We all have heard and even encountered with the ouija board. But how many of us know who invented it? What was its history? Today we will learn about this mystical board.
In 1848, two sisters named Kate and Margaret Fox told their neighbour about the spirit in their house causing the sound of knocking and thudding. They lived in Hinesville, Texas. They both would eventually show how the spirit would mimic the sound of hands clapping. Eventually the spirit started communicating more complex or it is and even saying that his name was Charles B Rosa, a peddler who had been murdered and hidden in the house years before the family had been moved. Before long their parents sent them away from the house to live with their older siblings to keep them safe. But wasn't long before that they were communicating with other spirits. They quickly became famous for their original spirit communication. This greater exposure to worldwide cultures and religions was causing a radical culture shifting. Many began to question a traditional Christian religions and teachings on the bible including the ban on the spirit communication. Mediums and other as this had become increasingly popular. The fame of the Fox sisters is often marked as the rise of the movement known as spiritualism.
With the American Civil War ending in 1865, people were looking for answers about missing loved ones. If the body had no identification on them, family couldn't be notified and they would simply be burried. This left loved ones without answers or closures. A greater amount of concern was being placed on well being of children as people were having fear of them while living in urban environments become more common. This concern about their well being included their eternal soul, as many were still dying before baptized.
While early spiritualist provided such a connection and confirmation of an afterlife, early communication was slow. You have to wait for the spirits to tap on a wall or rock a table as she repeated the alphabet. Some managed to channel and write but for most people this was jot an option. One of the earliest answers to this problem was the invention of the planchette, a small wooden device to which a pencil could be attached, so the messages could be written out by the spirits themselves. It was made popular when an American toy company Kirby and Co. began to manufacture it. No one knows how exactly the device came into existence, some claim that it was invented by French spiritualist who gave it his own name. However, no records exist of any such person. The name also translates to small board. Others claim that they were widely used in French monasteries and nunneries and the Bishop of Paris issued a letter of banning its use in 1856. The problem was often hard to make out, since the pencil couldn't be lifted.
However in 1890, the planchette was improvef and marketed by a group of men including one name Charles Kennard. Instead of wheals, they put a planchette on three pegs with felt at the end. This allowed it to glide more smoothly over the polished board they marked with. This board have the ALPHABET written on it in two half circles as well as the numbers marked with 1 to 10 and the words 'YES','NO', and 'GOOD BYE'. They called their creation the ouija board and marketed it under the Kennard Novalty Co.. The story for the name goes that after coming up with the creation, the company contacted a spirit by the name of Helen Peters to help on deciding the name of the board. She was a sister-in-law of one of the investment partner Elijah Wald, who was an attorney. When they asked the board what it wanted to be called? She spelled OUIJA. When they asked what it meant, then the board said GOOD LUCK. Whether this true or not is up to for debate. Others claimed it misspelling of the name OUIDA. A popular woman's right activist admired and happens to be wearing a locket in it at the time. From there the stories says that a logic bond in Helen Peters went to file for a patent. The officer in charge stated that he would grant the patent if the board could successfully spell out his name which was supposedly unknown by all involved. The chief patent officer was shocked and amazed when his name was spelt out and granted the patent. However, it never stated how the device worked. Helen Peters was denounce the use of the board despite its popularity. After some family heirlooms went missing. She gathered with members of the family to ask who was stollen them. The named that the board spelled out caused a deep divide in her family and even she disagreed with what the board said. She would tell people not to use the board and even on her deathbed insisted that the board tells lies.
Two years after receiving the patent, Kennard was forced out of his company for his financial backers. This allowed William Fuld commonly known as the father of ouija to take over the company. Along with his brother, they began mass-producing the boards. After changing its name to Ouija Novelty Co.. Despite of other magic making boards available in the market, the ouija board by far the most successful. The fact that the marketing kept its origins as mysterious as possible helped, but positioning it as a date night game helped as well. At a time when men and women weren't supposed to be alone or touch each other. A game that insisted it needed to open minded players of opposite genders and forced them to sit with knees and fingers touching also increased his popularity. In fact the death of William Fult would only help increase the air of mystery around the board. Fuld would build a large factory to manufacture the board , something he insisted the board told him to do. While on the roof of the factory supervising an installation of a flagpole, the iron support he was holding on to gave way. The story goes that he was managed to catch himself on the sill of an open window which would mysteriously close on his hands causing him to continue his long job to the ground. He would initially survived the fall with plenty of injuries of course including broken ribs. On the way to the hospital, the carriage he hold in hit a bump and caused one of the broken ribs to shift and puncture his heart killing him.
