The Ouija Board Or Spirit Board

Ouija Board: Care to Try?

Ouija boards have been an obsession for children and adults for the last century, especially in the American Continent, which saw the “toy’s” birth, growth, and eventual, even if only partial, downhill, due to its evil connotations. 

For those of you who have been sleeping for the last twenty or thirty years and have never heard of the Ouija Board, this mysterious object is something more than a board game, that promises to be the link between the known and unknown.

It composes of a flat board with the letters of the alphabet carved on it in two semi-circles altogether with numbers going from 0 to 9, the words “yes” and “no” in the uppermost corners and “goodbye” at the bottom. The box also comes with a “planchette”, a teardrop shaped piece of wood – or plastic – with a small hole on the body. In order to play, you would need two or more people sitting around the board, with their finger tips on the planchette, who would ask a question – about the future, the past, basically anything -, wait and see what happens. It did not change much since the first years that it was produced, except for the materials, that from expensive wood became cheap and affordable plastic.

Origins

Its story starts in the end of the 1800s, when the first advertisement started appearing throughout American papers. The context of its growing popularity is very important; you must consider that in the 1800s and 1900s, spiritualism was a big thing all around the world, due to a series of social and cultural factors. Early deaths – and the short lifetime span of most people – were one of the most prominent ones. It was in fact very common to turn to medium to communicate with the deceased, and this also walked hand in hand with Christianity, which conceives life beyond death.

As proof of what we just mentioned, looking at the stats will give you an interesting portrait of human fragility, and how the Ouija board perfectly accommodates this weakness: sales of the mysterious game went up whenever society was facing the umpteenth tragedy and the most uncertain times: like the end of the 1800s, during the civil war, or the beginning of the 1900s, with world war one and prohibition, and so on. As any product that ever left a clear mark on history, it gave the people what they wanted, playing on their emotions and fulfilling their needs. Its creators were not even big-time believers, what they were, instead, is top-notch entrepreneurs. 

Of course, all of this does not have the intention of diminishing its value, or prove that it is all about the money, on the contrary! As you probably know, for something to sell – and to sell this much – it must be patented, and for this to happen… well, it must work. So, in one of Washington´s patent offices, in 1891, an unwitting officer demanded a demonstration of the board. To do so, he asked the inventors to spell out his name – that they weren´t aware of – through the Ouija board. As you might have guessed at this point, the board did not disappoint him. And the Ouija was born.

Some of you might erroneously think that the board name is a combination of the word “yes”, in French and German (Oui – Ja), but this appears not to be true. What really happened was that the entrepreneurs were so polite as to ask the board itself what it wanted to be called, and it spelled the word “Ouija”. When the curious men asked what that meant, the board cryptically spelled “Good luck”.

Documented Cases

Apart from being a constant presence in American newspapers, the Ouija board has also been main character of movies, books, and any other possible form of art.

Many used it as a motivator – and excuse – for criminal acts, as in 1921, when a woman declared that she had left her mom´s deceased body in her living room for 15 days, before burying her in the backyard, because the Ouija board indicated her to do so. Other stories, instead, are just funny to hear, as the one of Ms. Helen Dow Peck, who left 152.000 dollars, almost everything she owned, to one Mr. John Gale Forbes, a spirit that used to communicate with her through the board; the Connecticut court responsible for the case, though, did not honour her unique will. The board has consistently been, since its creation, a consistent part of western culture, invading every aspect of life. So much that during the 1900s, it was even used by detectives to solve their most mysterious cases.

But up until now, I have probably depicted for you a very innocuous image of the Ouija board (except for a few cases of criminal activity), quite different from the general public´s idea of this tool. The reason is simple: it was only by the end of the 1900s, or even better, in 1973, that the Ouija acquired a whole other meaning for almost everyone; and for that we have to thank “The Exorcist”. This world-famous movie, of a girl who gets possessed by demons after playing with the board, almost instantly changed everyone´s impressions about the board, which is, even currently, condemned by most of the paranormal community, and by the Catholics. The toy wasn´t much of a harmless game anymore: it now was a bridge to our world for all sorts of demons. After, the company that created the game, Parker Brothers, was acquired by Hasbro, which sold thousands of boards. But what changed was the reason why: they weren´t a self-medicating method for loss and uncertainty, they were spooky and edgy instruments of the devil.

Explanations and mechanism

For those of you, who do not want their next Halloween to be spoiled, I recommend you stop reading, and maybe give the old and dusty Ouija board a go, because we are about to get real rational and scientific. 

What most people are wondering right about now, especially the sceptics who have had enough of paranormal and irrational tales, is how this board works. The easiest answer would be that someone in the circle is moving the planchette, even if they all swear they are not, and even if they look as freaked out as you are.

But there might be another, scientific – I promise – explanation. In fact, scientists have wildly proven that the Ouija board works on a principle known as the “ideometer effect”, which is what is responsible of involuntary muscular movements – as crying out of sadness, or smiling out of happiness, for example. So, apparently, with Ouija boards, and all others mystical and mysterious instruments, these movements can be of great importance, giving the impression that someone else is moving the board. Plus, planchettes are supposed to be constructed in order to favour this movements. Finally, the social context is fundamental here, because usually the group that plays with the board starts with the belief that something magical will happen – that works almost as a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

The purpose of these discoveries – still not universally accepted in the scientific community – is not to ridicule the board, which instead has proven to be a useful tool to study unconscious minds, which are basically all those thoughts we are not aware of having. A whole lot of experiments were made, which proved that our unconscious self, manifesting through the board, appears to be way smarter than our conscious self. Interesting, right?

Documented Cases

When talking of Ouija boards, documented cases take a whole other meaning. There are some renowned and famous cases, as the one of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, who admitted of using the board during the first sessions, and a few book writers, who claimed that their works have been inspired – and sometimes dictated – by the Ouija board itself. 

But to believe these stories or not, as always, it is your choice.

As today, Ouija Boards can be bought on the Hasbro website, a few toys shops and occult ones, for something less than twenty dollars. Christian associations still warn against its use, but paranormal and occult practitioners are incredibly divided on the topic. Some, in fact, blame on the board the fact that houses get haunted, people, objects, and even entire families possessed. Others, instead, define any change coming through the board as temporary and positive.

If this, that started out as a harmless toy, might be a portal for evil, is unknown, but as Hasbro itself declares: “Treat the board with respect, and it won´t disappoint you!”

We intend to do no different.

 Author Letizia

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