Ouija boards. We’ve all questioned whether or not they were real or if someone was pushing the planchette, or if we would end up being possessed by a demon, but many of us never got the answer as we were too scared to try playing with one. Luckily for you, this article will give you a 101 run-down about ouija boards.
First things first: what is a ouija board? A ouija board is a spirit board that has letters, numbers, and the words “yes,” “no,” and “goodbye” written across it. It comes with a heart-shaped piece called a planchette that players use communicate with spirits by spelling out words and phrases on the board. There have been many popular movies and books based off of this age-old game. Many YouTube stars can also attribute their fame to broadcasting themselves and their friends playing with one of the famous boards. But where did ouija boards get their start?
Businessman Elijah Bond first commercially introduced the game on July 1, 1890 and it was not affiliated with the occult. The term “ouija” was coined by one of Bond’s employees, William Fuld, who said he learned the word while using the board. Its original ancient Egyptian meaning was “good luck.” It wasn’t until spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized it as a “divining tool” during the first World War. A spiritual board similar to modern ouija boards were reportedly used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for the same purposes: contacting the dead.
The rules are short and simple. Never use the board alone. Never use the board in the cemetery (unless you want to attract evil spirits). Never use the board if you think it’s fake. Never take your fingers off the planchette until you properly ask to leave. Never leave the planchette alone on the board without saying goodbye first. These are the five main rules that accompany the ouija board box, but other players have uploaded their personal do’s and don'ts for when using the board. Judging from the instructions, you may, once again, question the validity of communicating with ghosts and spirits via ouija boards. Why shouldn’t you use the board if you believe it’s a hoax? Could it be because the whole game isn’t real after all? Well, we wouldn’t know until someone plays and reports their experience using a ouija board without believing it’s real while risking getting possessed by a demon.
The scientific community denounces the supernatural beliefs affiliated with the ouija board. They explain the movement of the planchette as the players’ actions. They call it the ideomotor effect, a psychophysiological phenomenon in which subjects move objects unconsciously. So is the ouija board real or fake? The world may never know.
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