Zozo - the Ouija Board Demon

nivek

As Above So Below
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The Very Strange Tale of Zozo, the Ouija Board Demon
By Brent Swancer

The Internet is an untamed realm full of a vast trove of strangeness dealing with the paranormal. It has given us reams of accounts from people experiencing a full range of supernatural activity from ghost sightings all the way to the very outer reaches of the utterly bizarre. In some cases whole new phenomena are described here, and one of the more remarkable and pervasive of these is the story of a malicious demon who purportedly comes through Ouija boards to harass and torment. He is supposedly a dark, ancient entity, who inspires fear and who goes by the quite ridiculous name of Zozo.

The demon in question apparently goes by many very odd and unlikely names for a supposed demon, including Zozo, Zoso, Zaza, Mama, Oz, Zo, Za, Abacus, or sometimes the more legit demon name Pazuzu (yes, THAT Pazuzu), and is usually said to be an ancient entity that has been tormenting Ouija board users for hundreds of years. One supposed early interaction with the demon was allegedly made way back in 1816, when a young woman in the French village of Teilly was supposedly possessed by several demons, calling themselves Mimi, Crapoulet, and Zozo, and the lore often mentions that this demon began to increasingly use Ouija boards to reach out to our reality when they started becoming popular.

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Zozo is said to have some particular calling cards and idiosyncrasies that he (it is mostly described as a “he”) seems to follow when making his presence known. The entity in modern times is said to almost exclusively make his presence known through Ouija boards, manipulating the planchette to spell out one of his many names, usually “Zozo,” as well as making it do rapid figure 8 movements or rainbow patterns across the board. Zozo will supposedly typically start out in a very friendly manner, and may even pose as a dead friend or relative, only to gradually become more antagonistic and malevolent, often devolving into profanity laced tirades and rants filled with morbid threats and venom, yet by the time one has realized that this is not a benign entity it is usually too late.

Once conjured up, Zozo will allegedly cause all kinds of problems, including manipulating the emotions of any players present, appearing as a menacing shadow figure, invading dreams, moving objects, and causing health and mental problems, in some cases driving the poor soul who invoked him insane. He has even been reported as fully possessing people, as well as driving them to murder of suicide, and is said to feed on fear, getting more powerful the more scared one is. Not a nice guy, in other words.

The story and its increasing popularity as it pertains to modern times can probably best be traced back to a terrifying experience related in 2009 by a man named Darren Evans, who wove a terrifying tale of conjuring up the insidious entity on several occasions. He would claim that the first time it had come to him the planchette on the Ouja board he was using went nuts, spelling out “ZOZO” over and over again. At first the entity seemed friendly, but this changed in the coming days, with it becoming more aggressive and mean, before the demon announced that he would take Evans and his family to paradise. When Evans asked where “paradise” was, the board then spelled out “H-E-L-L.” Freaked out by this, he purportedly went to check on his girlfriend and his 1-year-old baby only to find her nowhere to be seen and his daughter drowning in an overflowing bathtub. She survived, but it left Evans completely shaken and terrified.

This is all creepy enough as it is, but Evans would claim that the demon would contact him on multiple occasions, sometimes demonstrating an ability to speak Latin and Hebrew, and causing all manner of bad luck for the family, including Evans’ daughter coming down with a mysterious respiratory ailment that required hospitalization. He also says that he experienced various paranormal activity in his home such as flickering lights and moving objects, and that he had even been physically assaulted by the sinister entity, which would leave scratches and bruises behind. He would claim that he came very close to having a nervous breakdown because of all of this, and that it very nearly ruined his life.

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When this story got out into the wild, hundreds of others began relating their own stories of contacting what appears to be the very same demon through Ouija boards, which usually called itself Zozo, and Evans began gathering all of these accounts together, even setting up a website for these stories, so numerous were they. There are countless accounts of Zozo, and even photographs of the entity and videos claiming to show people being possessed it, and Evans has gone on to appear on the TV show Ghost Adventures, as well as write a book along with paranormal researcher Rosemary Ellen Guiley on the phenomenon called The Zozo Phenomenon.

