I did a search to see if there was topic in here relating to my question, but couldn't find anything. Forgive me if this has been posted on before. When I was younger, I was told that there were two things that would NOT burn in a house fire. One: A Holy Bible and Two: An ouija board.

Backstory: When I was younger, a friend told me of a house fire that her family had had, after I had mentioned one that had affected my family when I was a baby. She told me that her home had been totally destroyed, that all of her belongings burned, etc., with a couple of exceptions. She said that after the fire was out, they had went in to see if anything was able to be recovered. She said that her dad had found their family Bible. The cover was burned, and the edges of the pages were singed, but the part of the Bible with the writings were left untouched. She then told me that her brother had gotten an ouija board, and it was in their "game room". She said that the box that it was in was burned, but the board itself had the same quality of the Bible, only the edges were singed. She DID produce the Bible, and she was correct (this could have happened in another way, but I tended to believe her). She said that her father had been told that the only way to destroy an ouija board was do a prayer of protection, then chop the board into bits, THEN burn it. She said that her father did just that, and claimed to have heard weird sounds as he was destroying it. That part could have been for dramatic effect, of course. However, the next morning, she told her parents that she had related the story to me, and they claimed that every bit of it was true.

I took this story home to my mother, and asked her had she ever heard of such a thing, and she had told me she had heard the same thing from others. That a Bible will NOT burn, and she also heard of ouija boards did not burn either. I asked her how that could be, and she said that the only way she could figure was that the Bible was the word of God, so it couldn't be destroyed in such a manner, and that an ouija board was the polar opposite: a means to communicate with evil, so neither could be destroyed. Now, I'm on the fence on the validity of ouija boards. I have had experience with them, and some were not good, but I still think that those instances could have been just my imagination, or whatever. So, for those who will argue that an ouija board isn't a portal to demons, I'm not disagreeing with you. For those who question if the Bible is truth or just a fable, I'm not going to agree nor disagree with that either. I'm not questioning the believed validity of the Bible or ouija, but whether they will not burn, as per the legend.

I've never had an experience like this, so I believed that it should be more or less in the Urban Legend forum, seeing as how I've heard many stories of "a friend of a friend" had this happen to their Bibles and/or ouija boards (and only in the one that I related to you, could a singed, coverless Bible be produced as "proof"). I wondered if this was a common legend in the other parts of the U.S. or in other countries in general, or if it was just something believed where I grew up. If there are legends in other parts of the U.S. or other countries, are there variations? Are there other things that folks have claimed that just WON'T burn? If so, what?

If any of you have heard legends, of friends of friends, or of this actually happening to you, I'd love to hear them! Please share! And NO, I am not asking that someone "experiment" and attempt to destroy said items with a fire, so please do not experiment. I'm just curious about the legends, etc. themselves. Thanks!

As a side note, on the topic of ouija boards being destroyed: I have heard that folks who had tried to destroy an ouija board had had bad things happen to them, their family, or homes (because they didn't protect themselves before they attempted to destroy the boards). In relation to that, I've heard of someone trying to burn one, only to have a house fire a week later. I've heard of "destroyed" boards returning to their normal spot in the house, and back to the way they were before the attempt to "destroy" them. Stories I've heard run the gambit, from folks having horrible accidents, hauntings, demonic attacks, untimely and unexplained deaths. All I can say, is that Parker Brothers must be in league with the devil....

So why don't we start building houses out of Bibles and Ouija boards?

LMAO! Good idea!

Ive also heard of that and another story where a person was shot at and hit the bible and the bullet didnt go through even one page of the bible. It was on the news about a year or 2 back.

I have seen both things burn before, so it isn't anything more than an urban legend.

I've rolled joints with pages from the bible... they definitely burn.

I tend to agree. The stories are numerous around where I was born and raised, and as with all urban legends, it is told with the belief that it is totally true. I guess more or less, I was wondering if that was an urban legend that was popular "belief" around the country or globe or if it was just something that was popular in my locale or only in the U.S., etc.

That's pretty neat! I know it was a while back, but do you remember where it occurred? I understand if you don't, since it has been a while.

