations, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.920 can certainly seem like an amazing levitation experience. And that's 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.640 the one of the key things to realize here. First 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.640 of all, visualized experience. Never we've touched on this before, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.800 but never discount the power of a little ritual and 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.000 a thing because it can It changes your perception about 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.480 what is happening, in your expectations about what will happen. Likewise, 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.640 concerted effort light is a finger stiff in the board 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:46.240 is kind of a on account of three type of deal. 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.039 On account of three, we're all going to do this 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.040 at once, as opposed to girls randomly moving their fingers 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.520 up and down and not picking someone up off the 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.040 off the floor. Yeah, you're right, you're synchronizing with that, 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.080 which is really important. We've talked about that too in 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.360 terms of a sort of ritual that you do as 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.560 a group, because you're also synchronizing the neurons that are 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.440 firing in your brain. Yeah, whether you're getting geared up 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.480 to run through a run, to walk across some hot coals, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.640 or you're in church singing hymn. Yeah. And Dr Carl 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.279 krislin Nikki of Australia's ABC Science has said that that's 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.720 really important, this this chanting, this ritualized portion of it 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.160 and sinking up. But not only that, as you say, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.279 the memory of it, because he's saying that if you 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.920 look at any clip on YouTube, you will see that 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.200 what is happening is that um, once they sink up 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.400 and once they do the chanting, that yes and d 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:38.599 they do lift their friend, but it's really only a 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.520 couple of inches. And the friends about the fall and 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.960 it's not quite the success that they think it is 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.760 in their minds when when they're talking about it in 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.680 the clips, they're like, whoa, we actually really lifted for 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.800 a very high. Yeah, but you're ten years old, you're 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:56.200 full of sugar, it's late at night. The perception is 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:57.680 gonna be a little different, right, And I have to 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.800 say to you that when I did it and sleepover 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.039 before that, when I take out that memory and I 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.320 examine it, I did think that, you know, I was 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.080 really lifting my friend very high. Were you yourself levitated 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:10.680 or were you one of the levitator? I was one 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:12.920 of the levitators because I really, like, you know, I 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.040 was obsessed with the occult at that age, by the way, 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.760 and not just the occult, like I would spend my 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.200 weekends trying to hypnotize myself and I had books on it, 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.240 and so these we were huge mysteries to me, and 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.080 I put a lot of effort into it. So if 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.280 someone was gonna be you know, levitated, I was going 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.200 to be in that group to help them with the power. 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:31.920 We'll see, and this is we'll discuss this a little 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:33.160 more in a minute, but I feel like I was. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.960 I was always fascinated with the occult as well, um, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:37.520 you know, and I would buy like I had a 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.440 copy of that the fake Necronomicon. I had a copy 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:43.600 of the the Satanic Bible. I mean, you know, in 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.560 anything like that. That was just kind of you know, who, 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.360 this is spooky and kind of you know, like I 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.640 would get into it. But then I was always reluctant 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.640 to cross a certain line. I was maybe not terrified, 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.160 but I was reluctant to cross that line where something 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.360 might actually happen. See, I would have gone like Willow 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:07.400 Evil Willow instantly. I was a big participant in that. Um. 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.360 I want to also mentioned that doctor chrisal Nikki talks 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.760 about the third and last factor being the strength in 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.000 our fingers and that we just underestimate them. Yeah, I 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.360 mean it looks like nothing. And certainly if you haven't 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.440 had the broken finger, you've seen someone who has and 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:26.840 you get that in your mind instantly. I mean, you're 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.679 there are so many opportunities to to damage your digits 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:31.920 in the course of the day, so you're you're very 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.920 conscious of that. But in reality, they're they're pretty rugged 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:36.560 and there they can hold a lot of strength. I mean, 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.920 there are examples of famous strong men who were able 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.040 to do some amazing feats with just a finger or two. Uh. 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.000 There was a Louis Sear, the old time French Canadian strongman, 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.880 who could allegedly lift five hundred and fifty three pounds 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.839 with a single finger. He'd uses his right middle, by 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.800 the way, and um. Then there was an American strongman 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.400 by the name of Warren Lincoln Travis and uh he 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.240 allegedly lifted five hundred sixty pounds on its fiftieth birthday 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.640 with a single finger. I'm not sure which one it was. 