In 1886, the fledgling Associated Press reported on a new phenomenon taking over the spiritualists’ camps in Ohio, the talking board; it was, for all intents and purposes, a Ouija board, with letters, numbers and a planchette-like device to point to them. The article went far and wide, but it was Charles Kennard of Baltimore, Maryland who acted on it. In 1890, he pulled together a group of four other investors—including Elijah Bond, a local attorney, and Col. Washington Bowie, a surveyor—to start the Kennard Novelty Company to exclusively make and market these new talking boards. None of the men were spiritualists, really, but they were all of them keen businessmen and they’d identified a niche. This patent file from the United States Patent Office shows that the office required the board to be tested before a patent would be granted. Much of William Butler Yeats's later poetry was inspired, among other facets of occultism, by the Ouija board [ citation needed] This mysterious talking board was basically what’s sold in board game aisles today: A flat board with the letters of the alphabet arrayed in two semi-circles above the numbers 0 through 9; the words “yes” and “no” in the uppermost corners, “goodbye” at the bottom; accompanied by a “planchette,” a teardrop-shaped device, usually with a small window in the body, used to maneuver about the board. The idea was that two or more people would sit around the board, place their finger tips on the planchette, pose a question, and watch, dumbfounded, as the planchette moved from letter to letter, spelling out the answers seemingly of its own accord. The biggest difference is in the materials; the board is now usually cardboard, rather than wood, and the planchette is plastic. Though truth in advertising is hard to come by, especially in products from the 19th century, the Ouija board was “interesting and mysterious”; it actually had been “proven” to work at the Patent Office before its patent was allowed to proceed; and today, even psychologists believe that it may offer a link between the known and the unknown.

Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated with Ouija have been criticized by the scientific community and are characterized as pseudoscience. The action of the board can be most easily explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect. [4] [5] [6] [7] [2] The 1986 film Witchboard and its sequels center on the use of Ouija. The 1991 film And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird features use of a Ouija board in an important early scene. What Lies Beneath (2000) includes a séance scene with a board. Paranormal Activity (2007) involves a violent entity haunting a couple that becomes more powerful when the Ouija board is used. That same year, the board finally got a film bearing its name. Ouija shows a group of kids who use a board and end up dealing with a stalkerish (and murderous) spirit. The film became a franchise with its latest installment releasing in 2016. And the Ouija board continues to make appearances in film and TV, affirming that is a vital part of pop culture history. There’s some debate over Reiche’s actual involvement. As reported by MyEasternShoreMD, information about Reiche’s life is spotty at best. There are little official records and no real credit to him being the Ouija board creator. This makes sense if Kennard simply took credit for Reiche’s handiwork. But, if that is the case, then why didn’t Reiche at least try to put up a legal or verbal fight for his creation? However, leading talking board expert Robert Murch told Baltimore Magazinethat Reiche was indeed involved with early productions only to be cut out by Kennard. Ouch.Some say they are tools by which demons can influence us; others regard them as mechanisms for communicating with the deceased; still others dismiss them as toys that can be used to fool your friends. But however we regard them, Ouija boards have left an indelible mark on our culture. But of most interest is the question they raise: Can they indeed be used to reveal information unknown to any of the participants whose hands rest on the pointer? Today we're going to find out what the science has revealed about Ouija boards. In that year, The Exorcist scared the pants off people in theaters, with all that pea soup and head-spinning and supposedly based on a true story business; and the implication that 12-year-old Regan was possessed by a demon after playing with a Ouija board by herself changed how people saw the board. “It’s kind of like Psycho—no one was afraid of showers until that scene… It’s a clear line,” says Murch, explaining that before The Exorcist, film and TV depictions of the Ouija board were usually jokey, hokey, and silly—“I Love Lucy,” for example, featured a 1951 episode in which Lucy and Ethel host a séance using the Ouija board. “But for at least 10 years afterwards, it’s no joke… [ The Exorcist] actually changed the fabric of pop culture.” Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing or as a form of channeling literary works. As a result of Ouija boards' becoming popular in the early 20th century, by the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by Ouija board use. [38] a b Woods, Baynard (30 October 2016). "The Ouija board's mysterious origins: War, spirits, and a strange death". The Guardian . Retrieved 16 October 2023. Davis, Adam 'Tex'; Kolber, Jerry; Young, Julia (9 February 2015). "Paranormal". Brain Games. Season 5. Episode 5. National Geographic Channel. IMDB.

Dernbach, Katherine Boris (Spring 2005). "Spirits of the Hereafter: Death, Funerary Possession, and the Afterlife in Chuuk, Micronesia". Ethnology. Pittsburgh. 44 (2): 99–123. doi: 10.2307/3773992. JSTOR 3773992. Carroll, R. "Ideomotor Effect." The Skeptic's Dictionary. Robert T. Carroll, 12 Sep. 2014. Web. 5 Aug. 2015. In March, Crowley wrote to Achad to inform him, "I'll think up another name for Ouija." But their business venture never came to fruition and Crowley's new design, along with his name for the board, has not survived. Crowley has stated, of the Ouija Board that, [44] Hasbro CEO Says 'Ouija' Board Moves to "Yes" ". Bloody Disgusting. October 17, 2011 . Retrieved February 6, 2014.Suddenly, people forgot about the Ouija board’s relatively pure history and deemed it an evil and demonic tool. Satanic Panic came shortly after in the 1980s after a group of Californian kids told their community that their school was a location for rape, prostitution, and Satanic activities. These unproven allegations led to yet another wave of fear among the American public. Lussier, Germain (August 23, 2011). "Universal Says Goodbye To 'Ouija' ". /Film . Retrieved January 29, 2022.