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{{Spiritualism_small}}
{{Spiritualism_small}}


A '''Ouija board''' was founded by a man named Kennard. Kennard called the new board Ouija (pronounced 'wE-ja) after the Egyptian word for good luck. Ouija is not really Egyptian for good luck, but since the board reportedly told him it was during a session, the name stuck.*
⚫
A '''Ouija board''' (possibly from the French and German/Dutch words for "yes", ''oui'' and ''ja''),<ref>"ouija board." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 21 Oct. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ouija board>. retrieved 10/21/10</ref> also known as a '''spirit board''' or '''talking board''', is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a [[planchette]] (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a [[séance]]. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the planchette, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.

Kennard lost his company and it was taken over by his former foreman, William Fuld, in 1892.

One of William Fuld's first public relations gimmicks, as master of his new company, was to reinvent the history of the Ouija board. He said that he himself had invented the board and that the name Ouija was a fusion of the French word "oui" for yes, and the German "ja" for yes.*
⚫
also known as a '''spirit board''' or '''talking board''', is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a [[planchette]] (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a [[séance]]. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the planchette, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.


'''''Ouija''''' is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by [[Parker Brothers]].<ref>[http://www.uspto.gov/main/profiles/acadres.htm United States Patent and Trademark Office] retrieved 24/08/09</ref> It has become a [[List of proprietary eponyms based on active trademarks|trademark that is often used generically]] to refer to any talking board.
'''''Ouija''''' is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by [[Parker Brothers]].<ref>[http://www.uspto.gov/main/profiles/acadres.htm United States Patent and Trademark Office] retrieved 24/08/09</ref> It has become a [[List of proprietary eponyms based on active trademarks|trademark that is often used generically]] to refer to any talking board.

Revision as of 20:16, 21 December 2010

This article is about spiritualist use of the ouija board. For other uses, see Ouija (disambiguation). For uses, such as the name Weegee, see Weegee (disambiguation).
File:English ouija board.jpg
A modern ouija board plus planchette
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A Ouija board was founded by a man named Kennard. Kennard called the new board Ouija (pronounced 'wE-ja) after the Egyptian word for good luck. Ouija is not really Egyptian for good luck, but since the board reportedly told him it was during a session, the name stuck.*

Kennard lost his company and it was taken over by his former foreman, William Fuld, in 1892. 

   One of William Fuld's first public relations gimmicks, as master of his new company, was to reinvent the history of the Ouija board. He said that he himself had invented the board and that the name Ouija was a fusion of the French word "oui" for yes, and the German "ja" for yes.*
also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with any spirits. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling it out on the board during a séance. The fingers of the séance participants are placed on the planchette, which then moves about the board to spell out words or become physically manifest.

Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers.[1] It has become a trademark that is often used generically to refer to any talking board.

Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond in the late 1890s, the Ouija board was regarded as a harmless parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.[2] Mainstream Christian religions and some occultists have associated use of the Ouija board with the threat of demonic possession and some have cautioned their followers not to use Ouija boards.[3]

While Ouija believers feel the paranormal or supernatural is responsible for Ouija's action, it may be more parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect.[4][5][6] Despite being debunked by the efforts of the scientific community, Ouija remains popular among many young people.[2]

History

Wang Chongyang, founder of the Quanzhen School, depicted in Changchun Temple, Wuhan

China

See also: Fuji (planchette writing)

One of the first mentions of the automatic writing method used in the Ouija board is found in China around 1100 BC, and it is first recorded in historical documents of the Song Dynasty. The method was known as fuji 扶乩 "planchette writing". The use of planchette writing as a means of ostensibly contacting the dead and the spirit-world continued, and, albeit under special rituals and supervisions, was a central practice of the Quanzhen School, until it was forbidden by the Qing Dynasty.[7] Several entire scriptures of the Daozang are supposedly works of automatic planchette writing. Similar methods of mediumistic spirit writing have been widely practiced in Ancient India, Greece, Rome and medieval Europe.[8]

