Ouija [Or more simply, 'wee-jee' or 'wee-ja'] refers to the belief that one can receive messages during a séance by the use of a Ouija board (also called a talking board or spirit board) and planchette. The fingers of the participants are placed on the planchette which then moves about a board covered with numbers, letters and symbols so as to spell out messages.
Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers. While the word is not a genericized trademark, it has become a trademark which is often used generically to refer to any talking board.
Etymology
The term "Ouija" is derived from the French "oui" (for "yes") and the German/Dutch "ja" (also for "yes"). An alternative story suggests the name was revealed to inventor Charles Kennard during a Ouija séance and was claimed to be an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck," although this is known to be incorrect. It has also been suggested the word was inspired by the name of the Moroccan city Oujda.
History Of The Ouija Board
The first historical mention of something resembling a Ouija board is found in [China] around 1200 BC. According to a French historical account of the philosopher, in 540 B.C.E. his sect would conduct séances at "a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs, which the philosopher and his pupil, Philolaus, interpreted to the audience as being revelations supposedly from an unseen world."
Popular modern use of the talking boards came with the Spiritualism movement in The United States in the mid-19th 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. These methods may predate modern Spiritualism.
During the late 1800's, 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. Bond was an attorney and inventor of other objects. 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"
The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, claiming 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 1920's through the 1060's. 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.
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 by 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.
Some talking boards have words or phrases written on them to simplify the interpretation of the messages. 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 they are communicating with a spirit who 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 offense 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.
Some proponents of Ouija boards claim the activity is harmless fun. Others believe that they are communicating with spiritual entities but there is no harm in doing so provided that 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 a "comfortable" environment. Numerous superstitions surround Ouija board use, including the alleged in destructiveness of the board.
The accepted theory 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.
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 in which the operators moved the planchette into what they thought was the positions of "yes" and "no" without knowing that the board was turned upside-down, which caused them to move the planchette into blank spaces on the board.
However, it should be noted that those who believe Ouija boards can be used to make actual contact with the spirit world feel that the act of hindering a medium’s ability to use his or her own eyes while the board is in use effectively places too great of a handicap on the whole exercise. (This argument stems from the belief that contacted spirits actually utilize the eyes of the medium during a Ouija session in order to point to the letters and words needed to form a message. Most supporters of this theory believe that the board has no intrinsic power in and of itself, but rather, is used simply as a tool to aid a medium while in communication with the spirit world.)
Criticism Of Ouija Boards
Although Ouija boards are viewed by some to be a simple toy, there are people who believe they can be harmful, including Edgar Cayce, who called them "dangerous." Critics warn that "evil demons" pretend to be cooperative ghosts in order to trick players into becoming spiritually possessed.
Some practitioners claim to have had bad experiences related to the use of talking boards by being haunted by "demons," seeing apparitions of spirits, and hearing voices after using them. A few paranormal researchers, such as John Zaffis, claim that the majority of the worst cases of so-called demon harassment and possession are caused by the use of Ouija boards. The American demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, stated that "Ouija boards are just as dangerous as drugs." They further state that "séances and Ouija boards and other occult paraphernalia are dangerous because 'evil spirits' often disguise themselves as your loved ones—and take over your life."
In 1944, occultist Manly P. Hall, the founder of the Philosophical Research Society and an early authority on the occult in the 20th century, stated in Horizon magazine that, "during the last 20-25 years I have had considerable personal experience with persons who have complicated their lives through dabbling with the Ouija board. Out of every hundred such cases, at least 95 are worse off for the experience." He went on to say that, "I know of broken homes, estranged families, and even suicides that can be traced directly to this source."
Many Christians hold the belief that using a Ouija board allows communication with demons, which they say is Biblically forbidden as a form of divination. Some people who claim to have been oppressed by evil spirits after using a board say that they could only get rid of these problems after Christian deliverance. Many Christians believe that no dead person's soul can be summoned, and that the only summoned spirits are demons who are trying to harm humans.
As early as 1934, Harry Houdini wrote that five people from Carrito, California were driven insane by using a board. That same year, Dr. Carl Wickland in his book stated that "the serious problem of alienation and mental derangement attending ignorant psychic experiments was first brought to my attention by cases of several persons whose seemingly harmless experiences with automatic writing and the Ouija board resulted in such wild insanity that commitment to asylums was necessitated."
The former medical director of the State Insane Asylum of New Jersey, Dr. Curry, stated that the Ouija board was a "dangerous factor" in unbalancing the mind and believed that if their popularity persisted insane asylums would be filled with people who used them.
Decades later, in 1065, parapsychologist Martin Ebon in his book Satan Trap: Dangers of the Occult, states that "it all may start harmlessly enough, perhaps with a Ouija board," which will, "bring startling information... establishing credibility or identifying itself as someone who is dead. It is common that people... as having been 'chosen' for a special task." He continues, "Quite often the Ouija turns vulgar, abusive or threatening. It grows demanding and hostile, and sitters may find themselves using the board compulsively, as if 'possessed' by a spirit, or hearing voices that control or command them."
In her 1971 autobiography, the psychic Susy Smith said, "Warn people away from Ouija and automatic writing. I experienced many of the worst problems of such involvement. Had I been forewarned by reading that such efforts might cause one to run the risk of being mentally disturbed, I might have been more wary."
Additionally, the late Roman Catholic priest Milachi Martin believed talking boards are dangerous and claimed that by using these devices a person opens themselves to demonic oppression or possession, topics upon which Martin spoke and wrote extensively for many years.
Notable users
GK Chesterton also used the 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.
Aleister Crowley, the most infamous of Occulists, advocated the use of Ouija boards and they played a major role in many of his magical workings.
For more information on Crowley and the Ouija board please see 'Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board'
James Merrill, the poet used the 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 people not use Ouija boards.
Romano Prodi the Italian Prime Minister in 2006 has an unusual tie to the Moro kidnapping for in 1978, he and other professors at the University of Bologna held a séance in which a Ouija board spelled the word “Gradoli,” which turned out to be the street name in Rome of a Red Brigades safe house.
Alice Cooper claims to have to have used a Ouija Board to come up with his band name, as has the band Cheap Trick.
The investigators of Most Haunted have been known to use Ouija Boards.
