Planchette writing is used in séances as a means of communicating with spirits. To do this, a person places their hand on a planchette, a small wooden board with two wheels and a pencil holder, and a spirit is said to move their hand to write. Planchette writing has the same mechanism as a Ouija board. This writing from a séance at Borley Rectory reads as follows:
1. Please continue your message?
get [illegible]
2. Please repeat carefully. We cannot understand.
get help
3. Who do you want to help you?
[illegible]
4. Will you please repeat carefully as we wish to help you?
glem…[illegible]
5. Which one. Spell name.
Sidney
6. I am not able to hold a mass – what can I do for you? [illegible]
get [illegible]
7. I do not understand – please try to tell me more clearly.
get a priest
8. Can Father Henning help you?
yes
9. Did you write the messages on the walls at Borley?
yes
From “The Alleged Haunting of Borley Rectory,” The Planchette Scripts, Book 22, Box 3, Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation collection, Collection 331, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).