ScanDisk
Veteran Member
I've recently found myself becoming interested in spirit/witch/talking/ouija boards, and other such devices that spiritualists use/d to communicate with the dead and such.
Now, I will state I am an atheist, a rationalist, skeptic and everything else under that umbrella, so no I do not believe people are actually contacting the dead, any spirits, or anything like that.
There is a rational psychological explanation for how things like that work, it's called the ideomotor phenomenon, and it is basically small subconscious movements that your body makes in accordance with a thought you are having, so at most you are really accessing your subconscious, which I still find very interesting.
The obsession about "talking to the dead" blew up in America during the civil war because of death touching almost everyone in some way, and many people wanting to communicate with deceased friends or loved ones, etc. It started off with things like "table tipping" which was essentially people putting their hands on tables and then the table moving when allegedly communicating with a spirit, then "spirit tapping", then a whole bunch of other devices such as planchettes, psychographs, etc that predated what is now known as the "Ouija" board.
Originally called by many names such as "talking boards", "witch boards", or "spirit boards" etc, they became known as "Ouija" boards when the Kennard Novelty Company got a patent on their design and then started to mass produce and market them as parlor games, a little later William Fuld bought the company, so most early Ouija Boards are by the William Fuld company (except for the very early ones). The William Fuld company kept producing them until 1966 when they sold the rights to Parker Borthers, which later sold the rights to Hasbro in 1991 (who still produces them). William Fuld, and Parker Brothers, also had deals with companies in Canada for producing boards as well (maybe so for other parts of the world as well, but I don't know).
As many of you older folk may know the Ouija board was very popular for a long time, and is still popular, for most time it was seen by the public as a fun game, kind of like a magic 8 ball, while churches did denounce them of course. It wasn't until the movie "The Excorcist" (1973) where it was used as the thing that allowed the girl to become possessed, that it was seen as evil and demonic by the general public, and a lot of horror films and stupid videos on YouTube have kept that tradition going to this day.
My interest personally is the psychological aspect as well as the history, but also in part the fact that there are many designs of Ouja (and talking/spirit/witch) boards out there, including an Ozzy Osbourne board, a Stranger Things board, a Hellboy board, a Marilyn Manson board, etc.
Being that I am Canadian, and my favorite colors are red, black, and white. I decided to buy a board from the early 90s by the Canada Games Company, as it combines all those colors. Fair price to on ebay, even with the shipping only came to $45, which for something in good condition, in box, I can't complain about. I will certainly try it when I get it in, though I suspect to get the effect to work, I will need to temporarily suspend my skepticism and disbelief to get my subconscious able to work.
I am also searching for a more antique board from 1891-1920 as well, though those in good condition will be decidedly more expensive.
If anyone is interested here's a few websites full of information for learning more:
The Mysterious Planchette (the owner, Brandon Hodge, is a skeptic as well).
Museum of Talking Boards
William Fuld.com
Talking Board Historical Society
What are your memories and or experiences with "Ouija" boards if you have any? Anyone else also interested?
Now, I will state I am an atheist, a rationalist, skeptic and everything else under that umbrella, so no I do not believe people are actually contacting the dead, any spirits, or anything like that.
There is a rational psychological explanation for how things like that work, it's called the ideomotor phenomenon, and it is basically small subconscious movements that your body makes in accordance with a thought you are having, so at most you are really accessing your subconscious, which I still find very interesting.
The obsession about "talking to the dead" blew up in America during the civil war because of death touching almost everyone in some way, and many people wanting to communicate with deceased friends or loved ones, etc. It started off with things like "table tipping" which was essentially people putting their hands on tables and then the table moving when allegedly communicating with a spirit, then "spirit tapping", then a whole bunch of other devices such as planchettes, psychographs, etc that predated what is now known as the "Ouija" board.
Originally called by many names such as "talking boards", "witch boards", or "spirit boards" etc, they became known as "Ouija" boards when the Kennard Novelty Company got a patent on their design and then started to mass produce and market them as parlor games, a little later William Fuld bought the company, so most early Ouija Boards are by the William Fuld company (except for the very early ones). The William Fuld company kept producing them until 1966 when they sold the rights to Parker Borthers, which later sold the rights to Hasbro in 1991 (who still produces them). William Fuld, and Parker Brothers, also had deals with companies in Canada for producing boards as well (maybe so for other parts of the world as well, but I don't know).
As many of you older folk may know the Ouija board was very popular for a long time, and is still popular, for most time it was seen by the public as a fun game, kind of like a magic 8 ball, while churches did denounce them of course. It wasn't until the movie "The Excorcist" (1973) where it was used as the thing that allowed the girl to become possessed, that it was seen as evil and demonic by the general public, and a lot of horror films and stupid videos on YouTube have kept that tradition going to this day.
My interest personally is the psychological aspect as well as the history, but also in part the fact that there are many designs of Ouja (and talking/spirit/witch) boards out there, including an Ozzy Osbourne board, a Stranger Things board, a Hellboy board, a Marilyn Manson board, etc.
Being that I am Canadian, and my favorite colors are red, black, and white. I decided to buy a board from the early 90s by the Canada Games Company, as it combines all those colors. Fair price to on ebay, even with the shipping only came to $45, which for something in good condition, in box, I can't complain about. I will certainly try it when I get it in, though I suspect to get the effect to work, I will need to temporarily suspend my skepticism and disbelief to get my subconscious able to work.
I am also searching for a more antique board from 1891-1920 as well, though those in good condition will be decidedly more expensive.
If anyone is interested here's a few websites full of information for learning more:
The Mysterious Planchette (the owner, Brandon Hodge, is a skeptic as well).
Museum of Talking Boards
William Fuld.com
Talking Board Historical Society
What are your memories and or experiences with "Ouija" boards if you have any? Anyone else also interested?
(TiVo later added the ability to pass text directly to the network interface, so the ghost is largely obsolete now.)