SPECTACULAR STORIES

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

     Susan and her husband George are auctioneers together.  They had just finnished an auction in a bad part of L.A..  Susan and her daughter, Sarah, were leaving the auction in their car.  (George had his own transportation.)  Sarah was in the back seat trying to name all ten commandments.  Susan had never been in this part of town before, and she became lost.  She continued driving around trying to find her way onto the freeway, only to become more lost.  After the third time she passed a building that looked so familiar to her, Susan realized she had been driving in circles.  She was frustrated and confuse, so she pulled off to the side of the road.  She put her hands on her face then looked up.  When she did, she saw that a white car had pulled up beside her.  Susan rolled down her window when she realized she recognized the lady in the white car from the auction.  The woman approached Susan and Sarah's car.  She leaned down and said, "Hello.  Are you lost?".  Susan told her she was and the lady gave directions to the freeway.  Before the lady got back into her car, she called over to Susan and said, "Oh, and tell Sarah she left out one and three."  Susan thought that was strange, since Sarah was never out of the office during the entire auction, and her name was never mentioned.  Right after the lady in the white car got into her car Susan put her car in drive and when she looked back up the lady and the white car had disappeared.  There was a lot of traffic, so the white car should have been within view, but it wasn't.  They never saw the lady or that particular white car ever again.

Anonymous

*The names and place in the above story have been changed to protect those involved.*

 

THREE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS

There was a family with three young children, Sally, who was 5, Billy, who was 7, and Tommy, who was 9.  The children were watching a movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' Christmas classic.  After the movie they decided they would play a game.  They wanted to contact the spirits of Christmas, Christmas Present, Christmas Past, and Christmas Future.  Tommy, who was the oldes, was sent to the attic to fetch the Ouija board.  When he returned with the board he said, "I couldn't find the other piece, just the board.  I guess we will have to make one."

The children rummaged through drawers, boxes, and toy chests looking for something to make a planchette with.  They found a miniature plastic magnifying glass, a stubby pencil, some masking tape, and the wheels of an old toy car still on the frame (no body).  With the exception of the pencil, the two boys taped all the items together.  It looked funny, but they believed it would work.

Sally asked, "What's the pencil for?"

"We have to write down all the letters the pointer shows us so we know what the spirits are telling us." the boys replied.

The three children sat down at the kitchen table and placed the board and the planchette in the center.  With paper and pencil at the ready, the children turned out the lights, leaving only the light above the stove on.

Sally was scared, but she continued to play along anyway.  The children decided to let Sally ask the first question, since most games are played with the youngest going first.

"Are the three spirits of Christmas here?" she asked.

The planchet started moving.  It swerved around, left and right, then up and down, then coming to rest on "YES".  Sally jumped up out of her seat.

"Are you doing that?"  she screamed at the boys.

They both shook their heads "no".  Sally calmed down and returned to her seat.  Billy asked the next question.

"What will I get for Christmas this year?"

The planchette started moving.  The first letter was "C".  It stopped just long enough for Tommy to write it on the paper.  The next letter was "O", then "A".  Billy was anxious.  He thought it was going to spell out COASTER, because he wanted a new sled for Christmas.  The nest letter was "L".  The planchette returned to the center of the board where it stopped.

"Tommy, you have to be moving it.  Quit fooling around, will you?"

Tommy swore it wasn't him and asked the next question.  "What am I getting?"

The planchette didn't move.  Tommy asked again.  Still, it didn't move.  He asked a third time.  Slowly the planchett began to move.  It began spelling "N O", then it paused.  Tommy was getting angry.  Just as he was getting ready to stop playing the planchette began to move again.  I continued spelling.  "T A T".  Then it stopped again.  The children all sat staring at the board.  It continued, "H I N".

What could it possibly be spelling?  More letters, "G Y O".  Tommy could make no sense of it, the planchette wasn't finished yet.  "U A R" "E G E", then a long pause."T T I" "N G", another pause.  "N O T"  Just as soon at it stopped this time the children thought it was done, but they were wrong.  "H I N G"  The planchette returned to the center of the board where it remained still.  Tommy looked at all the letters "N O T A T H I N G Y O U A R E G E T T I N G N O T H I N G"  Tommy went storming out of the room.  Billy grabbed the paper and looked at the letters.  Sally asked him what it said.

"Nothing"

"Yes it does, look at all those letters.  It has to say something."

"That's what it says.  It says Tommy is getting nothing for Christmas."

Sally thought it wasn't fair that Tommy had left before she could ask what she was getting.  Billy went to check on his brother.  Sally really wanted to know what she was getting for Christmas so she went ahead and asked the board.

