The Setting and Participants:
On November 22, 1986, in a modest home on North G Street in San Bernardino, California, three roommates Linda Rodriguez (24), Brandon Miller (26), and Karen Ellis (23) decided to use a Ouija board as a form of entertainment during a rainy evening. The trio had recently moved into the house, a rental property built in the 1940s, which locals claimed had a history of hauntings due to a previous tenant’s suicide in 1962. Linda, a cashier at a nearby grocery store, had purchased the Ouija board from a local toy store after watching the horror movie *Witchboard* (released earlier that year), which depicted a malevolent spirit unleashed through a Ouija board. The group set up the board on their living room coffee table, surrounded by lit candles, and began their session around 8:00 PM, unaware of the house’s dark history.
The Session and Initial Contact:
The trio started by asking lighthearted questions, such as “Is there a spirit here?” The planchette moved to “YES,” which they initially attributed to one of them moving it. However, the responses became more specific when Brandon asked, “Who are you?” The board spelled out “R-O-B-E-R-T,” followed by “H-A-T-E.” Karen, feeling uneasy, asked, “Why do you hate?” The planchette moved rapidly to spell “Y-O-U-L-I-V-E,” and the candles in the room flickered violently, with one extinguishing on its own. The group heard a loud thud from the upstairs bedroom, directly above them, as if something heavy had fallen. Despite their fear, Linda insisted on continuing, asking, “What do you want?” The board responded with “D-E-A-T-H,” and a cold draft swept through the room, accompanied by the sound of guttural whispering that seemed to come from the walls.
Physical Manifestation and Immediate Harm:
As the group attempted to end the session by moving the planchette to “GOODBYE,” the board resisted, and a dark, humanoid figure materialized in the doorway leading to the kitchen. Described by Brandon in a later police statement as “a tall shadow with jagged edges and glowing white eyes,” the entity emitted a low, menacing growl. The figure moved toward Karen, who was closest to the doorway, and a heavy glass ashtray on the coffee table suddenly flew across the room, striking Karen in the head and causing a deep gash above her left eyebrow. Blood streamed down her face as she screamed, and the entity appeared to grow more solid, its eyes fixating on her. Brandon grabbed a kitchen knife and lunged at the figure, but it vanished, only to reappear behind Linda, who felt a sharp pain in her back as three scratch marks appeared, tearing through her shirt and drawing blood. The group fled the house in terror, leaving the Ouija board behind, and sought help from a neighbor, who called the police.
Aftermath and Escalation:
San Bernardino police arrived at the scene around 9:15 PM, finding the house in disarray. The Ouija board remained on the coffee table, with the planchette positioned over “YES.” Karen was taken to St. Bernardine Medical Center, where she received eight stitches for the gash on her head, and Linda’s scratches were treated as superficial but documented as “unexplained” in the medical report. The police report, filed under incident number SB-86-1122-03, noted the group’s claims of a “ghostly figure” but attributed the injuries to “accidental causes,” suggesting the ashtray had been knocked over during a panic. However, the roommates reported ongoing disturbances in the days following the incident, including objects moving on their own, cold spots, and the sound of heavy footsteps at night. Brandon, who had been the most skeptical of the group, began experiencing vivid nightmares of the entity choking him, waking up with bruises on his neck that he couldn’t explain.
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