The Aisle Seat Blog

But what is it about this particular film that has allowed it to jump to the top of the box office charts when so many low-budget, independently-financed features are lucky to even get a marginal DVD release? Surely the clever (anti-)marketing campaign from Paramount helped, as did the fact that Paranormal Activity is genuinely scary. However, I think there's another reason this movie is striking a chord: many of us have experienced something unexplained in our lives. That includes me. I've never discussed this publicly, but now seems like the time.

Let me preface by saying that I do not believe in ghosts. Never have. Nor do I believe in UFOs, Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster. When it comes to paranormal stuff, I've always found it fascinating simply because I believe in it. If "Ghost Hunters" is on TV, I will totally stop and watch, just to once again see them fail to gather any definitive proof of the supernatural. Nevertheless, I once witnessed something for which I have no rational or logical explanation - something that creeps me out to this day.

It was late winter 1989. I was a college student coming home for the weekend. My parents made themselves scarce so three of my still-in-high-school friends could come over. It was one other guy and two girls. (I won't name names, as I have not asked any of them for permission to tell this tale.) One of the females was developing something of an interest in the paranormal and had subsequently been fooling around with a Ouija board. On several occasions, she had told me about her communications with a spirit through the board. Yeah, right was my oft-repeated response. So what does she do? She shows up at my house with the board in tow, of course.

I took this as my opportunity to cry foul once and for all. I made my friends, whom I trusted completely, solemnly promise not to do anything to fake or cheat. That was my stipulation for participating. They agreed. Lights were turned out. A candle was lit. The four of us sat around the board and very lightly put our fingertips on the pointer. My friend summoned the spirit she'd allegedly been talking to.

At first, it was easy to believe that the pointer's movement was unconsciously directed by us. Someone asked if the spirit was angry, and the pointer moved to the YES space on the board. Other questions, which I no longer remember, were asked; somehow it was determined that this particular spirit was the ghost of an aborted baby. When asked where it was at the current moment, the spirit "told" us that it was in the bathroom. Somehow - and I really wish I could remember the precipitating context here - the phrase "Satan's earwax" was presented to us.

Honestly, I wasn't buying a minute of this. While I trusted my friends not to cheat, it was pretty clear that this interaction was incredibly silly (Satan's earwax?! Come on!). More likely than not it was nothing other than four kids creeping themselves out.

And then it happened.

The pointer started making a figure-8 on the board, slowly at first and then more rapidly. It began going so fast that I was having trouble keeping my fingertips on it. My natural assumption was that one person in the group was simply moving it faster than the others - except that I noticed everyone having trouble keeping their fingertips on it. The pointer went so fast that none of us could keep up. Then, suddenly, the thing violently flew off the board and across the room.

Everyone was stunned. What remained unspoken was the fact that if someone had intentionally flung the pointer, it would be obvious; we all would have seen one person flick their wrists pretty noticeably in order to achieve the kind of force that propelled it across the room. That didn't happen. And everyone was surprised when it took place.

Do I believe that we were in communication with a ghost or, worse, a demon of some sort? No, I do not. That said, to this day, I cannot explain how this happened. I wouldn't know where to start. That was the last time I touched a Ouiji board, and I have no intention of ever touching one again. There is memorable sequence in Paranormal Activity that deals with a Ouiji board. As you can imagine, I found this particular scene to be especially disturbing.

Over the years, I have talked to others who have seen or experienced unexplainable stuff. It happens. Maybe the reasons are simple and we just never know them. Regardless, we experience these things deeply. Paranormal Activity may be a fantasy, but on some level, it still seems oddly, uncomfortably identifiable.