Bloody Mary

Maybe want some bonding time with your lady friends? Then try Bloody Mary, the childhood game all about Queen Mary I, who was rumored to have bathed in the blood of the babies she bore, having killed all the infant girls as they were not considered suitable successors. Other stories have it so she killed all her newborns as a way to sidestep establishing a Roman Catholic succession to her throne. Regardless, she is said to have filled her tub with their blood as a way to keep her youth, though many think this story is confused with that both of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Bathory, who isn't named Mary at all.

Regardless, here is what you do: gather a couple friends in a darkened bathroom, one lit only by a few candles. Spin around a few times chanting Bloody Mary before finally stopping to look in the mirror. There you will catch a glimpse of the Queen herself. Simple logic said it's just you in the mirror, dizzy from spinning, vision low because of the dark room, your expectations heightened by chanting the name of a dead woman. But that's just logic, which has no place here.

See the face of your husband or the GRIM REAPER!

Single but curious as to whether you'll ever marry? We can help! Walk backwards up a flight of stairs in a dark house, holding a candle in one hand, a hand mirror in the other. As you look into the mirror, you should your future husband's face. But what if it is a skeletal face? It's the Grim Reaper, letting you know that your ass ain't landing a man and you will instead die before walking down the aisle. Not a bad fate, when you consider today's divorce rate.

Seance

Sure, this seems easy enough. Gather your friends around a big table in a darkened room lit only by candles, hold hands and have your most freaky pal start talking to spirits that may be there. But it's not that simple. You need all to really think about it getting that ghost on over there, trying to name one that would be in the place you are at or, hell, going for the gold with Heath Ledger (too soon?), or maybe finding out the way pratfalls happen in heaven with John Ritter or how Steve Guttenberg's career is faring in hell. No matter who it is, you have to really concentrate, saying repetitive things in creepy low voices.

Levitation

Not feeling too light as a feature or stiff as a board? Then gather up some friends and lay on down. This trick, made famous in that terrible movie The Craft (though bewitching enough for my friend Stephen to insist on watching it every time it shows up on TBS) requires a group of kneeling people gathered around someone lying prone. Everyone puts their fingers underneath the person they are trying to lift, chanting "light as a feather, stiff as a board." Someone should begin telling the person attempting to be levitated a nice little story about how they die, usually making it some terrible fate, like decapitation or drowning. Get detailed so everyone flips out. The person is supposed to start lifting into air, their friends fingers still beneath them though the lifters will find the levitation happening with little effort. Soon everyone removes their fingers, and the person is still in the air as their spirit rises up in their bodies into the netherworld. Wild! Warning to coed party players -- don't try coping a feel with your frisky fingers. It kills the mood, and your chances of having it pay off are about zero.

Quija Board

And the easiest one of all? The Quija board! Any idiot can make this spooky by (of course) playing in the flickering glow of a few candles burning in the always important darkened room. You can pick up a Quija board most anywhere but if you can, get an older one, especially if someone you know has owned it for some time. Get a couple friends to sit in a circle, balance the board on your knees, lightly touch the triangle thing, and start asking away. Popular questions include: "Will I ever find love?" "Will I ever be rich?" and "Is this itching an STD?" You can bring in popular culture by seeing what JonBenet Ramsay thinks of John Mark Karr, see if Don Knotts knows why you can't rent his wonderfully great movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken off Netflix, or convince a fallen American soldier killed in Iraq to haunt Bush, though that seems a bit faux pas. And as a side note: You don't always need a full-on Quija board. We've heard of spirits conjured through homemade boards as well as on pieces of paper. Once my friend Maria and I played Quija on a mini board that was small enough to be part of a keychain. We listened to Danzig really loud and some scary things happened, mainly just her roommate getting busted for cheating but overall, creepy! We also recommend watching the movie Witchboard just before trying to find your own ghost. Tawny Kitean should get you in the mood for some conjuring.