There are countless such reports of people encountering the nefarious Zozo, such as one related on Your Ghost Stories by a poster calling herself April O, from the United States. She claims that she had had some friends over for a party one evening in 2012, and at some point they all thought it would be fun to play with a Ouija board, something she says she had done on many occasions before without ever having any negative or paranormal experience, but this time would be different. When they all sat down to the board they were giggling and telling spooky stories, none of them aware of the strangeness that was about to follow. It began when they seemed to have contacted something and when asked who they were speaking with the planchette began to spell out “Zozo,” and when asked what it wanted it cryptically said “I want her” and indicated one of her friends. April says of the terrifying events that would unfold thusly:
The cursor returned to moving from the z to the o yet again and I was getting annoyed with this because it wouldn’t tell me why it wanted my friend it just spelled out I want her repeatedly. My friend (the one the demon wanted) stupidly called him a p**** and the board spelled out “death”. That’s when things got bad. I got angry and told her not to provoke him because he was capable of bad things and I sure as hell didn’t want anything happening to my friends. The other friend just sat there freaked out not speaking the entire time as we continued to ask it questions which I don’t recall.
The cursor began feeling hot under my fingers and I asked my friends if they felt it too, they said they did. I asked it another question but its answer didn’t make any sense it spelled out “mama” over and over and would not move to any other letters so I cussed at him because I was getting annoyed. The one friend took his hand off the cursor and refused to play anymore and the atmosphere immediately changed.
I could feel Zozo in the room now and the air was heavy and I began to get scared. All of a sudden I didn’t feel like myself I felt as if something was inside me. I felt the most intense hatred I’ve ever felt before. I began to laugh hysterically and then cry like I had no control over my emotions. My mood then turned to hatred again and I turned to look at my friend (the one the demon wanted) with the most evil smile. I felt it inside, it wasn’t me smiling it was this demon. We all stopped playing the board after that but the heavy feeling in the air and its presence remained. It took a bit before everything felt normal again that night and I felt like myself but when it did I was relieved. I feared for my friend’s safety that night but fortunately none of them experienced anything after leaving. My advice, DO NOT mess with the Ouija Board.
Another spooky account comes from Evans’ site, and concerns a frightened witness who says that he had been contacted by what he at first had thought was the spirit of a little boy, but would turn out to be anything but. It is a report that perfectly illustrates the demon’s tendency to deceive and manipulate, and the report reads:
There was a spirit that claimed to be that of a little boy. We also talked to a few other spirits on the board until one time this spirit came across and said his name Oz. I figured initials because I don’t recall any spirits giving their names, just initials. Anyway, he was no fun and just plain mean. Everytime we would try to talk to one of the other friendly spirits, Oz always came back like he was much stronger than the others. When you would ask a question and he got angry, the eye would move frantically in a figure 8. He was just mean. Well, one night we got pretty trashed and asked some real mean things and acted mean back. It was funny at first, but it got serious in a hurry.
We started arguing with one another because some were getting spooked. We then came to our senses and said, “let’s get rid of this darn thing.” We threw it away and nothing strange happened afterwards. Not sure I beleive in them or if they really even work. But it was a freaky experience. Although I talked a lot of smack that night, I was sort of fearful for a few days. I can’t remember to this day what Oz said, heck its been 20yrs ago. But, it wasn’t good at all!
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Reports like this go on and on, sometimes from people who were simply freaked out by the foul mouthed demon, but others speaking of paranormal harassment, possessions, physical assaults, freak accidents, mysterious illnesses, misfortune, and madness. There are whole message boards and websites full of such reports, some of which even predate Evans’ own experiences, and with mentions in TV programs and even movies Zozo has become sort of a bizarre phenomenon that has taken on a life of its own, along the lines of similar mysterious figures such as Slenderman and the Men in Black.

So what are we looking at here? Is this really all the doing of a supernatural entity, or is this all just a modern urban legend in the making?

There has of course been skepticism aimed at the Zozo phenomenon, and much of this revolves around Evans himself. Not only do the great majority of Zozo reports come pouring in after his own account came out, but Evans claims many historical references for the presence of the demon that are very hard to really verify, and added to this he claims that Zozo’s symbol is an ancient glyph that serves as the code for the god Saturn, but which was also used by the famous rock band Led Zeppelin, of which he is an admitted total super fan. He also didn’t do so bad for himself afterwards, appearing on TV and penning a book. Considering all of this, it seems at least possible that he simply made the whole story up, basing parts of it on real historical references, after which it caught on with the Internet crowd to become a fast growing urban legend.

