As a method of theorise communicating with the spirit globe , the Ouija board has terrified countless sleep party child and wait on as a plot vehicle in a figure of Hollywood films . Here ’s where it came from .
Spiritualism and Pre-Ouija Methods
Ouija board have their ascendant inspiritualism , which begin in the United States in the late 1840s . ( claim that ancient Ouija boards live areunfounded . ) The new motility was lead bymediums , who claimed to be intermediaries between the animation and the dead .
There were a number of ways mediums made follower believe that they were communicating messages from those who had passed . One , table turn , involved the table moving or knocking on the floor in response to letter call out from the alphabet . Another method acting used planchette — heart - shaped devices with two wheels at one remainder and a pencil at the point . Users would place their fingers on the machine , which would then be guided by spirits who would “ drop a line ” subject matter .
Both methods were problematic . Table turning took too long , and planchette writing was hard to decipher . According to theMuseum of Talking Boards , some mediums got rid of these methods in all , preferring to channel while in a trance , while others builtcomplicated tables , dial , and tables painted with letter of the alphabet that required masses to apply a planchette asa pointer . This method became the most popular — and pave the way for the Ouija gameboard .
The Rise of The Talking Board
In 1886 , theNew York Daily Tribunereported on anew talking boardbeing used in Ohio . It was 18 by 20 in and feature the ABC’s , number , and the termsyes , no , proficient eve , andgoodnight ; the only other necessary object was a “ little board three or four inches high … with four legs ” that the hard drink could use to identify varsity letter .
The brilliance of the gameboard was that anyone could make it — the tools suggested in the article are “ a jackfruit - knife and a marking brush . ” Operating the board was light , too :
“ You take the board in your lap , another person model down with you . You each savvy the little tabular array with the thumb and index at each turning point next to you . Then the motion is asked , ‘ Are there any communication theory ? ’ Pretty soon you think the other someone is pushing the tabular array . He intend you are doing the same . But the table move around to ‘ yes ’ or ‘ no . ’ Then you go on inquire questions and the answers are spell out by the leg on the table rest on the missive one after the other . ”
( Of course , any messages generated probably were n’t from spirits ; instead , they were probable a result of theIdeomotor effect . This psychological phenomenon was first described in 1852 by William Benjamin Carpenter who , in ascientific paperanalyzing how talking circuit card mold , theorize that the social movement of muscles could occur severally of a mortal ’s witting desire . )
Ouija: The Game
These types of talk boards became very popular , and in 1890 , Elijah Bond , Charles Kennard and William H.A. Maupin had theideato grow the board into a toy . They register the first letters patent for a game they call the “ Ouija board , ” which looked and operated much like the spill circuit board in Ohio ; the patent was concede in 1891 . The name , according to Kennard , came from using the board , and was an ancient Egyptian word meaning “ good circumstances . ” The Kennard Novelty Company manufactured the boards , which were made offive piece of woodacross the face braced by two vertical slats on the back ; they retail for$1.50 .
Kennard left the company in 1891 , and the Kennard Novelty Company became the Ouija Novelty Company . William Fuld , an employee there , eventually took over production of the circuit board ; in 1901 , he commence construct his own boards under the nameOuija , which Fuld enunciate do from a combination of the French and German words for “ yes”—the etymology that isaccepted today .
Fuld would go on to plan many different versions of the board ( he holds more Ouija patents and copyright than anyone else in history — a noble-minded amount of 21 registration in three countries — including the blueprint forthe New planchette ) . Because of the board ’s huge succeeder , a number of competitors tried their hands at create their own Ouija - like devices . Fuld sued many of those emulator , right up until his death in 1927 .
In 1966 , Fuld ’s estate of the realm sell the kinsperson business concern — which included more than just Ouija boards — to Parker Brothers , which manufactured the New boards as we know them today . In 1991 , Parker Brothers was sold to Hasbro , which now holds all the Ouija right and patents .
Hasbro has even leave the creative activity of movies based on the secret plan : Ouija , directed by Stiles White , came out in 2014 , andOuija : Origin of Evil , conduct by Mike Flanagan , come out in 2016 . ( Several of the actors have in that project would go on to asterisk in Flanagan ’s 2018Netflixadaptation ofShirley Jackson’sThe Haunting of Hill House . ) “ They were in reality very supportive , ” Flanagan distinguish Fandango . “ One of the things they never wanted to shy away from was trying to exhibit their product as something that was frightening . I cerebrate that was wise . If they were like , ‘ Behold theOuijaboard and all its terrifying abilities , none of which are that scary because we do n’t require to turn off the marketing hoi polloi , ’ you ’re kind of in no - man ’s solid ground . ”
A version of this story ran in 2014 ; it has been update for 2023 .