The boards popularity continued to grow, being helped by author Pearl Curran who published several literary works with the help of the ouija board and a spirits. The World War-1 also increased its sales with people hoping to contact lost loved ones. This later led to being purchased by the Parker brothers in 1966. The next year when American troops were increasing in Vietnam, it outsold Monopoly, the only board game to ever do so. Even after World War-2, it was seen as a novelty and party trick mostly a joke, even being used in an oil of Lucy episode. When Lucy and Ethel try holding a seance. That all changed in 1973 with the release of the Exorcist. The entire premise of the movie is that a 12 year old girl became possessed by a demon after playing with the ouija board.
Almost overnight, it went from a party game to a portal to hell and Satan with many religious groups denouncing its use and condemning as Evil. Even paranormal investigators warned against the untrained from using it stating that it posed too many risks. While today many sceptics see it as nothing more than a board game psychologist claim that the board works through a mechanism called the ideomotor effect or subconscious movements caused by prior expectations.
Whether through a subconscious movements or the work of spirits from beyond, the ouija board still remains insanely popular, even today.
Thanks guys to give your precious time.
If you like this post, do share it in your group and if you want to be updated from these awesome posts them follow me. You can find the button on the top left corner.
Have a nice day.
Two years after receiving the patent, Kennard was forced out of his company for his financial backers. This allowed William Fuld commonly known as the father of ouija to take over the company. Along with his brother, they began mass-producing the boards. After changing its name to Ouija Novelty Co.. Despite of other magic making boards available in the market, the ouija board by far the most successful. The fact that the marketing kept its origins as mysterious as possible helped, but positioning it as a date night game helped as well. At a time when men and women weren't supposed to be alone or touch each other. A game that insisted it needed to open minded players of opposite genders and forced them to sit with knees and fingers touching also increased his popularity. In fact the death of William Fult would only help increase the air of mystery around the board. Fuld would build a large factory to manufacture the board , something he insisted the board told him to do. While on the roof of the factory supervising an installation of a flagpole, the iron support he was holding on to gave way. The story goes that he was managed to catch himself on the sill of an open window which would mysteriously close on his hands causing him to continue his long job to the ground. He would initially survived the fall with plenty of injuries of course including broken ribs. On the way to the hospital, the carriage he hold in hit a bump and caused one of the broken ribs to shift and puncture his heart killing him.
The boards popularity continued to grow, being helped by author Pearl Curran who published several literary works with the help of the ouija board and a spirits. The World War-1 also increased its sales with people hoping to contact lost loved ones. This later led to being purchased by the Parker brothers in 1966. The next year when American troops were increasing in Vietnam, it outsold Monopoly, the only board game to ever do so. Even after World War-2, it was seen as a novelty and party trick mostly a joke, even being used in an oil of Lucy episode. When Lucy and Ethel try holding a seance. That all changed in 1973 with the release of the Exorcist. The entire premise of the movie is that a 12 year old girl became possessed by a demon after playing with the ouija board.
Almost overnight, it went from a party game to a portal to hell and Satan with many religious groups denouncing its use and condemning as Evil. Even paranormal investigators warned against the untrained from using it stating that it posed too many risks. While today many sceptics see it as nothing more than a board game psychologist claim that the board works through a mechanism called the ideomotor effect or subconscious movements caused by prior expectations.
Whether through a subconscious movements or the work of spirits from beyond, the ouija board still remains insanely popular, even today.
Thanks guys to give your precious time.
If you like this post, do share it in your group and if you want to be updated from these awesome posts them follow me. You can find the button on the top left corner.
Have a nice day.
