Calling the Unknown by Name: Helen Peters Nosworthy and the Naming of the Ouija
There are few objects that pull reactions from people as widespread, varied, and strong as the Ouija board. Since its official arrival in 1890 the lightweight board has been a symbol of horror, intrigue, mystery, wonder, and the source of countless stories from both seasoned paranormal professionals and the bravely curious. Although it is the subject of many questions, one of the most common queries about the board is also the most basic: where did the name “Ouija” come from?
In 1848 Spiritualism began to rage through America, heavily fueled by the claims of the Fox sisters of upstate New York who said they could communicate with the deceased through audible knocks in response to questions. Spiritualism was easily embraced. It did not go against any religious beliefs, it could be practiced in a variety of ways, and it made a desperately needed promise in the United States, the ability to communicate with the deceased at a time when death seemed to be constantly peering around every corner. With a life expectancy of less than sixty years, disease, and the Civil War ripping hundreds of thousands of souls from their families with no explanation or closure, the need to speak to the dead was high, but the results were not fast. Seances and waiting for knocks could be extremely time consuming and in an age newly acquainted with devices like the telegraph there was a deep desire for a faster way to receive messages from beyond the veil.
Image of a séance circa late 1800s.
In 1886 the Associated Press began reporting on an answer to this slow Spiritualism problem, a board with letters, numbers, and a pointer that spelled out messages. Surprisingly, it took several years before someone saw the immense financial possibilities of producing these types of boards and the first to do so was Charles Kennard. In 1890 Kennard teamed up with four friends and formed the Kennard Novelty Company, exclusively dedicated to producing the new talking boards. There were some components missing from the new endeavor, for one, none of the four men had a connection to Spiritualism, but the bigger problem was that their device had no name. Fortunately, they did have a connection to someone who could help them with both.
It is a popular story that the name “Ouija” came from combining “Oui” and “Ja”, the French and German words for “yes” but the true origin of the name comes from Helen Peters Nosworthy. At the time of the board’s invention Helen Peters was sister-in-law to Elijah Bond, one of the four friends of Charles Kennard that helped bring the talking boards to the public. She was a stockholder in the company but she was also considered a “strong Medium” and when the discussion came up about what to call the talking boards Peters did the polite thing, she decided to ask the board itself. When she asked it what it wanted to be called the planchette moved to spell out O-U-I-J-A. When she asked the board what it meant the answer was “Good Luck.” Peters then shared something, she revealed a chain around her neck with a locket that contained a picture of a woman with the word “Ouija” written below it. It is believed that the woman may have been British writer named Maria Louise Ramée, who certainly would have been familiar to Nosworthy. Ramée went by the pen name “Ouida,” When Kennard asked if Peters had been thinking about the locket when she was speaking to the board she said no and that was enough for Kennard. The board had a name.
An original 1891 Ouija board. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Now that the board had a name it needed to be patented but there was a problem, the patent office refused to issue a patent unless it could be proven that the board actually worked. On February 10th 1891 Peters and Bond arrived at the patent office in Washington D.C., but they were met with nothing but resistance. After being shuffled from one person to another with no luck the chief patent officer decided to see them, but there was a heavy stipulation at hand. The officer said he would only issue the patent if the board could spell his last name. Peters, Bond, and the officer had never met before but according to letters and patent file records, the board did exactly what was asked and spelled the last name. The visibly shaken officer quickly said “you’ve got your patent” as he left the room.
Reprint of the original patent of the Ouija board.
The popularity and sales of the Ouija Board were sky high and within only one year the Kennard Novelty Company expanded from one to seven factories producing the boards. The boards were wildly successful, but they soon became the source of turmoil for some of the people who brought them to life.
Peters came from a family that was deeply rooted in the South with many ties to the Confederate Army during the Civil War. According to family lore, Helen and her siblings went out to a battlefield after a conflict and collected buttons off the dead soldier’s uniforms. The buttons were treasured but one day they went missing. When the board was consulted about the whereabouts of the buttons it named a member of their own family. Half believed the board, the other half including Peters said the board was wrong, and an irreparable hole was ripped through the family. A distraught Peters disavowed the Ouija board, telling everyone to avoid it because it “told lies.” A year after the board’s release she married Shakespearean actor-turned-salesman Ernest Nosworthy and the pair settled in Denver, Colorado until her death in 1940.
Since its arrival the Ouija board has enjoyed the kind of long term success that any inventor dreams of but if not for Robert Murch the name of Helen Peters Nosworthy may have remained lost. Murch is the founder, Chairman of the Board, and President of the Talking Board Historical Society (founded in 2013).
Not long after the launch of the Ouija board ownership of the company switched hands and the grievances of Charles Kennard and Elijah Bond were publicly displayed within the pages of the Baltimore Sun. When Murch was digging into the archives of the newspaper he found the bitter printed letters between Kennard and Bond that spoke about Peters, her trip to the patent office with Bond, and how she asked the board its name, officially making Helen Peters Nosworthy the woman who named the fabled, iconic, and ever-controversial Ouija board.
With the discovery of who named the Ouija board the Talking Board Historical Society began working with her descendants to formally commemorate the woman who became known as “The Mother of the Ouija Board.” On September 22nd 2018 the Talking Board Historical Society, the mayor of Denver, the president of the Fairmount Heritage Foundation, descendants, and the eager public gathered at the gravesite of Helen Peters Nosworthy in Denver’s Fairmount Cemetery to dedicate a memorial in her honor.
The new tombstone of Helen Peters Nosworthy. Image via burialsandbeyond.com.
The image of the classic Ouija board is instantly recognizable, but the visage of the woman who named the icon is far less known. One of the few images we have mirrors the same ethereal quality of any late 1800s story of talking boards and ghosts. In a sketch drawn by her husband while staying at the Hotel Gladstone in Norfolk, Virginia Helen gazes off the page with transfixing eyes and a slight grin. This is the only known image of Helen showing her in the same timeframe when asked the question that would change her life and the world of the paranormal.
“What do you want to be called?”
“O-U-I-J-A”
Sketch of Helen Peters Nosworthy in approximately 1891. Image via burialsandbeyond.com
Sources:
Murch, Robert. "HELEN PETERS NOSWORTHY’S GRAVESTONE." https://robertmurch.com/moreinfo/helen-peters-nosworthys-gravestone/.
McRobbie, Linda R. "The Strange and Mysterious History of the Ouija Board." Smithsonian.com. Last modified October 27, 2013. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-strange-and-mysterious-history-of-the-ouija-board-5860627/.
"HELEN PETERS NOSWORTHY." The Talking Board Historical Society. https://tbhs.org/helen-peters-nosworthy/.
"Helen Peters Nosworthy: The Medium Behind ‘Ouija’." Burialsandbeyond.com. https://burialsandbeyond.com/2019/01/07/helen-peters-nosworthy-the-medium-behind-ouija/.
