Strange Facts About the Ouija Board

Before Hollywood turn the Ouija board into a thing of horror, and certain religious groups labeled Ouija a "tool of the devil" (and burned it in bonfires along with Harry Potter books), the Ouija board was a game, a parlor game, which could be found in many households in the North America and England. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Ouija board was sold as a game of "never-failing amusement and recreation for all the classes" and a method to explore the mystical world of the known and the unknown, the spirit world. Ouija boards were sold in novelty shops, toy stores, in newspapers and magazines, and it was an almost instant hit with people everywhere. If the Ouija board were released today, one can only imagine the response it would get.

The real origins of the Ouija board are shrouded in the mists of history (see History Ouija Board. It is believed the board surfaced in the United States Ohio, used by Spiritualist, around 1886 as was reported by the Associated Press. However, similar boards can be traced all the way back to ancient China. It was originally thought to be called ‘the talking board’ and was an adaptation of automatic writing, a tool to make automatic writing easier. Automatic writing is where a person, usually a medium, goes into a trance state and allows their hand to write without conscience involvement (allowing the spirits to ‘speak’ through the medium).

Unfortunately, such automatic writing could often be difficult to read or even unreadable, especially when performed by a novice. The ‘talking board’, with the alphabet, numbers and a pointer that could slide across the board became a means for performing automatic writing. Only in this case the spirit(s) would participate in the control the "planchette" or pointer as could others who wished to be involved in the process. When several people would be involved in ‘a sitting’ with the talking board it would (and still does) makes the words and messages spelled out all that more impressive.

According to Robert L. Murch, a talking board and Ouija board historical researcher, the name ‘Ouija’ is a result of consulting the Ouija board itself. Elijah Bond, one of the founding investors in creating and patenting the Ouija board had a sister-in-law who was considered a talented medium, Helen Peters. While sitting around a table discussing what to name the ‘talking board’, Helen Peters suggested asking the board. The board spelled out "O-U-I-J-A". When asked what this word meant, the board spelled out "G-O-O-D L-U-C-K".

One could say that the Ouija board’s explosive popularity began the very day it received it’s patent. In 1891, when the creators of the Ouija board submitted a patent application. A chief patent officer decided before a patent could be issued, the creators of the Ouija board had to prove the device ‘worked’. Elijah Bond, accompanied by psychic medium Helen Peters, met with one of the chief officer who said if the Ouija board could provide his name, then he would approve the patent on the spot. Helen Peters sat with the Ouija board and it spelled out the officer’s name. The shocked patent official, good to his word, approved the Ouija board’s patent. Critics have been quick to claim (without proof) that Bond and Peters must have already known the officers name.

Critics and believers have been at odds over the Ouija board for years. Everyone seems to have their own explanation as to how and why the Ouija board ‘works’. After more than hundred years, everyone still believes what they want to believe about the Ouija board. This is because ‘proof’ as to how and why the Ouija board ‘works’ (just as it did when talking boards first appeared) seems to be in the eye of the beholder. Over the years, scientists of various disciplines have come up with a number of theories explain to why the planchette seems to glide across the board for many people, often spelling out words and answering questions. Believers continue to offer their own evidence as to why this or that theory does not fully explain the Ouija’s magic.

At this time, ‘serious’ scientists refuse to even deal a Ouija board (as if the issue is somehow settled and we should all just shut-up and stop asking questions about it). This is unfortunate, since the truth is that the Ouija board remains an enigma, there are more questions than answers. Fortunately, a new generation of scientific thinkers are taking a fresh look at the Ouija board, and are brave enough to research some of the Ouija boards mysteries. One such study, done a few years ago, Dr. Ron Rensink, professor of psychology and computer science, psychology postdoctoral researcher Hélène Gauchou, and Dr. Sidney Fels, professor of electrical and computer engineering, began pushing the boundaries of human consciousness, what we know and what we think we don’t know, using the Ouija board.

Dr. Rensink and his colleagues have shown that (with some creative applications of the Ouija board) we often know more than we think we know or can remember. The Ouija board seems to be able to help a practitioner tap into unconscious or subconscious information. It has long been known that Ouija boards have been used to tap into creativity. In 1917, Pearl Curran claimed her novels and poetry came to her through the Ouija board (and her spirit guide was Patience Worth). In 1982, James Merrill, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, revealed that his poem The Changing Light at Sandover was Ouija-inspired. Poet and author Sylvia Plath is said to have worked with a Ouija board. The rock star Alice Cooper claims to have gotten his stage name via a consultation with a Ouija board. The list goes on.

This raises a question: how far into the unconscious and/or creative mind might the Ouija board reach? This is what makes Rensink’s research so interesting – and worth supporting. It is easy to see where believers, or at least the open minded, might wonder if research into the Ouija board might reveal more than just what we unconsciously might know or not.

Psychic Barbara

Curious what messages the spirits may have for you? Give Psychic Barbara a call 1-866-407-7164

No doubt the spirits of the true originators of the ‘talking boards’ would tell us that there are places that human consciousness can travel that are beyond what we can imagine. Perhaps that is not a place science should go, or perhaps, that is place some scientists are afraid to go since human consciousness itself seems to defy definition or explanation. Still, science should try, shouldn’t it?

One thing is for sure. The more one looks into the Ouija board, and ‘talking boards’ in general, the more strange stories and facts one finds … and maybe that is the whole allure of this unusual ‘parlor game’ created by our ancestors.

If you want to speak with someone who has decades of experience dealing with spirits, give Psychic Barbara a call at 1-866-407-7164 (toll free U.S.A. and Canada). Barbara is a clairvoyant with forty years experience as a reader. She’s also a joy just to talk with.

Interesting Resources:

Support Ouija Board Reseach
Smithsoonian Article on Ouija Board
Ouija Historian
Stories of the Talking Boards