Research into Ouija Boards

Ouija Board Research

Through research I have found out that the Ouija board has been around for centuries however not always under the same name. The first historical mentioning of an object or artefact similar to the Ouija board was found in china around the time of 1100 B.C. This was a divination method known as Fuji ( 扶乩) which translated into English means planchette writing.

Spiritualism began in the US in the late 1840s, this movement was led by mediums who claimed to be able to make connections between the living and the dead. This time was before the board was invented and therefore mediums has to resort to different methods to talk to the dead, these methods were:

1. Table Turning: this involved the table moving or knocking on the floor in response to letters called out. This took too long however and the method was quickly ditched.
2. Another method was using a large planchette on wheels with a pen attached to the front, users would place their fingers on this and it would then be guided by spirits to write messages. This method was better than table turning however the messages were almost always hard to decipher and this method also got dropped.

After these, people painted tables with letters and used the planchette as a pointer, this method became the mot popular and from this the Ouija board was invented.

Victorian Planchette

The Ouija Board 

In 1891 the board was made out to be a game by the Kennard Novelty company. Kennard the owner claimed that the name of the board was chosen when he asked the talking board what to call itself, the answer was of course Ouija and this apparently means good luck in an ancient Egyptian language. When the board changed hands in 1901 it was said that the name was derived from the word yes in French and German. This is the more plausbale option and is the option which most people believe.

The board was only allowed to be sold once it was proved that it worked, it was approved in 1891 which backs up the theory that the board really works. Ever since then countless amounts of stories have been relased about the negative effects that the board has caused. It was originally used to talk to dead relatives in the era when the average life span was below 50 however has now been named the 'door to hell' as it can release demons and bad spirits to the world. It is a must to say good bye to the board after every use otherwise it is said that it doesnt close the gate and spirits can come through at will and could possibly harm you in your own home.

The Modern Ouija Board