How Do Ouija Boards Work?

Ouija has been studied in scientific laboratories, and scientists are in agreement with spiritualists that these “talking boards” can sometimes produce some uncanny results. Where researchers part company with the true believers is on the explanation. Rather than crediting spirits, the men and women in the white coats attribute the eerie messages, predictions, and other communications emanating from Ouija boards to the subconscious minds of the people who use them.

Specifically, scientists think that—at least in situations where nobody is intentionally moving the Ouija board planchette—a neurological phenomenon called the ideomotor effect, or ideomotor response, is responsible for all those eerie Ouija messages that make otherwise inexplicable sense. First identified in the mid-1800s, the ideomotor effect involves involuntary muscular reactions triggered by any of the unconscious parts of the brain. Examples would include people jumping when startled, talking in their sleep, spontaneously crying during a sad movie, or automatically extending their arms during a fall. According to the ideomotor Ouija board hypothesis, the subconscious mind or minds of one or more of the participants cause nearly imperceptible muscular movements that make the planchette slide about the board, answering questions and spelling out information. [Read more…] about HOW DOES A OUIJA BOARD WORK?

It’s About How The Ouija Board Got A U.S. Patent

Of course there are thousands of strange tales concerning secrets, disclosures, and accurate predictions revealed during sessions with Ouija boards. But according to Ouija board historian Robert Murch, perhaps none has ever been stranger—or at least, more consequential—than an 1891 Ouija seance that took place at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C.

In an interview with Smithsonian, Murch said that shortly after deciding to manufacture Ouija boards in the early 1890s, the game’s original investors found themselves in something of a bind. In order to stave off competition from Ouija board imitators, their company badly needed a U.S. patent on the product. However, in order to qualify for a patent, a “device” needed to be proven to work . . . and proving that Ouija “worked” in any practical sense seemed impossibly problematic. [Read more…] about THE STRANGEST OUIJA BOARD STORY

The Ouija Movie: An Enjoyable Scream For Halloween

A haunted house where mysterious deaths have occurred. An old, wooden Ouija board that turns up in an attic. A prolonged electric-power outage. A group of curious teenagers who seem to lack a strong sense of self-preservation. What could possibly go wrong?

Sure, Ouija, released just a week before Halloween, is fairly standard horror-flick fare. For one thing, it is reliably punctuated with jump-scares that produce much of their shock though a sudden blast of noise or music in the reverberating vastness of the movie theater. These are usually nowhere near as effective during a cozier living-room screening. [Read more…] about OUIJA

Did The Ouija Board Cause William Fuld’s Death?

William Fuld did not invent the Ouija board; that credit belongs to Charles Kennard, another Baltimore businessman who came up with the idea of commercializing the “spirit board,” a previously homemade divination tool or toy used by spiritualists in the late 1800s. Nor did Fuld name the Ouija board. In fact, the Ouija board apparently named itself.

However, Fuld was the great entrepreneur who took control of Kennard’s company in 1892, the year after the Ouija business started, and ran it for three and a half decades. In the interim, Fuld successfully promoted his talking board, popularizing it until it became a bonafide international craze. [Read more…] about HOW THE OUIJA BOARD KILLED ITS MAKER

The Story Of The ‘Mystifying Oracle’ That Named Itself

The story of how the Ouija board was given the name Ouija (wee-ja) board actually is more amusing than it is mysterious. Many people assume that Ouija is a combination of the French (oui) and German (ja) words for “yes.” But it is not.

According to Ouija historian Robert Murch, the board suggested its own name one day in the early 1890s while it was being used by Elijah Bond, one of the original investors in the company that manufactured it, and members of Bond’s family. When the group asked the board what they should call it, it spelled out, “Ouija.” When they asked what Ouija meant, the board reportedly told them, “Good Luck.” [Read more…] about HOW OUIJA BOARDS GOT NAMED

Ouija Boards: A Mystical, Mostly American, Invention

Most of what we know about the history of the Ouija board comes to us through the work of a spirit-board enthusiast and collector named Robert Murch, who has researched the topic since 1992.

Murch, probably the world’s foremost authority on Ouija boards, tells us that far from being an enchanted and somewhat sinister relic from the distant—perhaps pre-Christian—past as many people think, the Ouija board was created as a game in the last decade of 19th century America. As you can see from the photo (above), the first commercial talking boards were made of wood; the original purchase price was $1.50. [Read more…] about THE HISTORY OF THE OUIJA BOARD

Is It Dangerous To Play With A Ouija Board?

As strange as it may seem, playing with a Ouija board did not used to be a controversial activity. For most of its existence, from the time of it’s invention by leisure-time entrepreneurs in the late 1800s until the early 1970s, “spirit” boards or “talking” boards were seen as an interesting, safe, and pleasurable pastime for friends and families, including the kids. The Norman Rockwell illustration (above) of a wholesome, early 1920s middle-class couple having fun with a Ouija board pretty much sums up the attitude that prevailed through most of the Twentieth Century.

Certainly, plenty of people who used a Ouija board really believed they were communicating with spirits. But almost nobody thought they were evil or harmful spirits; rather, people believed or imagined that they were contacting the ghosts of departed loved ones, or other disembodied but benign entities who wanted to pass a message from the other side.

So, what happened to turn it all around? [Read more…] about ARE OUIJA BOARDS EVIL?

Ouija Boards—What Are They Really?

Almost all of us have seen, if not used, a Ouija (pronounced wee-ja) board. Game and toy company Hasbro, Inc., currently owns the trade mark, but around nine other companies produce similar products, calling them “spirit” or “talking” boards. Regardless of the names the manufacturers use, the public generically refers to all of them as Ouija boards.

In its contemporary form the Ouija board is a game board illustrated with letters, numbers, and the words “No,” “Yes,” and “Good bye.” The Ouija set includes a small, plastic table called a planchette designed to slide easily across the board on a trio of felt feet. The planchette usually contains a round window from the center of which protrudes a brass pin that serves as a pointer. [Read more…] about OUIJA BOARD