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Want to play? 13 Facts about the Ouija Board

2/24/2020

14 Comments

 
The history of the Ouija board is interesting. It started as an innocent toy. Now, people use it seriously, trying to contact spirits. There are tons of tales of hauntings from people using the board by Patricia Josephine
The history of the Ouija board is interesting. It started as an innocent toy. Now, people use it seriously, trying to contact spirits. There are tons of tales of hauntings from people using the board. Are they true? I have no clue, but I love to read about them and get a nice shiver down my spine.

Here are 13 facts that may make you rethink playing with an Ouija Board.
  1. The first ever Ouija board was invented by a toy shop in 1891: According to various sources, it was a Pittsburgh toy and novelty shop called Danziger's & Company.
  2. During World War I, Ouija boards could be found in almost every household in the U.S. (Kind of makes you wonder. Were people trying to contact soldiers who died in battle?)
  3. In 1922, Ouija board sales outsold Monopoly: Three million Ouija boards were sold in the year 1920. Over the next two years, they jumped over the sales of Monopoly.
  4. Ouija board got its patent without proper paperwork: Elijah Bond carried an Ouija board to the patent office and asked it to spell out the name of the officer. Which it did and the officer was so spooked he approved the patent without finishing the paperwork.
  5. The Ouija board named itself when asked for it: They had no idea what to call it and decided to ask the board and that's what it spelled.
  6. The word Ouija means "good luck": Apparently the word is Egyptian.
  7. Emily Grant Hutchings said that the book "Jap Herron" was dictated by Mark Twain's ghost through an Ouija board.
  8. People who take fatal decisions based on the boards are often related in one way or another: A mother-daughter duo played with an Ouija board after taking a lot of hallucinogenic pills and later burned their own house. Investigators found out they were related to a person who attempted to kill his dog after playing the same game.
  9. The most demonic spirit in an Ouija world is called Zozo. Crazy fact here: I followed a Youtuber for a while who got an Ouija board. She got rid of it after the name Zozo was spelled out.
  10. Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholic Anonymous wrote the famous 12-step recovery program using an Ouija board: Bill had a spook room in his house and he used to contact spirits in order to seek their guidance for his own research. He was also found to be on LSD sooo.....
  11. Six intelligence officers with top-secret security clearances were arrested for messing with supernatural forces through Ouija board: The officials claimed the souls predicted the Gulf War and an earthquake in 1990. Later, they went AWOL on orders from the board. They were found and arrested for their misbehavior.
  12. The 1973 film The exorcist abruptly stopped the Ouija obsession with a mass fear of spirit infestation.
  13. The scientific concept on which Ouija boards are based is called Ideomotor Effect: The ideomotor phenomenon is a psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously. (source)

So, anyone want to play? Have you played with an Ouija board? Had an unexplained experience with one? Or is it all in our heads and done with unconscious movements that tell us what we want to hear? (If you liked this post, you can get early access to it and exclusive flash fiction over on my Patreon.)
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14 Comments
kate link
2/24/2020 09:03:38 am

My friends and I went through a stage of playing with ouija boards when I was younger. We used to freak each other out no end! But I don't think we ever actually contacted any spirits. Amazing the power of teenage girls' minds...

Reply
Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:14:03 am

I've never played with one and not sure I ever would. I'd probably scare myself too much. LOL

Reply
Liz A. link
2/24/2020 11:24:44 am

My mom bought me one when I was a teen. We played with it. It gave us no actual foreknowledge of anything. I sold it at a garage sale.

Reply
Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:14:34 am

I guess the spirits knew you were a skeptic and didn't want to talk to you then. =P

Reply
Heather R. Holden link
2/25/2020 12:44:17 am

Love these facts! (That's awesome how it outsold Monopoly for a while--go Ouija!) I've always enjoyed reading tales about Ouija boards, too. Personally don't own one myself, but I do have a generic spirit board, heh.

Reply
Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:15:06 am

Scary things about an Ouija sounds like it'd be right up your alley, Heather.

Reply
Hazel link
2/25/2020 07:51:32 pm

I will be looking at AA differently now. My knowledge of Ouijas is limited; via movies. I notice that playing it is generally discouraged, even in FB Paranormal theme groups. I have never seen an Ouija board in my entire life and not planning to see any, at least not deliberately. If I come across one though, I think I will take a good look at it.....

-
Hello, I came to your site from the Anything Goes linky party.

Reply
J.H. Moncrieff link
2/27/2020 05:38:56 am

Cool post! I do have experience with one, but the story is too long to post as a comment.

However, I've never gotten one to work as it's "supposed" to.

(Regular replies weren't working for some reason, so I had to reply to another comment.)

Reply
Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:16:07 am

JH, that is weird. Maybe this post is cursed!

Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:15:46 am

I know, right!
I've only seen them at the local Paranormal convention I've attended.

Reply
Patricia Josephine
2/28/2020 09:16:29 am

Checking to see if this will let me comment since some people have had issues.

Reply
Elizabeth Seckman link
2/29/2020 12:16:01 am

My Sunday school teacher told us that if it did spell speak, there was assuredly not a friendly soul doing the communicating, That scared me enough to never want even be near one, much less use one!

Reply
Yvonne V link
3/4/2020 12:25:02 pm

Wow! I didn't know this history. I love your research (but it won't make me play!).

Reply
Tamara Ann Narayan link
3/6/2020 07:15:16 am

That's interesting about the name. I'd heard it was from the French oui and German ja which are both yes. The yes-yes game?

Reply



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