Toy

During the late 19th century, planchettes were widely sold as a novelty. The businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed. The patentees filed on May 28, 1890 for patent protection and thus had invented the first Ouija board. Issue date on the patent was February 10, 1891. They received U.S. patent 446,054. Bond was an attorney and was an inventor of other objects in addition to this device. 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".[9] Kennard claimed he learned the name "Ouija" from using the board and that it was an ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck." When Fuld took over production of the boards, he popularized the more widely accepted etymology, that the name came from a combination of the French and German words for "yes".[10] The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, claiming that he himself had invented it. The strange talk about the 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 ten brands of talking boards are sold today under various names.[9]

Criticism

Religious

Most religious criticism of the Ouija board has come from Christians, primarily evangelicals in the USA. In 2001 Ouija boards were burned in Alamogordo, N.M by fundamentalist groups alongside Harry Potter books as 'symbols of witchcraft'.[11][12][13] Religious criticism has also expressed beliefs that the Ouija board reveals information which should only be on God's hands, and thus it is a tool of Satan.[14] A spokesperson for Human Life International described the boards as a portal to talk to spirits and called for Hasbro to be prohibited from marketing them.[15]

In the murder trial of Joshua Tucker, his mother insisted that he had carried out the murders while possessed by the devil who found him when he was using an Ouija board.[16][17]

Bishops in Micronesia called for the boards to be banned and warned congregations that they were talking to demons and devils when using the boards.[18]

Ouija boards have been criticised in the press since their inception; having been various described as '"vestigial remains" of primitive belief-systems' and a con to part fools with their money.[19][20] Some journalists have described reports of Ouija board findings as 'half truths' and have suggested that their inclusion in national newspapers lowers the national discourse overall.[21]

Ouija boards have also been satirized in song. Singer Dick Valentine's lyrics suggest playing with them is comparable to 'playing with tiddlywinks' and nothing more. [22]

Academic

The Ouija phenomenon has been criticised by many scientists as a hoax related to the ideomotor response.[23] Various studies have been produced, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing that, at least under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the board involuntarily.[23][24] Detractors have described Ouija board users as 'operators'.[25] Some critics noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects.[26]

In the 1970s Ouija board users were also described as "cult members" by sociologists, though this was severely scrutinised in the field.[27]

The Ouija board was criticised by Heidegger who noted that: "it seems as though man everywhere and always encounters himself" and was said to have described users of the board as 'arrogant' in their assumption that they could overcome death to talk to spirits.[28]

Use in literature

Ouija boards have been the source of inspiration for literary works, used as guidance in writing, or as a form of channeling literary works. As a result of Ouija boards becoming popular in the early 20th century, by the 1920s many "psychic" books were written of varying quality often initiated by Ouija board use.[29]

Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that her 1917 novel Jap Herron: A Novel Written from the Ouija Board was dictated by Mark Twain's spirit through the use of a ouija board after his passing.[30]

More recently, Sylvia Plath's poem Ouija was influenced by the experiments she and Ted Hughes made with a board. Her Dialogue over a Ouija Board, written in 1957, incorporates the text of one of the sessions.[citation needed]

Author John G. Fuller used a Ouija board in his research for his 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401. As he was skeptical of its effectiveness, he worked with a medium and claimed they both contacted Don Repo, the flight engineer on the flight which crashed into the Everglades en route to Miami. According to Fuller, the information divined described facts that neither he nor the medium previously knew.[citation needed]

Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill used a Ouija board and recorded what he claimed were messages from a number of deceased persons. He combined these messages with his own poetry in The Changing Light at Sandover (1982).[citation needed]

Author Thomas Disch, in his book The Businessman: A Tale of Terror (1984), included a somewhat humorous scene where ghosts attempt to manipulate a Ouija board session to expose a murderer. However, since the ghost attempting to influence the board is dyslexic, they are unable to identify the killer.[citation needed]

William Peter Blatty, in his novel, The Exorcist, used the Ouija board as the device by which Regan, the possessed child, became open to demonic infestation.[citation needed]