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.400 I love to imagine that both of them had magnificently 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.200 curled mustaches. Yes, when I was recently I started looking 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.680 through some of these pictures of these guys, and you know, 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:17.320 there's a lot of cool facial hair, a lot of 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.040 those old timey what do you call it, like a 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:26.760 wrestler wears single. It sounds right, sounds Occasionally old timey 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.719 nude photo would pop up every I think it was 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.360 maybe Louis here, the French Canadian guy. I was like, oh, 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.240 that's a little much Louie. Thanks Loe, But yeah, go 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.280 look some of those little guys up if you get 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.520 a chance. It's it's pretty amusing. But I think the 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.000 really cool things that are going on here is again memory, 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:46.680 which we've talked about it. We've talked about this. There's 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.320 reserve of strength in our bodies. Yes, that we can 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.840 you know, hit the potential sometimes and not even realize 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.559 and not realizing thinking we're more fragile than we are, 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.240 which is something we saw with with walking on hot coals. 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.240 We talked about you see the coals, you see fire, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.200 You think, no way am I gonna walk on that. 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.600 If I walk on that, I'm going to burn. But 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.760 as we discussed in that episode, if things are under 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.800 the right conditions, it's very doable. And this is something 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.120 that's very doable, and you've got the group psychology element 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.959 to it as well. Um. Another good staple of a 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.200 slumber party is of course the wegi board. Yes, with 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.800 one of the most mysterious spellings of of of all time. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:27.240 Of course, that is O, U, I J A. I 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:29.640 think there's only a handful of people on earth who 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.720 remember that in any given moment um. Anytime I search 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.199 for it, I'm like typing in all sorts of weird 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.079 combinations of letters. But this is, of course, a board 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.080 looks more or less like a like a board game board. Right. Uh, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.840 you unfolded and you have has a number of letters 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.840 spread out across it, and some numbers and a yes 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:55.120 and a no, and maybe and U. It actually was 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.640 a board game that came into vogue around ninety at 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.520 least in the United's dates. And it was a parlor 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.760 game and it was sold in novelty shops. Yeah, and 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.079 there are other models of it that existed before it 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.760 actually became the Luigi board. That goes back to mid 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.800 nineteenth century talking boards. The kind of use the same 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:19.240 principle those were using. Now to make this work, you 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:20.960 need a little device. It kind of looks like a 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.000 computer mouse. Uh. This is called a plane jet. It 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.000 is a three legged little object with a hole in 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.800 the middle or a pointer. Now on some of these older, 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:33.800 the older traditions who would also put a pencil there 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.319 and everyone would put their fingers or one person who 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.160 is in charge of the seance would put their fingers 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.520 on it, and then the spirit would guide the pencil 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:45.200 to draw out each individual letter. But the thing is 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.920 that takes forever, so the talking board comes apart because 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.120 someone eventually loses their cool in the seance. The like, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:52.880 just write some letters on a board. What are you 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.319 trying to say? Already? I know the time is limitless 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.280 in the spirit world, but we have places to be, 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.320 So just get some letters on a board and let's 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.079 roll with this thing. I'm getting charged by the minute. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.800 Most of everyone out there. Imagine a Sinawegi board and 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:06.720 this is what happens. You have a number of people 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.280 gather around this board. Everyone puts their fingers on the 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.120 plane schet and then you speak to the spirit world. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:18.760 You're like, oh, spirits of old, tell me what's the 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.880 name of my future boyfriend? That kind of thing. You know, 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.160 whatever your your questions are, you can ask the spirit 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.800 of anything. Every anything is fair game. And where is 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.120 my pony? Where is my pony? And then it will 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.280 begin to move. Nobody's touching it. Everyone's like, are you 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.120 touching it. No, I'm not. I mean everyone's touching it, 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.440 but no one's supposed to be moving it. And everyone 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.440 starts accusing everyone else. Are you moving at? No, I'm 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.360 not moving at Oh, my goodness is moving on its own. 