If you type “Ouija Board” into YouTube, you’ll find countless clickbaity videos of groups of friends who claim to have summoned a demon or had a spooky experience with a spirit board. Although I highly doubt the validity of most of these videos, Ouija Boards have managed to capture the minds of horror fans and ghost hunters for well over a century. Blogtober got me wondering where Ouija Boards came from and how they came to be so big so here’s what I found out.
The Origins
Ouija Boards as we know them today are a direct product of the rise of spiritualism and the growing interest in mediumship in the nineteenth century. A Baltimorean businessman called Elijah Bond got the patent for Ouija Boards way back in 1891, though talking boards were already popular at this time. There isn’t really much more to say about Elijah other than this fairly creepy detail, his gravestone has an Ouija Board engraved onto the back of it.
William Fuld is the next person of note in the mass-production of Ouija Boards as he oversaw the manufacture for Elijah. Eventually he became so invested in the product that he and his brother leased the Ouija Board name and set up a business together making them to supply the increasing demand. A feud drew the brothers apart though and resulted in William suing his brother for selling talking boards that were near replicas of the official Ouija Boards. William was making so much on Ouija Boards he even started creating Ouija-themed jewellery!
These days, the rights to Ouija Boards are owned by Hasbro, a toy and board game company.
The Scientific View
Aside from the whole, it can easily be faked explanation, scientists think there is another, more psychological theory as it how Ouija Boards work. This is the ideomotor phenomenon. Now, I’m no scientist but the basic gist is that the ideomotor phenomenon can explain how our unconscious mind can make our bodies move without our conscious mind recognising it. An example of our unconscious taking the reigns would be reacting when something is thrown at you without having to consciously think about it.
Our brains are so complicated and most psychologists and neurologists agree that there is so much we don’t know about them. What is known is that the power of suggestion is mighty. Most of the time, if someone attempts an Ouija Board session they are a believer in the paranormal and they probably want the planchette to move. This means their unconscious mind could respond by telling their hand to move it without them even being consciously aware of their movement.
My Verdict
All this brings me back to the start of this post, Ouija Boards make a great YouTube video. Watching that planchette move and spell out some message allegedly from the other side is undeniably spooky. But, for me, at least most of the time, a faked video is possibly all it is. Here’s the thing. I believe in ghosts and in cases of poltergeist activity, I do think it’s possible for ghosts to move things. Therefore, I think it’s plausible that a ghost could be moving that planchette but as for unlocking some portal to a ghost realm or this inanimate object being a hub of demonic activity, I don’t really buy it.
Slightly weird disclaimer before I go but I just want to say that although I don’t think Ouija Boards are demonic, just in case are, I wouldn’t recommend trying one because… well, you never know.
What do you make of Ouija Boards? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be back tomorrow for Blogtober Day 7.
Georgia Haze 
I was OBSESSED with Ouija Boards in middle school and my middle school was old, so there’s no telling what kind of weird history had happened there.
But my friends and I would make our own boards with paper and a quarter and I don’t care what anyone says, the way that quarter moved so fluidly? You can’t mimic that movement. And sometimes when we’d say “bye” they’d hover for a super long time. My cousin refuses to play it with me now but he use to a lot when we were kids lol.
I miss those days sometimes.
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Oooh no way, that’s so creepy! Despite being a bit sceptical about Ouija Boards being demonic, I definitely think it’s possible to speak to ghosts through them so I’ve always been too scared to try one 😂. That’s so cool that you had that experience!
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I was A LITTLE too obsessed with talking to ghosts about my future. Little me didn’t know any better and I hear they just make stuff up, ghosts obviously can’t tell the future!
My ex husband sees ghosts, something about having a warlock in his family or something so he never wanted to bother with stuff like that… he already saw enough as it was!
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Haha, I love the idea of some mischievous ghosts making up ideas about the future for a laugh! 😂
Oh wow, I’ve never met anyone who could see ghosts before, that’s so interesting!
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I always thought it was so cool. He refused to talk to or “notice” them. He hated he could see ghosts.
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