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Authors: Mikal Gilmore
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said. “They like to flirt with wickedness. But you
know
better, Alta. How could you take part in bringing evil into our home? Don’t you know you are mocking God? Don’t you know the price of mocking God?”
Alta looked stricken. “I’m sorry, Mother. We were just making a game out of it. We’ll put it away.”
“No,” said Melissa. “You’ll do more than that: You’ll take it outside and put it in the incinerator and burn it, this instant.
You
will do it, Alta. And you’ll do it alone.” Melissa stood and watched her daughter slip into her clothes. Then she followed Alta out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Bessie turned on Wanda. “Tattletale.”
Wanda started to whimper again. “Leave her alone,” Mary said to Bessie. “You asked for this trouble, bringing that infernal thing in here.”
A half hour later, Alta returned. As they were all falling asleep, she whispered to Bessie: “Mother went back to bed. I hid the Ouija board in the barn.”
T HE O UIJA BOARD INCIDENT HAD BEEN GOOD FOR A FEW DAYS of misery and preaching around the Brown home. The guilty took their chastisements silently, with only Alta showing convincing remorse.
Halloween night arrived. The Browns went to a costume party at the Grandview church ward, and everybody danced and laughed until they were giddy and tired with the silliness of it all.
At about two that morning, Alta and Bessie sneaked out their bedroom window to the barn. It was a silent autumn night. Bessie lighted a kerosene lamp and Alta dug out the Ouija board. It was time to get back to their spirit.
Alone in the barn, Bessie and Alta sat with the board on their knees, their fingers on its planchette, and they made the same inquiries as before. Again, the words spelled out under their fingers: “ I-AM-A-DEAD-INDIAN. I-WAS-KILLED-BECAUSE-I-KILLED-A-MAN. HE-STOLE-FROM-ME. I-WANT-BACK …”
Bessie and Alta heard the barn door creak. They saw a figure move through it and into the dim light. It was their father. Bessie might have been relieved, but by this time she had already learned some hard lessonsabout her father. Will Brown was a nice man until you made him angry. Then he was not a nice man at all.
He walked toward them. “Are you conjuring spirits in the middle of the night?” he asked. “Are you my children, or have you already given yourselves to the devil?” Will picked up an ax. He took the Ouija board from their hands and hacked it to pieces. “If I ever find you worshiping the devil again,” he said, “I’ll give you to the Danites.”
That was the end of Ouija boards in the Brown household. In the weeks that followed, Bessie and Alta tried a time or two again to contact the spirit, holding hands in the dark, in secluded places far away from home. But nothing ever happened. No voices answered, no images materialized. They might as well have been praying.
C HRISTMAS CAME AND WENT, AND THEN CAME THE N EW Y EAR . In the second week of 1930, Provo awoke to a snowfall that spread across its valley and mountains. It snowed the rest of the week.
One night, after the day’s snow had fallen, a white horse wandered into the backyard of the Provo farmhouse. Since Grandview was a small community, everybody knew everybody else’s horses as well as they knew each other’s children, and the Browns knew nobody who owned such a lovely, ghostly-looking mare. Bessie and her sisters went outside to stare at the animal, and Alta wandered over and petted its mane. When Melissa saw her daughters with the strange horse, she ordered them inside. She tried to shoo the animal away, but it just looked at her.
The horse stood there for hours staring at the house, shimmering in the winter moonlight. When Will Brown arrived home from his job at the school, he chased the horse away. Later that night, my mother heard her parents talking. “You know what it means when a white horse comes to visit,” my grandmother said. “It means
know
better, Alta. How could you take part in bringing evil into our home? Don’t you know you are mocking God? Don’t you know the price of mocking God?”
Alta looked stricken. “I’m sorry, Mother. We were just making a game out of it. We’ll put it away.”
“No,” said Melissa. “You’ll do more than that: You’ll take it outside and put it in the incinerator and burn it, this instant.
You
will do it, Alta. And you’ll do it alone.” Melissa stood and watched her daughter slip into her clothes. Then she followed Alta out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Bessie turned on Wanda. “Tattletale.”
Wanda started to whimper again. “Leave her alone,” Mary said to Bessie. “You asked for this trouble, bringing that infernal thing in here.”
A half hour later, Alta returned. As they were all falling asleep, she whispered to Bessie: “Mother went back to bed. I hid the Ouija board in the barn.”
T HE O UIJA BOARD INCIDENT HAD BEEN GOOD FOR A FEW DAYS of misery and preaching around the Brown home. The guilty took their chastisements silently, with only Alta showing convincing remorse.
Halloween night arrived. The Browns went to a costume party at the Grandview church ward, and everybody danced and laughed until they were giddy and tired with the silliness of it all.
At about two that morning, Alta and Bessie sneaked out their bedroom window to the barn. It was a silent autumn night. Bessie lighted a kerosene lamp and Alta dug out the Ouija board. It was time to get back to their spirit.
Alone in the barn, Bessie and Alta sat with the board on their knees, their fingers on its planchette, and they made the same inquiries as before. Again, the words spelled out under their fingers: “ I-AM-A-DEAD-INDIAN. I-WAS-KILLED-BECAUSE-I-KILLED-A-MAN. HE-STOLE-FROM-ME. I-WANT-BACK …”
Bessie and Alta heard the barn door creak. They saw a figure move through it and into the dim light. It was their father. Bessie might have been relieved, but by this time she had already learned some hard lessonsabout her father. Will Brown was a nice man until you made him angry. Then he was not a nice man at all.
He walked toward them. “Are you conjuring spirits in the middle of the night?” he asked. “Are you my children, or have you already given yourselves to the devil?” Will picked up an ax. He took the Ouija board from their hands and hacked it to pieces. “If I ever find you worshiping the devil again,” he said, “I’ll give you to the Danites.”
That was the end of Ouija boards in the Brown household. In the weeks that followed, Bessie and Alta tried a time or two again to contact the spirit, holding hands in the dark, in secluded places far away from home. But nothing ever happened. No voices answered, no images materialized. They might as well have been praying.
C HRISTMAS CAME AND WENT, AND THEN CAME THE N EW Y EAR . In the second week of 1930, Provo awoke to a snowfall that spread across its valley and mountains. It snowed the rest of the week.
One night, after the day’s snow had fallen, a white horse wandered into the backyard of the Provo farmhouse. Since Grandview was a small community, everybody knew everybody else’s horses as well as they knew each other’s children, and the Browns knew nobody who owned such a lovely, ghostly-looking mare. Bessie and her sisters went outside to stare at the animal, and Alta wandered over and petted its mane. When Melissa saw her daughters with the strange horse, she ordered them inside. She tried to shoo the animal away, but it just looked at her.
The horse stood there for hours staring at the house, shimmering in the winter moonlight. When Will Brown arrived home from his job at the school, he chased the horse away. Later that night, my mother heard her parents talking. “You know what it means when a white horse comes to visit,” my grandmother said. “It means
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