Some
sites and experts claim that the Ouija Board has been around since the fourth
century. It's also thought to have been used by the Greeks since before the
time of Christ (Ellie Crystal, 1997). However, the earliest known patent for a
talking board was filed on January 23, 1854 in the patent offices of London,
England. The patent was filed by Adolphus Wagner, who described his device as a
“Psychograph, or apparatus for indicating person’s thoughts by the agent of
nervous electricity”. The patent identifies the device as a “Taking
Board”. According to Mr. Wagner’s full
description, it appears that he believed that it was the unintentional
movements of the participants, and not the spirits of the dead, that created
the messages spelled out on the board (Karl, 2007).
The
Ouija board was first introduced to the American public in 1890 as a parlor game.
America saw a rise in the interest of spiritualism. This was most likely a
result of people’s desperation to connect with loved ones who had gone away to
war and never returned home. It appears that impatience in communicating with
the dead grew as well. People were desperate for quicker methods of
communication with the dead.
In 1886,
the fledgling Associated Press reported on a new phenomenon taking over the
spiritualists’ camps in Ohio, the talking board. In 1890, Charles Kennard,
Elijah Bond, Col. Washington Bowie, and E.C. Reiche started the Kennard Novelty
Company to exclusively make and market talking boards. None of the men were known
to be spiritualists, but they were all known businessmen.
In 1891,
U.S. Patent 446054 for the Ouija Board was granted to Elijah J. Bond and
Charles Kennard. The men created a new design for the board and sold it along
with a planchette. Mr. Kennard’s company
was eventually taken over by his former foreman, William Fuld, in 1892. William
reinvented the history of the Ouija Board, making himself the actual inventor
of the Board. He claimed that the name came from the French word
"oui" for yes, and the German "ja" for yes.
Fuld
refused to pay taxes on the Oujia sales stating that the boards were scientific
instruments, not games. Fuld’s battle against the IRS went all the way to the
Supreme Court. In 1920, the Supreme Court decided to legally categorize Oujia
as a game. Some would argue that Fuld classified the board as a scientific
instrument to avoid paying taxes on the sale of the board. Others might argue
that the Supreme Court determined the board to be a game so that they could
collect the taxes.
In 1927,
Fuld fell from the roof of his Ouija Factory to his death. His children took
over the business and continued to sell the boards until they retired in 1966. In 1966, the Parker Brothers purchased the
rights to the Ouija Board and began manufacturing it in Salem, Massachusetts (Sharon
Scott, 2007). Parker Brothers has always promoted the Ouija Board as a harmless
parlor game. If the board was promoted as anything else, Parker Brothers would
likely lose the support of the very profitable Christian family board game
market. Think about it.
------
Cindie
Harper is a paranormal investigator and Founder of Femme Force. Cindie has a
Master of Social Work degree from West Virginia University and is also a
certified Reiki Master Teacher. Cindie
is an intuitive and believes in embracing the unknown. She is interested in
most things paranormal, spiritual, creepy or spooky.
You can
find Cindie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/femmeforce
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Femme-Force/251139875064663
Website:
WWW.FEMMEFORCE.ORG
Twitter:
@thefemmeforce
Sources;
Ellie
Crystal, 1997, “Ouija Boards”
Karl,
Jason 2007, “An Illustrated History of the Haunted World”
Museum
of Taking Boards , 1996
http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/interact.html
Sharon
Scott, 2007, “ Toys, Games, and Hobbies in North America” GREENWOOD
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD POPULAR CULTURES
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