Remembering ouija boards

Seeing this building in Southsea, I was reminded of my early fascination for oiuja boards - when I was in my teens I loved reading about ghosts, poltergeists, vampires - I was transfixed with the idea that a dark world was hidden behind the world I lived in - I wondered if the everyday things I saw in my narrow streets might  any moment dissolve, rippling like a liquid curtain - I would then see wonders and horrors -

Three or four of us discovered ouija boards - we would place monopoly letters in a circle - one scrap of paper had yes written on it, another had no written  on it - these scraps of paper were placed opposite each other, on the circumference of the circle of letters - I never failed to marvel how the upended glass flew from letter to letter, or from yes to no - beautiful icy thrills went through my heart -

Richard's dad was a spiritualist - Richard said of he spoke of the planes - the invisible worlds or dimensions where spirits dwelt - as I delivered my newspapers in Bramber Road, I would think of these spirits - I would remember, too, the strange messages they had spelled out -

The Portsmouth Temple of Spiritualism is located in a row of late Victorian villas, with white stucco fronts and high bow windows - tall trees line the street - the sky above, when I saw it, was like a grey sheet -