In 1891 a patent was granted to Elijah J Bond for the first modern Ouija Board. In 1892 the rights were purchased by William Fuld. In 1966 Parker Brothers purchased the rights to the Ouija Board. In 1966, the board outsold the game Monopoly.
Ouija Board
The board, a tool for divination, has been around since the time of Roman Emperor Valens in the fourth century. It is believed to have been used by the Greeks since BCE. The forerunner of the modern board was an inverted wine glass or goblet used as the planchette or pointer. The letters and numbers were written on a table or other flat surface.
The name "ouija" comes from the French and German words for yes, "oui" and "ja." There are different types of Ouija Boards which have different layouts and can be made from a variety of materials.
Some believe that the Ouija is proof of life after death or its demonic or the answers are provided by subconscious psychokinesis, the ability of the mind to affect matter, or that it’s just a game.
Ouija Board - Pearl Curran and Patience Worth
Curran began to use a Ouija board in 1913. The board began to spell out communications that were alleged to be from a spirit contact, Worth. She dictated poetry, novels and plays, rich in historical detail, which were published. There are arguments that Curran was the reincarnation of Worth or that she was the writer.
Ouija Board and the Haunted Room
There was a room in a house that had paranormal activity: apparitions, noises and something creeping up on the bed. A parapsychological investigation found the phenomena valid. The board was unresponsive in the room. It worked in the kitchen and revealed things that happened in the future.
Three Teens and a Ouija Board
Melissa, Joyce and Eileen were in Eileen’s basement when they worked the board during the day. A red, a green and a purple candles were lit. Melissa was Jewish and a rosary was in front of her. They seemed to contact a spirit who said he liked Eileen and was coming to get her when the rosary beads broke by themselves. The girls were terrified.
When Melissa told her older sister, Jen, what had happened, she called Shawna, a woman knowledgeable in paranormal matters and methods of divination. Melissa was too shaken to talk to her. Shawna’s advice was to burn the board. Her thoughts were that the girls needed help, albeit at least psychologically, and destroying the board would ease their minds.
Ouija Board - A Man's Experience and An Exorcist’s Opinion
Father John J. Nicola was the technical consultant for the movie The Exorcist and wrote about a man’s experience with the board. The man used the board daily, then felt an invisible intelligence trying to control him. One night, the board jumped from the mantelpiece onto his chest. He returned the board to the mantelpiece. The action was repeated. He threw it out of the house. The next morning, he saw the shattered board on the flagstones.
Nicola had experimented with the board using a wine glass as a planchette without negative results. He believes that the board, in a tiny minority of cases, can cause unnatural and bad experiences. People can become seemingly addicted to using the board. He notes that “misuse” (not use) of the board has been condemned by church moralists as a violation of the First Commandment.
Sources:
Diabolical Possession and Exorcism, Rev. John J. Nicola, (Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. 1974)
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (Facts on File, Inc., 1992)
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