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Yet, there are so many reports from people who insist that it is all completely real, and there is the fact that there are indeed a few reports that predate Evans’ account. If there is any truth to it all, then what could it be? Although Zozo is most commonly referred to as a “demon,” and even possibly the Mesopotamian demon called Pazuzu of The Exorcist fame, there is no way at all to know this. It could just as easily be a ghost or some other type of spirit. There is also the idea that it could be what is called a tulpa, or thought form, which is basically an entity or apparition brought into the world through the sheer power of belief. In this case, the idea is that the witnesses so fully believe in Zozo and expect him to appear that he is literally conjured up by the power of the mind. If he is real in any form, then you might be wondering how to keep him from tormenting you, and the main advice for dealing with Zozo if you ever are contacted by him is to remain calm, avoid saying its name, ignore it, force the planchette of the Ouija board to “Goodbye,” and hope that it leaves you alone. It wouldn’t hurt to seek spiritual counsel as well.

Whether Zozo is real or just a spooky Internet legend, it is amazing how much the phenomenon and mythology surrounding it have grown so spectacularly. Zozo pops up everywhere in discussions, articles, books, TV shows, and film, and it has become a sensation. There are scores of people who insist this demon is real, and innumerable personal accounts, leaving one to wonder just how this has all come to pass and if there is any truth to it at all in any capacity. Real or not, the Zozo phenomena is at the very least a spooky story and fascinating glimpse at myth building in the modern world. Whether you believe in him or not, it might be best to put the Ouija board away.

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Standingstones

Celestial
I’ve read too many stories about people using the Ouija board and have opened themselves up to demonic forces. Best to leave things like this alone. It really isn’t a game.
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
Yeah, I've read a few stories about Zozo. Scary stuff. I've often wondered why people would even want to experiment with a ouija board, At best, It doesn't work and someone has wasted their time, At worst, You open yourself up to demonic obsession.

Yeah, Obsession. See, There are two kinds of Demonic activity regarding humans. Obsession is the kind of activity where a demon can actively harass a person physically, Like in the Zozo Case. Or demonic possession, This is when the Demon actually possesses the body, in such cases of possession, A person's physical appearance can actually change.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
A person's physical appearance can actually change.

I once knew a face changer, but he wasn't possessed and I wasn't the only person to see him do it...

...
 

nivek

As Above So Below
I’ve read too many stories about people using the Ouija board and have opened themselves up to demonic forces. Best to leave things like this alone. It really isn’t a game.

I used one of those only once, it gave me strange vibes, I was young then, but will not touch them again, not out of fear, but out of common sense lol...

...
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
I used one of those only once, it gave me strange vibes, I was young then, but will not touch them again, not out of fear, but out of common sense lol...

...
I would be lying if I said I had never messed with a ouija board. Once out of curiosity, I even made one with an old board from some monopoly game and I printed out the face for it. It looked pretty legit. But I couldn't work up the nerve to use it.

I will compensate for that story, By telling you another, When I was younger, One of the Great draws I had toward the Church, Was that Some churches really get into the prospect of "Casting out Demons" This was something I was involved with for several years, And yes, I've had experiences. In fact, It became so unnerving, I stopped going to that church and swore off anything demon related, But I have seen demonic possession And demonic obsession.

I guess my overall take away from that experience was, I was doing a whole lot of activity involving exercism , To me, I suppose that church saw my fascination with the subject and allowed me to run with it. But, Ultimately, From a conservative standpoint, Yeah, I suppose sometimes it's an important aspect of some churches.

But, It just didn't seem like what I "should have been learning" from Church. It was certainly something I wasn't really prepared for, TO be honest, If I ever were to meet someone, who was fully prepared for that line Of work, I'd avoid that person lol
 
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Not everyone has bad or negative experiences with them. I think I still own one that I bought in a second hand store long ago for $2 or something. Never got around to fooling with it and probably never will even if I come across it again, but they are interesting. The only time I ever saw one in action was on the playground at a Catholic school, of all places! I was not involved except as an observer. The board was asked the age of the principal, a nun. The reply was 42, which we all hooted at since it seemed ancient to us. It may have been correct.

Hey, wait a minute! 42. If only I could recall Sister Marywhachamacallit's name.
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
I once knew a face changer, but he wasn't possessed and I wasn't the only person to see him do it...