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.640 Spirit is moving it. And then the the pointer will 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.200 move from one letter to another, or from a yes 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.120 two or to a yes or no, depending on what 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.160 kind of question you asked. And it really does when 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.760 you're at that age I think too, or even when 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:58.440 you're older, and perhaps there's other substances involved. Um, you 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:02.160 do really sort of feel like it is moving, and 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.720 so of course that's the parlor game trick to it all. Um, 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:09.480 what is actually going on is something called the idiometer effect. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.440 And these are small muscle movements that we generate unconsciously. Yeah. 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.199 The term was coined by William B. Carpenter in eighteen 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:22.920 fifty two, and he was explaining another pseudo of scientific 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.360 slash occultist thing, which is the movement of rods and 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.720 pendulums by dowsers, dowsing rods of which you used to 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.320 find water and the like. And so he looked at 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:33.880 this and he realized, all right, well, these people are 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.840 observing some sort of phenomenon. Uh, something's going on, but 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:41.080 it's not discovering where water is by using a stick. Well, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.160 there is a new scientists article called wig Board Help 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.360 Scientists Probe this subconscious And in it they are talking 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.559 to psychologists Helene Gushu and she says that this idiomotor 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:56.040 action is present in our day all the time, we 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:57.760 just don't realize it. Yes, it's just a part of 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.040 everyday life. But this is an experiment focuses in on 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.000 something that we don't usually look at and then applies 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.600 a level of ritual and expectation to it. Yeah, and 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.120 she says, like, take driving your car along a familiar 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.800 route that you do every morning, and then you arrive, 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.200 you park your car, and you have this feeling like 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.040 how did I get here? Have you ever done that? 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:20.960 And she says that this inner zombie is part of 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.600 this whole idiometer effect, that we're doing all of this subconsciously, 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.960 you're not even really realizing it. And so what she 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.160 did is she wanted to test this idea and she 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.280 had her team and work with one person with her 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.160 finger on a plan chet at a time. Okay, So 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:43.480 she realized though that the idiometer effect is really maximized 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.040 with Weiji board if you believe you are not responsible 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.200 for any movements. And this is brilliant what she does here. Yeah, 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:51.040 so she so what she does, she says, okay, well, 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:52.680 now this person needs to feel like they're in a 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.000 group situation or with another person. And so what she 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:57.960 did is she she told them they would be using 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.680 the board with a partner, and then the subject was 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.480 then blindfolded and then what they didn't know is that 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.520 they're so called partner removed their hands from the planchet 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.280 when the experiment began, so they think other people are 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.480 touching it, but they're not really, they're really going solo 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.120 with these answers yes. And she said the technique worked 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.640 at least was something like twenty one out of twenty 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.920 seven times with the volunteers tested. And she said the plant, 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.440 the planchett does not move randomly around the board and 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.000 moves to yes or no for these twenty one out 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:30.000 of seven, and it moves seems to move almost magically 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.440 to them, and none of them felt responsible for the movement, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.000 even though of course they were doing it. And in fact, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.840 some subjects suspected that their partner was really an actor 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.480 that they thought the actor was deliberately moving the planchet, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.040 and they never suspected that they themselves were the ones 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.760 that were doing it. It's also important to know that 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.320 in experiments, if you turn the board upside down after 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.520 the individual was blindfolded or the individuals are blindfolded, the 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:57.040 spirit will not adjust to the new positioning of the board, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.160 which seems really inflexible in case anyone who was out 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.720 there was like, was still on the fence about whether 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.160 or not this was a ghost talking. But the amazing 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.280 thing about all of this is that, and I think 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:11.120 it's the case with all the things that we're talking 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.440 about in this particular episode, is that on one level, 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:17.560 there's that childhood fantasy, occultist level of intrigue about it, 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.120 like something amazing is happening here. Well, then when you 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.240 look behind the scenes and you look at the actual science, 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.680 there's still something amazing happening here. At risk of overstating 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.320 it a little