Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Scary Party Games (and Another Giveaway)

The Ghost Huntress release week extravaganza continues with even more ghost craziness. First, business from yesterday. Announcing the lucky winner of a signed copy of Ghost Huntress: The Awakening:
sweetmelissa818
E-mail Marley at marley_gibson@yahoo.com to give her your mailing info.

Now, onto the good stuff.

I want you to think back to when you were in elementary school or junior high, when you used to have sleepover parties with your girlfriends. When you would spend the afternoon watching movies and eating cupcakes and probably prank-calling boys. (Not that I ever--cough-cough--did that.)

That was all fun and good, but remember what happened after the parents went to bed. You were left to your own devices and somebody inevitably suggested playing Truth or Dare. After a few rounds of silly things--like confessing your crush or prank-calling your English teacher--someone (probably the coolest/most mature girl in your group) got serious. Scary. Someone dared someone else to play... Bloody Mary.

If you managed to get through your tween years without playing this game, let me explain. You (either alone or with your girlfriends) turn out the lights, stand in front of a mirror, and then repeat the name "Bloody Mary" several times. This is supposed to make the ghost of Bloody Mary herself appear in the mirror--and scare the bajeezus out of all the girls in the room. (You can read more about the legend and the game on scaryforkids.com, which is where I got this creepy pic.)


My question to you (and your entry into another giveaway of Ghost Huntress: The Awakening) is this:
Did you ever play any scary party games? (Like Bloody Mary or Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board or using a Ouija Board.) And did anything ... supernatural happen when you did?
Leave your answers in comments and I'll choose a winner at the end of the day.

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. (available now!)
GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming June 2009)
teralynnchilds.com

19 comments:

Hot Ash Romance Novels said...

Hey Marley,

Congratulations on the release of your Ghosties!

I remember playing with a Ouija board at a sleepover, but no real scary happenings...unless you count getting a spirit entity that no one knew. He seemed benign though. Whew! Thanks goodness.

Ash

Anonymous said...

Hi Marley,

We played with the Ouija board in my old house we rented in college. It was a house that had been moved to the location I lived in. The Ouija board told us that a woman had died in our pantry, which we had always been creeped out by. I have to say we never used the Ouija board again. It wasn't a very nice spirit that was talking to us!

Ilana

Marley Gibson said...

For the record...NO credible ghost hunter would recommend using a Ouija board. Those things are trouble. They open up a realm that we know nothing about and aren't prepared to deal with. It would be irresponsible of me not to tell budding ghost hunters NOT to use one of these!

I will admit to playing with one when I was like 9 years old...asking who I was gonna marry or something, but I would never use one today.

Congrats to sweetmelissa818!

Anonymous said...

My girlfriend was deep into Ouija. She talked to her deceased dad nightly. Then she started getting messages from others on the far side too and was actually given information about a crime, and it led to an arrest. Then she started getting things happen like the placket (sp?) moving when no one was touching it and small objects falling and smashing. Eventually she got a spiritualist to come in and protect her home. She got rid of her ouija board. I don't know if she was talking to ghosts, but something we can't explain rationally was going on.
Candice

Anonymous said...

I wasn't sure about ghosts until my mother-in-law (whom I loved very dearly) visited me on the day of her funeral. I noticed someone standing in the doorway, but didn't pay close attention (I was busy getting ready and in a hurry), just assumed it was my husband. Then the person walked behind me and I suddenly smelled her (cigarette smoke combined with perfume). I turned to look and she vanished like a cloud of gnats flying away. But I had a definite impression of why she was there. She was worried about my kids and her son and by checking with me she could check all of them. I wondered if I should say something to my husband's family and decided not to because they might feel bad that I'd had her and they hadn't. (Half Scottish, so they all believe.) Then after the funeral my younger sister in law said that she'd had her mother's presence in her apt. I said, what time? She said, 11:30. I said she came to my place then too, just for a second. My older s-i-l (who did not always get along with her mom) overheard and yes, she WAS insulted. Quite. I didn't know what to say, so I said, "I don't think she had much time." Which of course insulted my s-i-l even further.
Candice

TinaFerraro said...

I've never heard of Bloody Mary, but did play with a Ouija board when I was a kid. No stories about that, but I do know that my son took a course on paranormal and the occult, and when he came upon a Ouija board with our board games, insisted I throw it out! Just like what Marley is saying here...

