Ouija: origin and history to the present day

24/01/2025

The belief in the existence of another life after death has been present in many cultures throughout history: Some believe in communication with the deceased through dreams, rituals such as necromancy or through mediums who act as intermediaries between the two worlds. These concepts vary greatly depending on traditions and personal beliefs, some being more spiritual and others more closely linked to specific practices.

The Ouija board is an occult tool that is believed to serve as a meeting point between our reality and that supernatural plane inhabited by spirits.

Its ancestral origins date back to ancient China with the "Fuji" where a glass was placed on a table with different symbols depending on the historical source, or to Pharaonic Egypt where the "automatic writing board" existed, similar to the surrealist technique of writing as a pre-unconscious state to reach the truth.

Well into the 19th century, it became fashionable among the intellectual elite of the time, who sought in the paranormal a kind of "new science" that would overcome the modernist postulates of control over reality through technology, with examples in literature such as Frankenstein or the primordial horrors beyond human understanding of Lovecraft.

At that time, the Frenchman M. Planchette had already designed a prototype of the recognizable model, a board with a pointer to which a pencil was applied that wrote the answers as it slid, "planchette" being today the name given to the Ouija board spike.

Elijah Bond, an American mason who had fought in the American Civil War with the Confederates, patented the board as we know it today as a "toy or game" becoming a lucrative business.

Although it was marketed as an entertainment game, some considered it a serious tool to contact the afterlife, generating curiosity for some, and horror in others.

Together with the spiritualist Charles Kennard, they signed the patent in 1890 as a board game, with events such as that of Pearl Curran/Patience Worth that shot up its popularity:

Pearl Curran, a woman who claimed to communicate with a spirit called Patience Worth through the Ouija, held public sessions where supposed literary and poetic messages were received from this spiritual entity. These sessions helped consolidate the fame and attention towards the Ouija as a tool to contact spiritual entities.

There is a theory that establishes a correlation between the boom of the Ouija to discover if relatives died in combat during the war conflicts suffered by the United States, similar to how the Tarot served as self-therapy for people repressed in the Spanish Civil War.

Since Bond's death, the patent will pass to William Fuld who is considered the main promoter, as the father of the modern Ouija. The arrangement of the letters, numbers, "yes" and "no" were derived from previous versions of the Ouija board, although Fuld made modifications to the design, such as the typography used, as well as giving it a marketing focus as a commercial product.

After his death, the patent would go through Parker Brothers until it reached the multinational toy company Hasbro, sellers of Twister or Monopoly, launching pink Ouija boards for girls.

This entry into the mainstream found its most pronounced point with the film The Exorcist (1973) where the girl is possessed by a demon after performing the Ouija, being associated since then with the appearance of dark forces every time this ceremony is performed.

In addition, the film "Ghost" addresses the communication between a deceased spirit and a loved one, through a sensitive spiritualist. These narratives reflect the duality of the connection with the spiritual world in Western culture, ranging from the search for contact with loved ones to the fear of the unknown.

On the other hand, in Hereditary, there is talk of poorly made connections of theurgy or the seals of Solomon without following all the guidelines, leading to possession due to human incompetence. In the recent Talk To Me, the abuse of the Monkey Hand leads to tragic consequences.

Is there evidence that the Ouija causes hellish possessions to those who use it in real life?

It is curious that the Ouija is associated with evil because of its representation of threat, with which to create horror films.

There are already psychological analyses that indicate that the suggestion of practicing it, in a group or alone, leads to a subsequent suggestion that cannot be explained by logic.

Nowadays, the gothic aesthetic and the resurgence of interest in the esoteric have driven a new use of the Ouija. It is found both in occult circles and in spiritual communities, where some use it as a tool for exploration and others as an entertainment experience.

However, spiritualists prefer to use other less casual techniques that require specific knowledge and that grant greater reliability to the consultant, leaving as a conclusion that the negative perception towards the Ouija has been built under the ignorance of Western culture.

Nuria Acquaviva - nacquavivaps@gmail.com