...
I meant to reply to this one earlier, Somehow, It slipped by me. I have a friend named Cody, he comes over after work sometimes and we spark up a J, He has told me on at least three different occasions. He was in Jail, He got pulled over and they found some weed, So he had to do a night in jail, anyway, Cody is this very friendly kind of person, It wouldn't matter if someone was oozing evil and glaring at him ominously he would walk right up to them and say, Hey, What's up with a big dorky smile on his face. Anyway, This one guy told him to leave him alone. And Cody was like Okay dude, And was about to walk away When the Guys face, Cody has sworn to this like three different times, He said the guy's eyes changed, It was like they looked like cats eyes, The pupils were slitted and the guys face looked like it had scales all over it, He saw the guy the next day, Who didn't have slip purples and a perfectly normal face. Cody is convinced that the guy was a Reptilian. The story goes on, Cody, Being an overall friendly person, Did eventually befriend the person and he got to know him, The guy told him a story, about how his family aren't from here, SO Cody asked him Where are you from implying, "Where in space are you from" The guy in an unamused way, Said, People always ask that, He said, It doesn't matter where I'm from, Where are you from? I'm here, That's what matters.

Anyway, sometime, if this story had any interest for people, I can ask Cody for some details about that, The reasons I never asked for more info is, As far as stories go, Meh, I've heard better, lol
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
Not everyone has bad or negative experiences with them. I think I still own one that I bought in a second hand store long ago for $2 or something. Never got around to fooling with it and probably never will even if I come across it again, but they are interesting. The only time I ever saw one in action was on the playground at a Catholic school, of all places! I was not involved except as an observer. The board was asked the age of the principal, a nun. The reply was 42, which we all hooted at since it seemed ancient to us. It may have been correct.

Hey, wait a minute! 42. If only I could recall Sister Marywhachamacallit's name.

What I would give to be able to tell you guys some of the experiences I've had with demons.
I know this will sound like me Just rambling, But, I honestly feel like If I told some of my demon experience stories It would really mess with any scientific credibility Whatever little I have, It really is like a, I don't want to ruin myself telling experiences kind of thing.

But no, Not every spirit or entity or even demon, Intends to harm, The deal is, they aren't bound to the same rules of morality that we are and they don't answer to the same sources that we have too, It's that, Sometimes, they (Can) hurt people, But no, Not all of them are malevolent, That's true.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
What I would give to be able to tell you guys some of the experiences I've had with demons.
I know this will sound like me Just rambling, But, I honestly feel like If I told some of my demon experience stories It would really mess with any scientific credibility Whatever little I have, It really is like a, I don't want to ruin myself telling experiences kind of thing.

But no, Not every spirit or entity or even demon, Intends to harm, The deal is, they aren't bound to the same rules of morality that we are and they don't answer to the same sources that we have too, It's that, Sometimes, they (Can) hurt people, But no, Not all of them are malevolent, That's true.

The singular experience I had with the board wasn't malevolent but I got a bad vibe from if, like something was letting know it's best if I don't mess around with it...So when my friend asked me to use the board with him again I refused, I just told him it creeped me out...lol

...
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
The singular experience I had with the board wasn't malevolent but I got a bad vibe from if, like something was letting know it's best if I don't mess around with it...So when my friend asked me to use the board with him again I refused, I just told him it creeped me out...lol

...

Warning about this story, There are a lot of Sad and distressing things in this story that legitimately happened to me and my first wife Sondra. Rather than be Sad for us. Know that this was a very long time ago, one can not move forward if they are stuck in the past. You never get over some pain, But, You begin to acknowledge that it was a very long time ago, And eventually, you begin to hold your head up high once again.

I will start with a lite true story, I was about 19 years old at the time, I had just established getting a job and living on my own I was married to a woman named Sondra at the time. You guys are probably familiar with Tate, He's a long-time Friend Who occasionally pops in here, So, at this time in my life, I was going to that Church. For the sake of prudent information, This Church was what people called a pentecostal church, I am not pentecostal, But, in fairness to myself, I never observed denomination within the church because I feel that is just a way to separate people from one another.

