The one with chatty ghosts …
Picture this: You’re at a sleepover and it’s getting late. After a (mostly) harmless round of Truth or Dare, plenty of snacks, and watching a movie, the tone shifts. Things start to get spooky, and someone suggests a game that sends a shiver down your spine.
No, it’s not “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” or “Bloody Mary.” It’s a spooky séance conducted via Ouija board. As you and your besties try to contact the spirits, you stifle giggles but secretly hope you aren’t contacting any ghosts for real.
But did you know …
1. Spirits have entered the chat.
Think the Ouija board is a recent invention? Think again. There were plenty of similar “talking boards” that helped people commune with the dead long before Ouija appeared on the scene.
One of the earliest examples is fuji, a form of “spirit writing” practiced during the Song dynasty (960 to 1279 CE). Fuji messages were deciphered using a stick “guided” by the dead, creating Chinese characters in incense ashes or sand.
When Ouija-like devices were first developed, the sand and ashes were subbed out for a letter board. Meanwhile, the stick was replaced with a little heart-shaped indicator known as a “planchette.”
2. The Ouija boom
Tarot, crystals, and astrology may be popular right now, but guess what was all the rage in the 19th century? Séances. People were really into the spirit world, especially during the Civil War when they were desperate to connect with lost loved ones.
A businessman named Charles Kennard decided to cash in on this new pastime and create “talking boards” to sell to the masses. This became the first official Ouija board, which he began manufacturing in Baltimore in 1890. Before long, 2,000 Ouija boards were being sold every week at $1.50 a pop.
3. Good old-fashioned fun
When “talking boards” like the Ouija first became popular, it wasn’t considered a dark or potentially dangerous activity. It was more of a common pastime. There was even an image of a man and woman using a Ouija board on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post illustrated by Norman Rockwell — an icon of wholesome Americana.
4. What does Ouija even mean?
If you believed the story that “Ouija” came from the word “yes” in both French and German, you’ve been fooled (sorry). And in case you were wondering, both pronunciations — wee-gee and wee-ja — are accepted.
The real origin of the name comes from the spirit world itself. One day, Helen Peters (the sister-in-law of one of Kennard’s business partners) asked the board its name, and it spelled out “O-U-I-J-A.” Some think this may have been influenced by a locket she wore featuring the name “Ouida,” a famous author at the time.
The site where this all went down is now a 7-Eleven with a wall plaque commemorating the event. Might as well enjoy a little history along with your Slurpee.
5. Sounds suspicious to me …
After Kennard decided to cash out, another investor in the company named William Fuld took over. Not long after, Fuld died after falling off the roof of his factory — the very same factory he claimed the Ouija board had told him to build!
6. But does it work?
Do you believe in the Ouija’s power? Scientists have actually researched it, and many studies have pointed to the ideomotor effect as a possible explanation for mysterious Ouija messages.
Basically, ideomotor responses are muscular movements that we make unconsciously. This effect can be very convincing because people truly don’t think they’re controlling the Ouija planchette’s movement. When a group uses the board, the combination of all those small, unconscious movements really adds up and, before you know it, you’re chatting with the spirit of dear old Aunt Sally.
7. From the board to the page
Have you always dreamed of becoming a writer? Just let a Ouija board do the work for you. It’s kind of surprising how many authors have turned to Ouija messages when it comes to finding inspiration for their work.
Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that her 1917 novel Jap Herron was dictated to her by Mark Twain through a Ouija board. In 1982, James Merrill published The Changing Light at Sandover, a 560-page poem with 20 years’ worth of messages delivered via Ouija board during his séances. Even Sylvia Plath used a Ouija board to ask her main spirit contact, “Pan,” for ideas on what to write about (and, occasionally, hot tips for the horse races).
8. We’ve been cursed!
Progressive rock band The Mars Volta claimed that real-life Ouija experiences inspired their 2008 album, The Bedlam in Goliath. After a Ouija board purchased in Jerusalem started sending menacing messages, the band was plagued by one disaster after the next. The music studio flooded twice, tracks randomly disappeared, the original engineer had a nervous breakdown, and the lead singer suffered a foot injury.
The compounding calamities were too much for the band to bear. In an act of desperation, they broke the Ouija board and buried it. Give the album a listen if you want to hear some sinister tunes.
9. The Ouija board made me do it.
After the Ouija board made an appearance in The Exorcist in 1973, it took a dark turn from engaging parlor game to occult practice. Some people started to see the Ouija board as a portal for evil spirits rather than a way to commune with friendly ghosts. The Catholic Church flat-out forbid its use, and certain Christian denominations called it a tool of Satan. Ouija boards have even been burned alongside Harry Potter books, AC/DC records, and other “satanic” items.
10. Hotel hauntings
Known for its frightening ghost encounters, the haunted Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania made history on October 28, 2016, when it received the Guinness World Record for the largest Ouija board ever. Measuring over 1,300 square feet, the board is displayed on the hotel’s roof. That’s cool or whatever, but you couldn’t pay me to stay there for the night …
Ready to talk to some spirits? Share this with a few friends along with an invitation to your next séance.
Editorial: Ashley
Illustration: Nick