I remember the preacher of my church (when I was about 6 or 7) was in a bank once, and these guys came in to rob it. The preacher figured that he would try to stop the guys with a bit of a moral lesson and by telling them that the wages of sin are death and how God would forgive them, and to rethink what they were doing. They responded by pointing their guns at him. He told them that he was protected by God because he was a child of God, and that any bullets they shot at him would not kill him. I don't know if he was a bit on the loony side or not, or if he had a superman complex, I'd say yes, only because I'm not one to tempt fate.

Anyway, they did shoot him, like 2 or 3 times, and he didn't die (but came close). Later, he went to visit them in prison, after he'd healed, and told them that he forgave them, and I know that one of them asked his and God's forgiveness and got "saved". I was of the opinion, and still am, that it was more or less luck that he did not die. I didn't think it was divine intervention. If he had kept his mouth shut, he would have never been shot in the first place. Then the guys would have been arrested for robbing the bank, instead of robbing the bank AND attempted murder. But, this is all off topic, and I only mentioned it because what you said had reminded me of it.

The bible does burn, as do other books. It's paper not stone, I've seen bibles burn and they burn pretty fast - with the pages being thin.

nothing more than an urban legend. The only thing I know cannot be burned off, are Iron atoms.

P.S before you ask If I've burned a bible, only a couple pages (to see if anything would happen, as to be expected nothing.) but never the entire book. ...It had a plastic cover, the fumes would have been poisonous.

Jesus! What kind of parties do you people go to?!?!

That darn ring. i keep trying, but all i get is letters.

Couldn't that be the fact that the bible is so thick, you'd have to be at a fairly close range to get it through a bible that thick

i probaly shouldn't ask about this one...

That's soo wrong but so true!

I guess that makes three of us then

Same here...





Also same here

I've rolled joints with pages from the bible... they definitely burn.

Yep, and that's when you realized that you were going to hell too, right? I bet that you get your own room when you get there! Have you ever considered spiking the communion wine?

I've always heard this legend but I've never believed it. Someone always knows someone who's Bible didn't burn. Just a legend.

Let me see...
Water.

There have been all sorts of reports down the years of church fires which destroy everything except a Bible or a framed print or painting of Jesus Christ on a wall. Or a Catholic church in which everything metal melts except for a chaliice or a monstrance containing the Host.

One could probably develope a perfectly natural explanation for this - in the hottest fires there's going to be "cooler" spots.

And let's not forget all those cases of Spontaneous Human Cremation, where the victim and her (his) chair are consumed, but nearby books and newspapers are not.

water can burn

Not really burn, just vaporize.

It can burn.

Burnt water tastes gross

Those damn palmetto bugs won't burn. When they're flying at you and you take a can of lysol and light it with a zippo and use it as a flame thrower, those beasts just brush it off and laff at you.

when you say the bible cover was burned and pages singed but the words un touched, that could be mere coincidence, the cover most likely protected the pages from the bible, and same goes possibly for the game, the box was burned, which many have proctected the actual game. Not trying to be a douche bag sceptic, but just trying to debunk a theory.

On the subject of bullet-proof Bibles, the Mythbusters did a test, and they shot several different caliber weapons at it, ranging from .357 to .45 to 006. The bullets did got into the bible, but stopped halfway because of sheer thickness. Check it out on www.discovery.com/mythbusters

I threw several bibles in a beach fire once. Fun times, Fun times.

You know whats really creepy? Mcdonald's french fries don't mold!

Good point, many people would be able to confirm this, myself included, of course.

A .22 calibre will go through 4 inches of wood from 25 yards, and that isn't pocket bible size. I'd guess that it was from a hell of a distance away, but I have seen one Bible with a bullet inside it, a Gideons one... from WW1 I think.

My sister was murdered back in 1975 the murder's set her body on fire yes she burned they had to indentify her body buy her teeth and her cross that was around her neck. The cross was made of wood with a suede cord that she tied around her neck the police could not belive it did not perish in the fire.

If it was hard wood, then no surprise.

Sorry about your sister, if your story is true.

Chokmah I wish it were not true. I would never lie about some thing like that.