Anyhoo, This church was huge on Casting out demons from people, Over my time there I had learned a lot about the Subject, Or so I thought, honestly, I wasn't ready to be messing with the things I was messing with, To be further honest. I was going to church at that time, but my draw was the occult. So Tate, Tells me this story about a wall mirror he received from a house that was burnt down, I asked him, Why he would want a burnt up mirror, He told me that was the thing about this mirror, It was a huge ornate wall mirror and it was the only thing in the house with absolutely no damage, Not even smoke damage, It was like the thing was brand new.

He told me that since he had taken the mirror, He had been having nightmares and waking up with scratches all over him, I wasn't convinced that the mirror was indeed demonic, But he insisted that I could have this mirror if I would just take it off his hands. I had that mirror for six months, In the time I had the mirror, These are the chronicled events that I can swear to, This can all be backed up by Tate. The first thing that I noticed was, Sleep was no longer restful. I no longer had dreams, it was simply a dreamless unrestful exercise As time went on, The exhaustion began to take its toll, I and Sondra would argue more Her Voice began to grate on my nerves horribly, I had after weeks without sleeping well, Fashioned off a part of the house that was just for me, Sondra wasn't allowed on this side of the house because she got on my nerves that badly.

"I know that's weird, All I can say is I was young and so was she, So, It was two kids fighting idiotically, Time went on strange things that I can not account for began to happen, One night me and Sondra were asleep, It was a colder winter night so we had blankets covering us, I've never seen this happen before, but it was like something jerked those blankets off us and threw them against the wall. I thought this was strange as this had never happened before. It was then, after weeks of having the mirror in the house that I began to have nightmares, I don't know if I've told the story before about a terrible sleep apnea attack I had Wher I think I had a literal brush with death. It was a nightmare kind of scenario, In this nightmare, which was really just an odd ordinary nightmare, Suddenly, It was like the dream state just melted away, It was literally like the dream world just melted away and I was in this very surreal place, It wasn't like a dream, I was fully aware, I became aware that I was sleeping, That I had been dreaming, but that was no longer the case, I became aware that I wasn't breathing and I was dying. The feeling of losing my awareness, My consciousness in that way, It felt like dying, What is strange is, I could only see this infinitely black void, It was like darkness that went on infinitely. But, I could also feel, I wasn't alone, It was like some massive entity, That I couldn't see was just inside the darkness, It didn't feel benevolent or malevolent, It just felt like a really massive being that was there, observing my death.

The panic of losing myself to this infinite darkness it was the most frightening thing I had ever felt, The fear and the panic somehow jolted me awake, I hadn't been breathing for, honestly, I don't know how long, but it was enough time that physical things about myself weren't right. Everything was in slow motion, Everything felt like this slow thick electricity, Like when your leg or arm goes to sleep, but this was over my whole body, I make it to the bathroom, where the mirror was. Because that was the thing I do when I would panic, I'd go stare in the mirror. Around my lips and eyes were a very, I don't know what shade of blue to call it, Smurfy? Maybe? But however long I wasn't breathing, It was long enough to turn my lips and around my eyes this very blue color.

After that, I had several more nightmares, But, For me, It wasn't about being afraid of the mirror, No, It was about, I had spiritual rights and I wasn't going to lose to a piece of polished glass. I could finish the story, Some very bad things happened to me and Sondra. We lost our kids in a car accident. Something that really permanently messed both of us up. While we were away Because she was in the hospital during these events. Our home caught on fire and it burnt to the ground. It appeared that the home had those old, built into the wall electric heaters and somehow one just came on. and started a fire in the wall.

It was, Without parallel the worst time in both of our lives. The mirror, Still hung on the bathroom wall, With no smoke damage at all. There was nothing left, We moved into an apartment, And left that mirror there. Now, How much of this can I attribute to demonic activity? How much of it was destiny?
I may never know. But, If you ask me, Demonic activity has its nature in causing as much pain and distress as it possibly can. I know how this story sounds, And It may be that my writing style betrays the Truth behind this whole event. But on everything I am, Everything I can profess. This story is 100 percent truth every bit.
 
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Rick Hunter

Celestial
I am interested in experiencing other worlds, but Ouija is nothing but a demon magnet, so I'll stay away. Just one of those things in life that just creates bad experiences.
 

SOUL-DRIFTER

Life Long Researcher
I used a Ouija board a couple of times. Experimented with it back in the 70s while other family members used it. They got spooked. I got intrigued.
I have to admit it does not scare me in the least.
But then...I do not fear bad entities nor demons.
I have no reason to.
 
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