All alone Sally took her fingers off the planchette only long enough to write down each letter.  When it was finnished she took the paper to her mother.

"What did I spell, Mommy?"

Her mother looked at the paper.  "Did you write this all by yourself, Sally?"

Sally nodded.

"Where did you get all these letters from, Honey?"

"We were playing with the oozy board.  Billy is getting coal for Christmas, and Tommy is getting nothing.  I want to know what I'm getting.  What does it say?"

Her mother looked at the paper again.  She read the letters out loud.  The boys were standing in the doorway listening.  "S A L L Y Y O U A R E G E T T I N G E V E R Y T H I N G Y O U E V E R W A N T E D"  She stopped reading, waited, shook her head, then continued, "Y O U R B R O T H E R S A R E G O I N G T O L I V E W I T H T H E I R R E A L P A R E N T S"  she shook her head again.  "T H E Y A R E G O I N G T O L I V E A T T H E Z O O"

"I know all those letters, but I want to know what it says!"

"It says, Dear, that you are getting everything you ever wanted.  Your brothers are going to live with their real parents.  They are going to go live at the zoo."

Sally began jumping up and down.  "I knew it!  My brothers are monkeys!  They will go live at the zoo!"

"Sally, I don't know where you really got all this, but your brothers aren't really going to go live at the zoo.  They aren't monkeys."

"The oozy board told me, Mom."

The mother left the room, shaking her head.  The boys come over to Sally.  They asked her if that was really what the Ouija board said.  She told them it was.  They told her they weren't monkeys.  Both the boys were scared though.  They knew that Sally couldn't have made it up herself, she couldn't spell yet.

For three weeks Tommy and Billy moped around the house, and Sally hopped, skipped and jumped.  When Christmas came around the childrens' mother had forgotten all about the Ouija board incident.

Christmas morning the childrens's father stood in front of the tree and said, "I have an announcement to make.  I have gotten a new job!  I will be the caretaker of a zoo!  We will be moving there in January.  We're going to live at a zoo!"

The mother fainted.  Sally said she wasn't going to live at a zoo, just her brothers.  The boys told Sally that she was a monkey, and she was going to live in a zoo.

When her mother woke up Sally told her, "See, the oozy board was right, Mom."  They all began laughing.

After calming down from their grand laugh, the boys remembered what the Ouija board told them.  Billy asked if they could open their presents.

The presents were passed out.  Tommy opened his first.  The box was empty.  The three children all gasped.  Billy opened his present.  In it was a lump of coal.  The three gasped again.

Their father explained to them that their real present was outside, but they had to wait until after breakfast and until everyone was dressed.

After all was done, everyone went outside.  There was a box that said "COAL" on it with a big bow on top.  Inside were two sleds.  The words on the sleds said, "COAL TRAIN COASTERS:  Nothing is better."

The moral of this story is:  Never take a Ouija board for granted.

Alisha Lundblade

 

IT'S YOUR LUCKY (OR UNLUCKY) DAY!

     Are you superstitious?  Do you have a lucky charm?  Do you go through a special routine every time you do a specific thing for luck?  Do you believe that breaking a mirror gives you seven years bad luck?   If you do, you are superstitious.

     Here are a few superstitions you may not have heard about before.

     This is an old wives tale that is still useful today.  If you pour an extra drink on accident, you will soon recieve an unwanted visitor.  Be careful counting how many glasses you fill!  While you are pouring those drinks, think about this:  never seat thirteen people at one table.  If you have exactly thirteen people (including yourself) never push two or more tables together.  Always leave at least a small gap between them.  But make sure it isn't thirteen inches (centimeters).

     Has a bird ever relieved itself on you while flying over your head?  If so, it should bring you good luck.  Next time that happens, don't get too mad.  Remember the good fortune coming.

     In days of yore, passing a chimneysweep in the street was good luck.  Now, it would be an extremely uncommon thing, but it could happen.  Maybe, if you see one, it will bring you very, very good luck.

     Remember all those tried and true superstitions?  I'll name a few to refresh your memory.

GOOD LUCK

A lucky rabbit's foot;  hanging a horseshoe open-end up;  wish on a falling star;  "If you see a penny, pick it up.";  and many more.

BAD LUCK

Walking under a ladder:  bride and groom seeing eachother the morning of their wedding;  saying goodbye on a bridge;  leaving scissors open;  and many more.

And remember,  if you shiver unexpectedly, someone has just walked across your grave.

     There are many superstitions, too numerous to mention here.  If you have any strange or uncommon superstitions, please tell me about them.