But opening the gates of hell wasn’t on anyone’s mind when they started the Kennard Novelty Company, the first producers of the Ouija board; in fact, they were mostly looking to open Americans’ wallets.

I’m no stranger to Ouija Board use. When I was a kid, I delighted in hosting amateur seances with my friends. Sure, the movement of the planchette (the thing that the spirits supposedly move) was probably us subconsciously pushing the thing to spell something spooky, but we didn’t care; every little jerk and jump of the heart-shaped piece of plastic was the thrill of the century. When I heard about this new digital version, I was instantly hit with a wave of nostalgia. And curiosity. How would an AI-enhanced, e-version of the classic game fare compared to the physical version? I decided to find out. Those types of questions include how much and what the non-conscious mind knows, how fast it can learn, how it remembers, even how it amuses itself, if it does. This opens up even more avenues of exploration—for example, if there are two or more systems of information processes, which system is more impacted by neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s? If it impacted the non-conscious earlier, Rensink hypothesizes, indications of the illness could show up in Ouija manipulation, possibly even before being detected in conscious thought. Barton, Steve (June 16, 2011). "Universal's Ouija Spells Out the Name of Another New Writer". Dread Central . Retrieved July 11, 2022. Rodriguez McRobbie, L. "The Strange and Mysterious History of the Ouija Board." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 27 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2017. Ouija boards remain in more recent public consciousness as stories about demonic possession continue to thrive. In November 2014, 35 Bolivian students were hospitalized because of trances, sweating, and rapid heartbeats after playing with a Ouija board. There have been stories of mass fainting and spirit possession in Mexico, hysteria, and even the rise of a 2015 viral game called ‘Charlie Charlie.’ Players would create a make shift version of a Ouija board with “yes” and “no” on a piece of paper. The game uses two pencils to supposedly chat with a demonic spirit. Ouija Boards Reign Supreme in Film and TVHasbro CEO Says 'Ouija' Board Moves to "Yes" ". Bloody Disgusting. October 17, 2011 . Retrieved February 6, 2014.

So, anything that could be even remotely associated with Satanism or the occult like the Ouija board, Dungeons & Dragons, and certain types of music became evil. Naturally, this made the Ouija board more interesting to rebellious youth who would use them in secret for some possible thrills and scares. Parker Brothers later became acquired by Hasbro, which still sells Ouija boards and owns the trademark for the name. Hallam, Scott A. (6 October 2011). "Teaser Trailer Arrives for Ouija Thriller I Am ZoZo". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011 . Retrieved 12 July 2013.

References & Further Reading

Episodes of Lost in Space ("Ghost in Space" (1966)) and The Waltons ("The Ghost Story" (1974)) have spirit boards as part of their plots.

Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 47. ISBN 1-57392-979-4The Mars Volta wrote their album Bedlam in Goliath (2008) based on their alleged experiences with a Ouija board Kit, Borys (May 28, 2008). "Michael Bay conjures 'Ouija' movie". The Hollywoood Reporter . Retrieved January 29, 2022. Donguines, Arvin (February 7, 2015). " 'Ouija 2' Plot Spoilers, Rumors: Producer Jason Blum Talks Sequel Development". The Christian Post . Retrieved July 14, 2015. Before Ouija boards were invented, spiritualists and other would-be ghost communicators used makeshift devices called “talking boards” that served a similar purpose. Talking boards first became popular in mid-19th-century America, when millions of people suddenly gained an interest in talking to the dead following the tremendous loss of life in the Civil War . The popularity of talking boards, and their use as a tool to exploit grieving war families, meant scientists actually started studying the ideomotor effect in the midcentury, well before Ouija boards and planchettes were patented in 1890. The appeal of the ideomotor effect is that you actually may be communicating with something you can’t typically access — your own subconscious — and that the experience can feel like communicating with something paranormal or unknown.

Estimated ship date subject to change, items may ship earlier or later than anticipated without notice Toro, Gabe (October 28, 2010). "Pierre Morel, Scott Stewart, Sylvain White Fighting To Direct Dubious Board Game Movie Ouija". IndieWire . Retrieved July 11, 2022. They then proceeded to the next phase, where they sat at a Ouija board with a second person, who, unbeknownst to the test subject, was a confederate of the researchers. Both of them placed their hands on the planchette and were then blindfolded. Without the subject realizing it, the confederate then took her hands off of the planchette, so any movement would be caused by the subject alone. The subject was then given a new set of questions, half of which were repeats from the previous set. For each question they were instructed to wait for the planchette to move, then follow its movement without directing it. And, most of the time, soon the planchette would move, eventually settling on or near either yes or no.Originally known as a spirit board or talking board, the first Ouija boards were made with household objects in the mid 1800s. Users pushed a glass toward alphabet cards on a table, or even moved the table itself. The planchette—the movable indicator we now associate with the board—appeared in the 1850s as the board’s popularity grew. Moving a planchette was easier than chasing a flying table around the room. Some planchettes had a hole for a pencil to facilitate automatic writing. Feminist scholar Anne Braude notes that the planchette was “easy to use, required no experience or expertise, and could lead to the discovery or encouragement of mediumship in unsuspecting investigator Galton, Ray; Simpson, Alan (10 October 1974). "Seance in a Wet Rag and Bone Yard". Steptoe and Son. Season 8. Episode 6. IMDB. YouTube. DailyMotion. 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.” In the case of a Ouija board, your brain may unconsciously create images and memories when you ask the board questions. Your body responds to your brain without you consciously “telling” it to do so, causing the muscles in your hands and arms to move the pointer to the answers that you — again, unconsciously — may want to receive. Hunt, Stoker (23 October 1992). Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-092350-4.