How to Summon a Ghost: Paranormal Investigators Approach

Whether you are trying to contact a deceased loved one, or find out why your cabinet doors keep opening and closing by themselves all the time, you may look to summon a ghost to get answers. No matter what type of spirit you’re trying to summon, there are a few different ways to make your summoning successful.

We’re going to look at how to summon a ghost in 3 different ways: A Ouija board session, a seance, and automatic writing. Each of these 3 processes is different and requires specific setups, so read up on which technique will work best for you and have all your tools ready to go.

Note: Different paranormal investigators will always have different approaches to summoning a ghost and some will be more spiritual than others. My own personal approach is to set up whatever ghost hunting equipment I’m using, introduce myself and the setup (respectfully) and wait for a spirit to arrive. I’ve had a member of my time explain their process here as it gets a bit more involved.

Summoning With an Ouija Board

A lot of individuals still consider the Ouija board to be a toy used for entertainment purposes only. Little do they know that in the right hands, an Ouija board is a powerful tool that can summon ghosts successfully, usually in a single board session. 

Here are the steps to summon a ghost using an Ouija board-

Step 1: Prepare Your Space

Having the right settings and mindset allows for a more successful summoning, so to prepare, find a dark, quiet area where you won’t be interrupted to perform your Ouija board summoning. If you like to light a white candle or burn incense to set the mood, feel free, but it isn’t necessary.

Set up your Ouija board and planchette. Some experienced users suggest cleaning or sprinkling your board and planchette with salt or warm salt water to cleanse any residual energy from the last summoning session, but as long as your board is clean and intact then it is fine to use. 

Step 2: Open Your Session and Invite Your Spirit In

Ouija is all about ceremony, so officially opening and closing your Ouija Board session is important. For your board experience to go as smoothly as possible, you want to be the one in control, not the spirit.

Place your hands on the planchette, which is the board pointer, and announce to the room that you are now open to spiritual communication, and wait. If there is a specific ghost you are trying to summon, call them by name and ask the board questions pertaining specifically to that individual spirit.

Have a list of questions ready and record any Ouija board answers you receive for later study.

Step 3: Close Your Session

With Ouija board sessions, closing your session is a must. When you firmly close the session, you release the spirit from the session as well.

Think of it like hanging up the phone. If you don’t hang up, the ghost is just waiting for you on the other end in silence, and on a more sinister note, the ghost can hear anything going on after a session that hasn’t been closed.

To avoid this, firmly tell the spirit goodbye, and move the planchette to the GOODBYE space on the Ouija board before putting it away.

Summoning with a Seance

Once an incredibly popular way to commune with the dead, seances have become less popular over the years, but are still a very effective way to summon ghosts.

Step 1: Prepare The Room

With a seance, you will need at least one other person for the session to be successful. The more people you have, the bigger your circle of energy will be.

As with all ghost summoning exercises, a clean area is helpful. You will need a round table and enough chairs for you and your seance partners. Since you will perform the seance in the dark, a lit white candle in the center of the table will also be helpful.

Step 2: Conduct The Seance

You and the rest of your group should sit at the table in the darkened room and hold hands. There should be a seance leader, and the leader should verbally open the seance session and invite any spirits nearby to speak with everyone in the room.

The leader should speak loudly and clearly and indicate a way for the spirit to communicate. Taps and knocks are popular ways to allow a ghost to say yes or no: One tap for yes, two for no.

As with the Ouija board, if your group seeks to invite a specific ghost in, call them out by name.

Step 3: Close The Seance

Say goodbye to the spirits that joined the seance, and thank them for communicating with the group. While the experience is still fresh, record the events from the seance down with pen and paper, unless you recorded the audio or video digitally.

Summoning Ghosts Using Automatic Writing

Automatic writing is a form of divination that has been used for hundreds of years to connect with the dead. While it doesn’t yield the same bombastic, obvious results as an Ouija board or seance will, automatic writing is a calmer, more personal way to summon a ghost for communication.

There are no firm steps for automatic writing. All you really need is a pen, paper, and a quiet mind. It can be done indoors or outdoors, as long as the area is peaceful and allows you to completely clear your mind of all distractions.

Simply empty your mind, place the pen on the paper, close your eyes, and wait. Try very hard to think of nothing. Any errant thoughts can disrupt your automatic writing. Wait anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour before opening your eyes.

You can now read your writing by the entity from the other side. It may be in the form of words, pictures, or even a combination of the two. Each spirit is unique and will communicate in different ways. 

Just like any other ghost summoning exercise, automatic writing isn’t guaranteed to work, and if it does, there is no sure-fire way to get a benevolent spirit. Use automatic writing with caution, especially if you have received disturbing communications before.

Remember

Summoning a ghost is a milestone for any paranormal researcher, and there is no one exact way to go about it. 

Our list of 3 ways to summon ghosts is a good place to begin, but if none of our suggestions fit your ghost summoning preferences, do some research on your own and keep trying. We guarantee there is something out there to fit your needs.