Leigh Brescia said...

That is so funny about the Ouija boards thing. I never had one because I was raised in a religious household, but I thought people were over-reacting. I’m actually doing research right now for a new book I want to write, and people are *SERIOUS* about staying away from them.

We played light as a feather, and as the class toothpick, I was always hoisted to the ceiling.

At one slumber party we were having some serious jr. high discussions when the girl’s mom ran outside and beat on the window. We ended up screaming our way into the bathroom. I vaguely remember a bag of Skittles exploding. Good Times. :)

Wendy said...

Hi, Marley!

I've never played Ouija or anything like that because I'm a total wimp.

The (Mis)Adventures of a Single City Chick said...

Hi, Marley! You don't have to enter me in the contest, as my copy of Ghost Huntress should arrive tomorrow from Amazon. Can't wait!! But I thought I'd play along with your question, anyway. I remember playing "light as a feather, stiff as a board," although nothing but fits of giggles ever came of it. "Bloody Mary" used to scare the bejeesus out of me, and to this day, I can't look in a mirror with a flashlight. Last time the power went out and I was trying to apply make-up in the mirror by flashlight, I suddenly caught myself and immediately thought, "What the hell am I doing? Bloody Mary is in there!" Needless to say, I finished putting my make-up on at work that morning. LOL! As we've talked about before, I've had enough paranormal things happen around me to make up for not conjuring up "Mary" or any other slumber party legends growing up. Ha! ;-)

The Golfing Librarian said...

I've heard of, but never played, the games you mention. However, I do remember being absolutely terrified playing "5 minutes in the closet" with Denise Crawford in 6th grade. (Things wouldn't have been quite so scary if it had been 11th or 12th grade!) ;)

Cara King said...

I never heard of Bloody Mary till I saw it on an episode of Supernatural... :-) But we did play "light as a feather, stiff as a board" at every slumber party -- and the liftee always seemed mysteriously easy to lift!

Cara

petra said...

i saw bloody mary on an episoed of ghost whisperer and had never heard of it before. glad you mention not messin around with a ouija board because i've heard of people getting possessed by those things.

sweetmelissa818 said...

Yay!
Anyway, I never actually did play those kids of party games! Actually, now that I think of it. I never really played party games at all. I did however have my 13th birthday party on Friday the 13th and we watched Friday the 13th. Because I'd seen it, I knew what happened, but I pretty much scared the rest of the girls to death!

Anonymous said...

I played with the ouija board. Nothing ever happened, but we all expected something freaky to occur.

sunnynikki said...

I was in middle school right when the movie Now and Then came out. In the movie the girls have seances in a graveyard, my friends and I used to do that during sleepovers, we would sneak out, walk to the graveyard using candles as our light and try to summon ghosts. We always got scared but one night some guy followed us home and hung out in my yard for awhile smoking and that was the scariest because we couldn't tell if he was a person or a ghost and we couldn't tell my parents because then they would know we had gone to the cemetery in the middle of the night.

Amanda Villagómez said...

Yes, some of these sound familiar:).

The goofiest one I remember was called Ooga Booga. So silly, I don't even know how to describe it best. The unsuspecting person thought that it was supposed to be scary and that something (I can't remember what) was supposed to happen. In reality it was a trick to have the person rub soot all over their face.

Everybody had a dish, and the person being tricked had a dish that a candle was previously lit under making it all black. Then all the people in the room would follow the leader who would say "Ooga Booga" while rubbing the dish on their face. Since the room was dark the person did not realize what was happening until it was all over.

stephhale said...

I had never heard of Bloody Mary until an episode of Ghost Whisperer that nearly gave me a heart attack. We played light as a feather but it never worked. I remember a story that someone used to tell about a guy with a hook around town and some couple was making out and when they got out of their car the hook was hanging off the door handle. ;)

Lori T said...

Hi Marley~

Congrats again on the release of Ghost Huntress: The Awakening!

Wow, I had not thought of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board forever. We tried this and of course the Ouija board. I cannot really remember any scary moments, but boy was that so much fun. Thanks for bringing back those memories.

Have a great day.

Heather Davis said...

I so remember those games. My grandma gave away the Ouija board after my sisters and I freaked out our younger cousins. ;). Yikes!

Congrats, Marley!!