The Ouija Board

The Ouija Board

According to Wikipedia, the art of planchette writing began around 1100 AD in China, used by the Quanzhen School as a means of contacting the spirit world. It was part of special rituals and spread throughout the ancient world and medieval Europe. It was banned from use by the Quing Dynasty but by that time the practice of speaking with spirits was well defined.  The planchette is the small triangle object used as a ‘pointer’ when identifying letters, words and numbers. At that time only the planchette was used and the letters, numbers, or symbols were drawn on the ground in dirt, painting on the floor of sacred rooms and possibly carved into moveable wood pieces.

It became a ‘toy’ in the late 19^th century; patented by Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard as a board game.  Kennard claimed that in using the planchette it identified itself as Ouija; an ancient Egyptian word meaning, ‘good luck’; thus the Ouija Board was born.

For many years the game was a mere parlor entertainment to fascinate the users into believing they were contracting the other side.   The darker side of the game was emphasized in the late 1990’s; mostly by evangelicals Christians as a tool of the devil. It became known as the ‘witch board’ and deemed a portal to evil.

Movies, books, stories of ghastly happenings when using the board became a Hollywood promotion to sell tickets.

Recently, the board game has been banned by paranormal groups as portals that allow spirits—good and bad---to enter your home.

We had a Ouija board and used it at every sleep-over during my high school years. I can remember being scared when the planchette moved, slowly spelling out words and ‘talking’ to us. Usually, it was followed with accusations of someone moving the planchette deliberately and quickly exchanged for pizza and doing our hair. Scientists agree that the planchette is moved by an ‘operator’ in what is called the ideomotor response;  which means the power of a mental thought translated to muscle reaction. If you think it, you will do it.

In the early 1900’s the board was used by psychics in séances to conjure up their spirit guides and contact the unknown for a price from the client.

What really surprised me was the use of the Ouija board in literature.

Quoted from Wikipedia:

Emily Grant Hutchings claimed that her 1917 novel Jap Herron: A Novel Written from the Ouija Board was dictated by Mark Twain’s spirit through the use of a Ouija board after his death.

Poems and novels written by Patience Worth, an alleged spirit, contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran, for more than 20 years, were initially transcribed from sessions with a Ouija board.

In 1982, poet James Merrill released an apocalyptic 560-page epic poem entitled The Changing Light at Sandover, which documented two decades of messages dictated from the Ouija board during séances hosted by Merrill and his partner David Noyes Jackson.

He won the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer.  Maybe my writing would take off if I started using the Ouija—worth a thought. But, what about the prospect of opening a portal to the other side; I am cautious about such horrors.  Skeptics claim that if users were blindfolded during use of the game, the letters would spell nothing-- it is the subconscious mind transmitting through the users and not spirits.

So why do most paranormal groups warn against their use?

Perhaps it is not the object that is bringing the spirits through the portal but the users themselves. Believing in something can attribute to making it real, and maybe ghosts are catching on that when a Ouija board is used—fear is building enough energy for them to connect. They are coming through you, not the board itself. It’s kinda of like a possession of sorts. The spirits are using your fear, your energy to enter and communicate.

If you do decide to use the game there is one important rule: always close the board by sliding the planchette to ‘good-bye’ when you finish. Remember what your mother told you—close the door. If you do use the game and run into problems, give us a call!

Remember all you ghost hunters out there, respect property and respect the dead, and always carry extra batteries! Be sure to check back for more investigations by Cee’s Ghost Hunting and Paranormal. You can also sign up for email notifications at the bottom of this blog.  Be careful out there.

ghost-written by D. Susan Rutz