This game is a real scream.
Ouija Boards are an iconic symbol of Halloween. You can buy Ouija blankets, Ouija masks, Ouija cutting boards – just last week, I got a planchette necklace from Amplify Collective. All this is pretty fitting, since from the time they were invented, Ouija Boards have existed largely as a money grab. However, they were capitalizing on a real belief system, and there are still people today who believe they work.
So, exactly how long have Ouija Boards been around? Well, the general idea of using a board to commune with the dead is older, but the Ouija Board as we know it today was created in 1891 and patented by Elijah Bond. Bond's Ouija Board, marketed as a fun family game, looked essentially the same as any modern Ouija Board.
The Ouija Board capitalized on the rise of spiritualism, the belief that ghosts are real and can be communicated with through the use of a medium. Spiritualism, popularized by stories like that of the Fox sisters, who claimed to talk to ghosts, offered a form of comfort to those who had lost loved ones. The Ouija Board was to be used to allow these ghosts to send a message; the user would ask a question, and the ghosts would move the planchette to point to different letters on the board and spell out their answer.
Speaking of questions, there's something else you may be asking at this point: What does the word "Ouija" even mean? It's not a name, it's not an English word, and although some believe it's a compound of "oui" and "ja", that's just a theory. The name comes with its own mysterious origin story: Reportedly, the creators of the board, along with Bond's sister-in-law, medium Helen Peters, decided the best way to name their new product would be to contact a ghost and just ask what the board should be called. A message came through: "ouija", supposedly an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck".
The more concrete story is this: Peters later revealed she was wearing a locket that said "ouija" on it (believed to possibly be a corruption of Ouida, an English novelist) at the time she was supposed to be communicating with the spirits. Ouija is not, as far as we know, a real Egyptian word. However, calling it an Egyptian word – and, furthermore, calling the Ouija Board an "Egyptian Talking Board" – lent the product an air of exoticism that appealed to some spiritualists at the time.
So, the Ouija Board is created, named, and marketed to great success with spiritualists and non spiritualists alike. It's considered to be a fun, family friendly activity – nothing creepy about it.
Then something happened.
On December 26th, 1973, director William Friedkin released his new horror film, a little movie called The Exorcist. The film, which centres around a girl getting possessed by a demon after playing with a Ouija Board, shocked and terrified audiences everywhere, even being banned from shelves for some time. The film reportedly changed the way many people viewed Ouija Boards, transforming them from a wholesome kids' game to an icon of demonic possession.
Since the release The Exorcist, many other films have used Ouija Boards as a catalyst for horror, they've come to be considered creepy and largely associated with Halloween. Of course, there are still people who believe in ghosts – however, the supposed power of Ouija Boards can be explained with science.
Ouija Boards employ something called the Ideomotor Effect – essentially, subconscious movement. When using a Ouija Board, your brain will subconsciously conjure answers to the questions you're asking, and since you're expecting your hands to move to spell out those answers, your brain will tell them to do exactly that.
Of course, even if you're not a hardcore spiritualist, using a Ouija Board can be a fun Halloween activity to do with your family or friends – just don't do it right after watching The Exorcist.
Have you ever used a Ouija Board? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments!
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