In February 1891, advertisements began circulating in North America for ‘Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board’. It promised to answer questions about ‘the past, present and future’ by providing a link ‘between the known and unknown, the material and immaterial.’
The spiritualism craze was well and truly underway by the late 19th century, and the Ouija board emerged as one of the most famous items associated with the paranormal.
Feared by some and mocked by others, the Ouija board has a fascinating history and is still used and celebrated by its cult following to this day.
A timely invention
The original Ouija board design, created around 1890.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Museum of Talking Boards
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The first patented talking board
The emergence of an ‘automatic writing’ form of spiritualism, whereby words are seemingly created by an external force, was not new. The first mention of fuji or ‘planchette writing’ dates to around 1100 AD in historical documents from the Song Dynasty in China. Before the formal invention of the Ouija board, the use of talking boards was so common that by 1886 the news reported the phenomenon taking over spiritualist camps in Ohio.
In 1890, Elijah Bond, a local attorney and entrepreneur in Baltimore, Maryland, decided to capitalise upon the craze, and so he formalised and patented a commercial talking board. The result was a board marked with the letters of the alphabet, as well as the numbers 0-9 and the words ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘good bye’. It also came with a small heart-shaped planchette which was used in seances whenever a spirit wanted to write a message on the board.
To use a Ouija board, a group of people gathers around a table with the board upon it, and each person places their fingers on the planchette. It is then possible to ask questions of the spirit, with the planchette moving to the letters, numbers or words to formulate a response. The board’s design and method remain the same to this day.
A halloween party featuring a Ouija board.
Image Credit: Flikr / simpleinsomnia
Parts of the Ouija board origin story have been debated. For instance, the word ‘ouija’ itself has been reported as being an ancient Egyptian word for ‘good luck’, while a contemporary etymological explanation is that the word is a combination of the French and German for ‘yes’.
However, it is more likely that it comes from Helen Peters, sister of Elijah Bond who reportedly had spiritual powers and was wearing a locket featuring the name ‘Ouija’ while sitting in the patent office.
Skyrocketing popularity
The Kennard Novelty Company began manufacturing Bond’s patented Ouija boards en masse. They became instant money makers. By 1892, the company added another factory in Baltimore, then founded two in New York, two in Chicago and one in London. Marketed somewhere between mystical oracle and family parlour game, some 2,000 Ouija boards were being sold a week.
Over the coming century, the board experienced spikes in popularity during periods of uncertainty. The devastation of World War One and the manic years of the Jazz Age and prohibition prompted a surge in Ouija board purchases, as did the Great Depression.
