The Talking Board, or patented Ouija Board, has quite a past and contacting the other side using automatic writing or letters on a board goes back far further than the nineteenth century.

It is recorded that in China in 1100BC a method of spirit writing called Fuji was used, this entailed the use of a device with a stick that would write Chinese characters in ashes or sand. Likewise the Greek philosopher Pythagoras is recorded to have used a table on wheels adorned with letters and characters to contact spirits from beyond our plain.

Today a talking board or Ouija board is recognised as a table top device with characters laid out that which, when combined with a triangular pointer, enables it’s user to contact the dead, or as the spiritualists would correct me, Spirits From The Other Side. So how did this come about and how did such a device in the twentieth century become recognised as a children’s parlour game ?

The Planchette

The triangular pointing device is known as a Planchette and it seems to stem back to the 1850’s although how it got its name is somewhat unsure. The original Planchette consisted on a small triangular board raised on two legs, with its third leg being a pen or pencil. By placing their fingers on it members of a séance would ask questions hoping the device would move to write out the replies. Its name like its origin is dubious, one version is a Frenchman called ‘M Planchette’ invented it, while some records show ‘Thomas Welton’ laid claim to the device and published a booklet called ‘The Planchette’ to endorse this.  With no official records of such a Frenchman, or a copy of Mr. Welton’s booklet still in existence today’s historians favour the name stemmed from the French word  ‘planchette’  its literal French translation being ‘Little Plank’.

The Ouija Board

The history of the ‘Ouija’ board however seems far better documented, although the actual inventor is still a mystery in itself.  There are two contended accounts for this title. 

Ernest Charles Reiche, a cabinet or coffin maker from Chestertown who’s interest in the afterlife and need to have a more portable device to communicate with the dead brought about the creation of the first Ouija Board. This information is documented in a The New York World Magazine article written by Edgar Goodman on May 23rd 1920, where it is stated:

“Col. Washington Bowie, who was a leading figure in the company that originally manufactured the ouija board, narrated, while testifying in the case of Fuld vs. Fuld, that in the early part of 1890 Mr. E. C. Reichie, a cabinetmaker of Chestertown, Kent County, Md., invented the ouija board. In that year spiritism was in the flush of its early glory, and tables rapped and pranced on every side. Mr Reichie, although not a spiritist, noticed sympathetically that a large table was a heavy thing for a frail spirit to juggle about. His meditations, attuned to cabinetmaking, took a practical form. He devised a little table – the ouija board.”

The more documented Ouija history puts its creation down to Elijah J. Bond of Baltimore, who applied for the first US patent on 28^th May 1890. He assigned the rights to two fellow masons and local business men Charles W. Kennard and William H.A. Maupin. The two combined forces with Colonel Washington Bowie and on October 20th 1890 they appeared in court to file for incorporation papers for the Kennard Novelty Company which went on to produce the first version aptly titled ‘Ouija : A Wonderful Talking Board’. The patent was granted on February 10, 1891.

William Fuld

This was to be a short lived company ownership and by 1892 the Kennard Novelty Company was to be taken over. A name now synonymous with Ouija came into the spotlight. One of Kennard’s employees, William Fuld and his brother Issac took over the company and renamed it ‘The Ouija Novelty Company’.

On 19th July 1892 the patent was re-issued to William Fuld, the company continued under the leadership of the Fuld brothers until nigh on nine years later. On 18th July 1901 the Fuld’s ended their partnership under somewhat of a cloud and the company was once more to be renamed. This was to give way to the name that would adorn the Ouija Board throughout it’s life span under William Fuld … ‘The Baltimore Talking Board Company’.

It must be stated that William’s brother Issac did try to hold onto some of his association with talking boards. He set up his own company called ‘Southern Toy Company’ making a talking board called ‘Oriole’ based on Kennard’s original design. After a legal battle with his brother William Fuld however he was forced to cease this production in 1920.

Williams association with the Ouija Board came to a tragic end when he died falling from the roof of his home, while overseeing  the work  on a flagpole . The company was then to be taken over by his sons William A. Fuld & Hubert Fuld.

The company continued under the Fuld descendants until 24^th February 1966 when Willaim A. Fuld sold the company to Parker Brothers, best known for the game Monopoly.

The board has gone through many changes over the years, as have the owners. In 1991 Hasbro took over ownership of Parker and so the patent of the Ouija Board.  They still make the board today in various guises included a green glow in the dark version, and a pink version sold through Toys R Us aimed at young girls. A version that caused much contraversy in 2010. An interesting issue when we consider since it’s introduction  it has always been marketed as a parlour game.