Notable users

G. K. Chesterton used a Ouija board. Around 1893 he had gone through a crisis of skepticism and depression, and during this period Chesterton experimented with the Ouija board and grew fascinated with the occult.[31]

Poet James Merrill used a Ouija board for years, and even encouraged entrance of spirits into his body. He wrote the poem "The Changing Light at Sandover" with the help of a Ouija board. Before he died, he recommended that people not use Ouija boards.[32]

Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi claimed under oath that, in a séance held in 1978 with other professors at the University of Bologna, the "ghost" of Giorgio La Pira spelled the name of the street where Aldo Moro was being held by the Red Brigades in a Ouija. According to Peter Popham of The Independent: "Everybody here has long believed that Prodi's ouija board tale was no more than an ill-advised and bizarre way to conceal the identity of his true source, probably a person from Bologna's seething far-left underground whom he was pledged to protect."[33]

In 1994, In London, convicted murderer Stephen Young's lawyers lodged an appeal against his conviction after his learning that four of the jurors had conducted a Ouija board seance and had "contacted" the murdered man, who had named Young as his killer.[34]

Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous used the Ouija board to contact spirits.[35] His wife said that he would get messages directly without even using the board.[36] For a while, his participation in AA was deeply affected by his involvement with the Ouija board. Wilson claimed that he received the twelve step method directly from a spirit without the board and wrote it down.[37]

On the July 25, 2007 edition of the paranormal radio show Coast to Coast AM, host George Noory attempted to carry out a live Ouija board experiment on national radio despite the strong objections of one of his guests, Jordan Maxwell, and with the encouragement of his other guests, Dr. Bruce Goldberg, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, and Jerry Edward Cornelius. [citation needed] In the days and hours leading up to the show, unfortunate events kept occurring to Noory's friends and family as well as some of his guests, but these events would likely be considered coincidences. After recounting a near-death experience in 2000 and noting bizarre events taking place, Noory canceled the experiment.[38]

Dick Brooks of the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, uses a Ouija board as part of a paranormal and seance presentation.[39]

The Mars Volta wrote their album Bedlam in Goliath based on their alleged experiences with a Ouija board. According to their story (written for them by a fiction author, Jeremy Robert Johnson), Omar Rodriguez Lopez purchased a Ouija board while traveling in Jerusalem. At first the board provided a story which became the theme for the album. Strange events allegedly related to this activity occurred during the recording of the album: the studio flooded, one of the album's main engineers had a nervous breakdown, equipment began to malfunction, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala's foot was injured. Following these bad experiences the band buried the Ouija board.[40]

Other musically related uses: Early press releases stated that Vincent Furnier's stage and band name "Alice Cooper" was agreed upon after a session with a Ouija board, during which it was revealed that Furnier was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch with that name.[41] Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, believes his death will be associated with the number 621 (which is also his birthday, June 21) from having used a Ouija board.[42] The Fiery Furnaces said that they used a Ouija board to write lyrics for their album Widow City.[43]

