OP: Contrary to what most people think, not all board spirits are evil but are simply trapped somewhere "in-between" until they can escape and rest in peace. I used my first board about 52 years ago and that spirit was not only benign but very amiable and chatty. We soon developed a rapport that allowed me to use the board by myself without any outside assistance other than his.

Here are a couple of stories regarding "Joseph" from back in the early 70's; and brace yourselves because these are straight outta' the Twilight Zone but I swear every single word is true!

I once took my board to a nursing home where my sisters worked and amused the aides with it during their breaks. They asked the usual goofy questions, and Joseph took it all in stride. Then they started to get a little more personal. Bear in mind I didn't know any of these women and had never seen them before. And some of Joseph's answers jarred both them and me.

First one asked if she would get married soon. He said yes but that shortly after their wedding her new husband would change and become violent and beat her. Definitely NOT what anyone expected to hear!

He went on to predict births and then few deaths of the facility's patients. Again shocking the cluster of people around me. Then came the real shocker. One nurse asked me how many children she had and Joseph answered "three"and everyone standing around started laughing except the woman who asked the question. They all blurted out, "Dorothy, that's not right, you only have TWO kids!" Then Dorothy -white as a sheet- stammered, "no.... he... he's right. I lost my first baby in a miscarriage." I quickly ended that session.

A couple of years passed and I learned more and more about Joseph by asking him direct questions about himself in life. He eventually told me many details including how he died. He said he was a bank teller that was kidnapped during a robbery in 1903 and taken to a Missouri cave to wait for the ransom. When it didn't come, the kidnappers just left him there chained up to die.

I jotted down a lot of notes during our sessions and took them to the public library where I pulled up old microfiche newspaper records [that tells you how long ago this was!] of the nearest large town to Joseph's home. And sure enough: there it was, complete with his name: the bank robbery, his kidnapping, the refusal to pay and his disappearance, never to be seen/heard from again. When I told Joseph what I had done he wasn't angry as I expected and instead thanked me for believing in him enough to look in to it. He then explained that was why he was inhabiting the board: because his body was never recovered and laid to rest in consecrated ground.

I have many stories like that. And no, I've never been possessed or tormented by any spirits I've contacted then or since. It's now been over 25 years since I've used a spirit board with the last one the account I shared earlier regarding the hateful little girl spirit that I banished to the ether forever by sealing her up in a frame where I presume she remains to this day.