bit, you're not getting in touch with 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:33.840 an unknowable spirit from from beyond our perception. You're getting 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.600 in touch with the subconscious, which is kind of an 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:41.000 unknowable spirit from beyond our perception. To quote Sigmund Freud, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.680 the conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.040 in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:53.080 pool of subconsciousness from which it rises. So in that deep, black, 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.600 murky ocean of the the underbraining sea, with the luigiboard, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.920 we're kind of getting in touch with the monsters that 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.360 lived there. So what I want to know is is, uh, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.360 do you think psychologists will begin using the Wegi board 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.600 in their sessions? Oh, I don't know. It might have 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.159 a certain stigma to it. It might, but I do 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.240 think it's interesting because it is unearthing some things. And 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.359 I was thinking about my own experience as a child 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.480 with weg board, and I remember that we were talking 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:24.159 to a spirit named Seth through doesn't that sound like 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.399 you know Seth? And someone said what does Julie dream about? 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.240 And then it went to or it spelled out A 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.520 bombs which was something and that I used to dream 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.040 about this a nightmare that had a reoccurring nightmare about 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.480 Adam bombs. So you know, obviously I was moving it, 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.120 but I didn't know consciously that I was spelling out 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.000 A bombs that it really bothered me that much. That's 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:53.000 pretty cool. I I myself have I don't think I've 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.760 ever used to wegi board. Maybe in the week ahead 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.640 we will correct this and we'll videotape it and put 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.760 it on the web side. We'll see. But yeah, I 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.960 never used one. My mom had one and was apparently 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.879 a fan of the device, but then she went off 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:09.800 to college and when she came back, he was gone. 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.680 And and she attributed this. Uh, I mean maybe not seriously, 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:15.480 but she used just she would mention like, oh, I 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.360 think it advantished, And then later on she realized, oh wait, 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.439 my she's she's realized that my grandmother had gotten rid 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.000 of it. Because I don't think she relay liked it. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.000 You know, because because some people get up in arms 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.399 about the Luigi board, some people were a little leary. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.240 Some people see it is, if not harmless in and 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.760 of itself, they see it as a gateway to other 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:38.000 occultist things. And uh, and if you read a lot 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:39.760 of chick tracks, you may think that it is just 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.320 straight up talking to the devil. Yeah, but if you 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:43.920 want to take a little bit power out of that, 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.200 play the game, you know, and get an unbiased person 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.879 to stand there and actually see the letters that are 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.200 spelled up, because this is another thing that they say, Yeah, 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:53.600 go in, go into it if you want, I mean, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:55.359 by all means, going to it and have some fun 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.199 with Auigi board and talk about spirits and all, but 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.280 also go into it and think about the mysteries you're 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:06.280 about to examine with the human mind. Yeah. Yeah, blindfold yourselves, 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.560 get an unbiased person to stand there and to actually 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.280 see what the letters are. And I will tell you 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.639 that most times gobbledygook is going to come out of that. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.520 And it's a good example of how really it is 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.080 the unconscious mind that's guiding this process. All Right, we're 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:22.720 gonna take a quick break and when we come back, 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.160 we're gonna talk to somebody by the name of Bloody 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:33.920 and Mary. Alright, we're back, and you mentioned Bloody Mary. Yes, 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.280 now this one I definitely remember. The rules of this 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.480 are pretty simple. You can do this on your own 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.639 or certainly at a slumber party. The ideas you go 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:45.840 into the bathroom lights out, all right, or the very 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.560 least dim lights. Generally they say lights out, but there's 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:50.560 probably gonna be some light in there be a candle 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.440 or candle in hand, or just light under the doors. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.040 Just be dramatic about it. Candle in hand, alright, light out, 0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.680 candle in hand, going too the bathroom, stare into the 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:04.480 a room, and then you say the name Bloody Mary 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.199 three times, five times, six times, seven times. It it depends, 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:11.040 it varies. The recipe is not really set in stone, 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.520 but any rate, by saying in a number of times, 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:18.639 you invoke this incantation and a mysterious, blood faced woman 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.480 will appear in the mirror before you. She will reach 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:24.600 out and she will scratch your face off. So yeah, 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.240