31 Days Of Ouija Blogs: Day 1 - Ouija History
Today is the start of a series of blog posts about Ouija boards. All October we’ll be discussing Ouija board myths & misconceptions, sirits and how to deal with them, and everything in between. Today we are going to talk about how Ouija boards got to be how they are, and we’ll do it by asking the big questions.
WHO: Ouija boards were first patented by Elijah Bond and William Fuld in 1891.
WHAT: Ouija boards consist of an alphabet, numbers, and the words “yes”, “no”, and “goodbye”. These are the standards that should be included on all Ouija boards, but literally any other phrase, drawing, or characters are acceptable. The name Ouija apparently came from Charles Kenner, who was a varnisher that worked on talking boards. He asked the board what it should be called, and it spelled out “Ouija”, stating that it was an ancient Egyptian word for “good luck.” William Fuld later stated that the name came from the French and German words for “yes”.
WHERE: The modern Ouija board as we know it today was created in Baltimore, Maryland.
WHEN: Talking boards have been around for a long time, some dating back to ancient China, but the idea of them didn’t become popular until the spiritualist movement in the late 1800s. America had just gone through the bloodiest war in its history, and many family were left grieving. The idea that people could reach out to the spirits of their loved ones became a huge fad, and all sorts of ways of communicating with the dead appeared for sale, including mediums who would conduct seances with all sorts of tools, such as the spirit horn. Of course, almost all of these mediums were frauds that were cashing in on the movement, and they denounced Ouija boards since it was a method that they couldn’t exactly profit off of. By the 1920s, Ouija boards were one of the most popular board games in America, and remained a top selling party game until the 1970s, when a film called The Exorcist started a bad wrap for them. In the film, a young girl becomes possessed by a graphically disturbing demon after playing the Ouija board, and suddenly a national panic set in over the game. Ever since then, most people see Ouija boards as a tool to contact demons, and unleash evil spirits into people’s homes.
WHY: Ouija boards were invented as a board game. They were not created in order to enhance psychic powers or open doorways for evil spirits. While they are good for spirit communication, they are not meant to be taken seriously. They are not around so you can talk to your deceased loved one or to predict the future. If you play with the idea that it’s a fun game, it will be a lot of fun. If you play thinking that you’ll contact something dark and evil, you’ll be far more likely to talk to a spirit pretending to be that way.
HOW: The most popular scientific explanation for Ouija boards is the Ideomotor Effect, which is involuntary movements of the brain. However, those of us who have actually played know that most of what the Ouija board spells out does not come from our brains, and that the planchette is the thing that is moving, not our hands. There is no scientific explanation for the paranormal activities that can happen during and after Ouija board sessions. We have our own explanation for how Ouija boards work. Spirits use our energy in order to manipulate objects, and playing the Ouija board is an open invitation for those spirits to use us to move the planchette.
Ouija boards were invented as a fun way to contact spirits, and when it was purchased by Parker Brothers (which later became Hasbro) it became one of the best selling board games in america. Sales for it has always been high, and since the film Ouija was released, sales have never been higher. They now come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, since there is no right or wrong way to make a Ouija board. There has never been a documented instance of people being attacked by demons though a Ouija board, or being possessed through a Ouija board, and if there were, they definitely wouldn’t be for sale in the toy aisle.
If you want to check out some cool Ouija board history, check out the blog of the biggest Ouija board collector,Robert Much @talkingboards
For some other blog posts of mine about Ouija board basics, check out my posts about Ouija board demons, potential Ouija board dangers, and whether or not Ouija boards are actually a game. Spoiler alert, there are no Ouija board demons, not even Zozo, Ouija boards are not dangerous if you play in the right frame of mind, and yes, Ouija boards are games.
Tomorrow we’ll talk more in depth about why people do consider them to be demon portals to Hell, and why people in general think they are something to be feared.
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