Notes

  1. ^ United States Patent and Trademark Office retrieved 24/08/09
  2. ^ a b Brunvand, Jan Harold (1998). American folklore: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780815333500.
  3. ^ Raising the devil: Satanism, new religions, and the media. University Press of Kentucky. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
  4. ^ Adams, Cecil (July 3, 2000). "How does a Ouija board work?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 6 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Carroll, Robert T. (2009-10-31). "Ouija board". Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  6. ^ Shermer, Michael (2002). The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576076538.
  7. ^ Silvers, Brock. The Taoist Manual (Honolulu: Sacred Mountain Press, 2005), p. 129–132.
  8. ^ Chao Wei-pang. 1942. "The origin and Growth of the Fu Chi", Folklore Studies 1:9-27
  9. ^ a b Museum of Talking Boards: Ancient Ouija Boards, Fact or Fiction?[unreliable source?]
  10. ^ Cornelius, J. E. Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board, pp. 20-21. Feral House, 2005.
  11. ^ Ishizuka, Kathy (February, 2002). "Harry Potter book burning draws fire". School Library Journal. 48 (2). New York: 27. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ "Book banning spans the globe;". Houston Chronicle. October 3, 2002. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  13. ^ Lauren LaRocca (July 13, 2007). "The Potter phenomenon". Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ^ Page McKean Zyromski (October 2006). "Facts for Teaching about Halloween". Catechist. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ "Pink Ouija Board Declared "A Dangerous Spiritual Game," Possibly Destroying Our Children [The Craft]". Jezebel. February 7, 2010. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. ^ Paula Horton (March 15, 2008). "Teen gets 41 years in Benton City slayings". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ Paula Horton (January 26, 2008). "Mom says son influenced by Satan on day of Benton City slayings". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  18. ^ Dernbach, Katherine Boris (Spring 2005). "SPIRITS OF THE HEREAFTER: DEATH, FUNERARY POSSESSION, AND THE AFTERLIFE IN CHUUK, MICRONESIA1". Ethnology. 44 (2). Pittsburgh: 99. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  19. ^ "Everything You Wanted To Know". The Statesman. October 11, 2009. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  20. ^ Howerth, I. W. (Aug., 1927). "Science and Religion". The Scientific Monthly. 25 (2). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 151. Retrieved November 10, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ Lloyd, Alfred H. (Sep., 1921). "Newspaper Conscience--A Study in Half-Truths". The American Journal of Sociology. 27 (2). The University of Chicago Press: 198–205. Retrieved November 11, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ George Kielty (October 7, 2010). "Electric Six: Zodiac". St Petersburg Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  23. ^ a b Burgess, Cheryl A. "Facilitated Communication as an Ideomotor Response". Psychological Science. 9 (1). Blackwell Publishing: 71. Retrieved November 10, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Hattie Brown Garrow (December 1, 2008). "Suffolk's Lakeland High teens find their own answers". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  25. ^ Brian Dickerson (February 6, 2008). "Detroit Free Press Brian Dickerson column: Crying rape through a Ouija board". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  26. ^ Tucker, Milo Asem (Apr., 1897). "Compartive Observations on the Involuntary Movements of Adults and Children". The American Journal of Psychology. 8 (3). University of Illinois Press: 402. Retrieved November 10, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  27. ^ Robbins, Thomas (1979). "The Sociology of Contemporary Religious Movements". Annual Review of Sociology. 5. Annual Reviews: 81–87. Retrieved November 10, 2010. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ Lundberg, Christian (Fall 2005). ""Ouija Board, Are There Any Communications?" Agency, Ontotheology, and the Death of the Humanist Subject, or, Continuing the ARS Conversation". Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 35 (4). Provo: 82–83. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ White, Stewart Edward (March 1943). The Betty Book. USA: E. P. Dutton & CO., Inc. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0898041511. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  30. ^ http://www.twainquotes.com/19170909.html
  31. ^ BBC - Radio 4 - Great Lives - Richard Ingrams on GK Chesterton - 9 May 2003
  32. ^ Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game, Stoker Hunt, Chapter 6, pages 44-50.
  33. ^ Popham, Peter (2005-12-02). "The seance that came back to haunt Romano Prodi". The Independent. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  34. ^ Spencer, J.R., "Seances, and the Secrecy of the Jury–Room", The Cambridge Law Journal, Vol.54, No.3, (November 1995), pp.519-522.BBC News reportnews report in The Independent
  35. ^ Pass It On, New York A. A., 1984, page 278.
  36. ^ Pass It On, New York A. A., 1984, pages 278-279.
  37. ^ Pass It On, New York A. A., 1984, pages 196-197.
  38. ^ Wednesday July 25th, 2007 Coast to Coast AM Show Summary
  39. ^ [1]
  40. ^ The Bedlam in Goliath Offers Weird Ouija Tale of The Mars Volta
  41. ^ The Rock Radio: Alice Cooper Biography
  42. ^ Flowers Convinced Of Own Death En Route To Glastonbury. femalefirst.co.uk 15-05-2007
  43. ^ Thrill Jockey Records

References

Information on talking boards
Skeptics
Trade marks and patents
Other
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