History of the Ouija Board

What about pulling out the Ouija board for Halloween? Wouldn't that add to the spooky mood? Feelings about Ouija boards have become controversial in some circles, but has been a fascination for many for over a century!

Background of the Ouija Board

Ouija boards began as a parlor game and became popular in the mid-1800's. According to the article "Ouija Board - a Game?" on the All About the Occult website, "Adolphus Theodore Wagner first patented the Ouija board concept, sometimes referred to as "talking boards," in London, England on January 23, 1854" . The website tells us that the patent Wagner filed called his Ouija Board invention a "psychograph". He felt that it could "read the minds of people using "nervous energy." Seven years from the time of its advent, the Ouija Board evolved from a parlor game into a channeling portal.

According to the William Fuld.com website, In the U.S. the first talking board patent was filed by Elijah Bond, one of the business partners of the Kennard Novelty company in 1891. It is not documented exactly when the board with letters on it was developed but it became known as the "Talking Board". In 1966, a century from original conception, Parker Bros. patented the modern day Ouija board, and William Fuld is credited with its development.

The History of the Ouija Board Planchette

The heart-shaped "pointer" that delivers the answer on the the Ouija Board is called a planchette.. The planchette went through many changes over the years. The Museum of Talking Boards website (History of the Talking Board) describes the earlier planchette as having, "two rotating casters underneath and a pencil at the tip, forming the third leg". The idea was that, when the planchette moved, it wrote the answer with the pencil. But as one can imagine, the writing was hard to read and often the planchette ran off its paper during execution.

Other devices were developed such as the dial plate or psychographs but none worked quite as well as the heart-shaped planchette used today. Over the years quite a buzz developed over an evil connection to the Ouija board. Many spooky books (Aleister Crowley and the Quija Board), and movies (Witchboard, Jumanji) have included the Ouija board in them, which has further demonized the Ouija board. And whether or not the Ouija board truly connects earthly beings to "the other side" is laughed at by some, but taken seriously by others.

Ouija Board History Trivia

This "talking board" has had an interesting business history:

-The Kennard Novelty Company produced the first commercial line of Ouija boards in the late 1800's.
-The trademark for the word Ouija was granted to the Kennard Novelty Company on February 3rd, 1891
-In 1897 the Ouija board sold for $1.50 at W S Carr & Company. (According to Inflation data.com, long term -inflation since 1914 was 1900%! Using that factor the $1.50 equates to today's cost of $30.00.
-Kennard withdrew its authorization to produce the Ouija board after 14 months.
-After a succession of business decisons, Kennard Company gave their employee responsible for the daily production, William Fuld, manufacturing rights.
-William Fuld's first talking board patent was granted on July 19th 1892. This patent reflected the "finger" or moveable piece (Planchette).
-William Fuld's trademark (Oracle) "was filed on January 22th 1902 and was granted on February 18th 1902.
-Various other versions of the talking board were sold over the years, such as the "Wireless Messenger" and "I Do Psycho Ideograph".
-The business was passed on to Fuld's heirs who eventually sold their rights to Parker Bros. in 1966

Today's Ouija Board

Progress leaves nothing behind, right? In 1999, Parker Bros abandoned the older version of the Ouija board and now sells a glow in the dark version for around $25.00, which is slightly smaller and has a few changes to the board's appearance. And taking the inflation factor into account, a pretty good deal! (That glow in the dark lettering sure would have been nice during all those Ouija board sessions in dark rooms back in the sixties, would it?)

And of course, is it any surprise that an online Ouija Board would have been developed? The Museum of Talking Boards website has an online Ouija Board. Just type in a question and the planchette will move to the answer.

Can a Ouija Board in any form possibly work? Who really knows for sure?

Related Reading:
Halloween Party Ideas for 2010

Resources:

All About the Occult Website
WilliamFuld.com (History of the Ouija Board)
Wikipedia (Ouija board)
Museum of Talking Boards website