Many films have portrayed the Ouija board as a device to communicate with evil including the Exorcist, 13 Ghosts, Witchboard, What Lies Beneath and most recently Paranormal Activity.  Is there any fact behind this and occultist Aleister Crowley’s association with the board ?  Watch this space for the next article on Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board.

By Paul L. Griffiths 2010

History
The use of talking boards has roots in the modern Spiritualism movement that began in The United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Methods of divination at that time used various ways to spell out messages, including swinging a pendulum over a plate that had letters around the edge or using an entire table to indicate letters drawn on the floor. Often used was a small wooden tablet supported on casters. This tablet, called a planchette, was affixed with a pencil that would write out messages in a fashion similar to automatic writing. It should be noted that many of these methods predate modern Spiritualism.

During the late 1800s, planchettes were widely sold as a novelty. In 1890, businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed, and thus had invented the first Ouija board. An employee of Kennard, William Fuld took over the talking board production and in 1901, he started production of his own boards under the name “Ouija” [1].

The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinventing its history claimed that he himself had invented it. Countless talking boards from Fuld’s competitors flooded the market and all these boards enjoyed a heyday from the 1920s through the 1960s. Fuld sued many companies over the “Ouija” name and concept right up until his death in 1927. In 1966, Fuld’s estate sold the entire business to Parker Brothers, who continues to hold all trademarks and patents. About 10 brands of talking boards are sold today under various names [2]. See also: Ka-Bala
How is it done?
A Ouija board is operated by one or more users. They place the planchette on the board and then rest their fingers on the planchette. The users start moving the planchette around the board and speaking to the entity (or entities) they wish to summon; They then begin asking questions of it. Eventually the planchette will come to rest on one letter after another, spelling out a message. Often an additional participant records the messages on paper. As with automatic writing, the messages are often vague and open to interpretation, or complete gibberish.

Some talking boards have words or phrases written on them to simplify the interpretation of the messages. Tarot, zodiac, and other esoteric symbols are frequently incorporated into talking board’s design, along with dramatic and mystical artwork. Some users prefer to improvise their own Ouija board. They may use a sheet of paper with the alphabet written on it or lettered cards placed around a table, together with an object like an overturned glass or coin as the indicator. Hand-made Ouija boards produced by artists are valued by talking board enthusiasts and collectors.

Many users feel that the spirit with whom they are communicating is controlling their motions to guide their hands, spelling out messages. They see the board as a tool or medium through which they communicate with the spirit realm. These believers often take offence at the dismissal of the talking board as merely a game. Other users contend that they are in control of their own actions, but that the talking board allows communication with their inner psychic voice or subconscious.

Proponents of Ouija boards do not believe there is any harm in communicating with spiritual entities, provided basic guidelines are followed. These rules often vary from user to user, but usually include things like never playing alone, beginning and ending a séance “properly”, and always using the board in “comfortable” environment. Numerous superstitions surround Ouija board use.
Skeptical view
Few people who have investigated Ouija boards from a skeptical viewpoint accept that a piece of cardboard sold as a game can conjure spirits, evil or benevolent. The accepted theory among psychologists and skeptics is that the participants are subconsciously making small, involuntary, physical movements using a well-known, and well-understood, phenomenon called the Ideomotor effect. Experiments consistently suggest that, at best, the messages are received involuntarily from the participants themselves, and, at worst, by a manipulative player, possibly with the connivance of confederates within the group present.

In some instances, users of talking boards have communicated with “ghosts” of people who were not dead, as demonstrated by the British mentalist Derren Brown in his 2004 television special Derren Brown: Séance. Skeptic and magician James Randi, in his book An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, points out that when blindfolded, Ouija board operators are unable to produce intelligible messages. Magicians Penn & Teller performed a similar demonstration in an episode of their television show Bullshit!.

These failures indicate, as skeptics believe, that people are simply very willing to fool themselves, for example, by the Forer effect. The public (and frequently energetically flaunted) expression of native and genuine fears and subconscious desires, often concerning death or sex, while appearing genuine, can frighten impressionable people, or cause them to loosen their purse strings (or both). It is for this reason alone that many skeptics suggest that the Ouija board is best avoided, particularly when each player may not absolutely trust, or know, every other player.

Source: wikipedia