In the year 1848, something unusual happened in a Hydesville, New York cabin. Two sisters, Kate and Margaret Fox, contacted the spirit of a dead peddler, became instant celebrities, and sparked a national obsession that spread all across the United States and Europe. It was the birth of modern Spiritualism.
The whole world, it seemed, was ripe for communication with the dead. Spiritualist churches sprang up everywhere and persons with the special gift or "pipeline" to the "other side" were in great demand. These unique individuals, designated "mediums" because they acted as intermediaries between spirits and humans, invented a variety of interesting ways to communicate with the spirit world. Table turning (tilting) was one of these. The medium and attending sitters would rest their fingers lightly on a table and wait for spiritual contact. Soon, the table would tilt and move, and knock on the floor to letters called from the alphabet. Entire messages from the spirits were spelled out in this way.
Two people sit opposite each other at a table. On the table is a rectangular playing board with two curved rows of letters, one above the other. The top row runs from A to M, and the lower row runs from N to Z. Just below these is a row with numbers One through Zero. At the top left of the board is the word Yes, and at the top right, the word No. Near the bottom of the board is Goodbye.
On the board rests an odd little device, like a tiny heart-shaped table, with three legs that allow it to glide smoothly over the board's surface. The two people put their fingertips lightly on the little table, the planchette, and it starts moving. The planchette moves from letter to letter, supposedly under its own power, and spells out messages, or answers yes or no to questions put to it.
And so begins a session with a Ouija board, a game which is also known as the talking board and the witch board. Ouija boards were immensely popular between 1890 and 1950, and dozens of manufacturers competed with different versions, sometimes claiming that the Ouija was much more than just a game. Capitalizing on the the craze for spiritualism, they didn't hesitate to suggest that the Ouija was a portal to the spirit world, capable of putting one in touch with the dead of all ages.
The Ouija board wasn't so much invented, as it was refined. Communicating with the dead through spirit mediums swept the United States and Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Seances were held, in which people sat around a table, waiting for the spirits to speak. The disembodied dead made their presence known by tipping the table, and knocking one of its legs on the floor. The taps were supposedly a code which the medium interpreted for her guests.
But table tipping was a slow and rather boring way to receive the spirits' messages. Some mediums chose to go into a trance and allow the spirits to speak through them. Others preferred automatic writing, believing that what they wrote while in the trance state came to them from the spirits. Numerous gadgets were also invented, some of them involving complicated gears and pulleys. Gradually, a simplified planchette and a standardized board evolved, becoming the Ouija board that we know today.
In 1892, in an early business takeover, William Fuld became the owner and president of the Kennard Novelty Company, which had developed the final form of the talking board. He then renamed it the Ouija Novelty Company. Fuld was such an enthusiastic promoter, even claiming that he had invented and named the board, that his name is still associated with it, and its actual originators are mostly forgotten. Capitalizing on public fascination with the exotic and mysterious far east, Fuld declared that Ouija was the Egyptian word for good luck. It's more likely, however, that he derived the name from the Moroccan city of Oujda.
Fuld went on to sell millions of talking boards, as well as other toys and novelties. In spite of fierce competition from other toy makers, his company dominated the market for 35 years. Thanks to his own talent for sensationalizing a simple toy, his accidental death in 1927 was turned into a lasting legend. His fall from the factory roof while doing repairs was rumored to have been a suicide, and to this day that story is still circulated as fact.
After Fuld's death, his family sold the company to Parker Brothers, which still produces the Ouija board, and owns all rights and patents. The popularity of the game has waxed and waned over the years, and controversy has centered on whether it is just a game or a real doorway to another plane of existence. People who believe in spirits and similar beings, insist that using a Ouija board can provide an opening for malevolent forces, placing the souls of users in danger.
In fact, the Ouija board has inspired its own body of superstitions and legends. Most of the superstitions concern ways to make sure that evil spirits can't make use of the board to enter our world and create mischief or worse. Placing a silver coin on the board is supposed to prevent spirits from coming through, but if you don't have a silver coin there are other things you can do to protect yourself. Never use the board in a cemetery or any place where a murder or other unnatural death has occurred. Never use it when you are sick, since evil spirits can take possession of anyone who is in a weakened condition.
Other precautions are: never play alone, don't let the planchette fall off the board, and don't allow it to go straight through the numbers or the alphabet, since these provide a direct path for the spirit's release. If the planchette makes a figure eight several times, or goes to the four corners of the board, you have contacted an evil spirit and should turn the planchette upside down to use it.
The ouija is not a game and should be taken seriously.
Do not use a ouija Board.
