Ouija Example of Ouija Board and Planchette. Ouija (wē'jə, -jē, sometimes ˈwiˌdʒi [wee-gee or wee-juh]) is the belief that one can receive messages during a séance through the Ouija board (also called spirit board) and planchette. The fingers of the participants are placed on the planchette which then moves about a board covered with numbers, letters and symbols so as to spell out messages. Ouija is a trademark for a talking board currently sold by Parker Brothers. While the word is not a genericized trademark, it has become a trademark which is often used generically to refer to any talking board. Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Usage 4 Alleged consequences of usage 5 Literature 6 Notable users 7 Other incarnations 8 See also 9 References 9.1 Footnotes 9.2 Books 10 External links 10.1 External links of sites with information on talking boards 10.2 External links skeptical of talking boards 10.3 Other External links Etymology There are several theories about the origin of the term "Ouija". According to one of these, the word is derived from the French "oui" (for "yes") and the German/Dutch "ja" (also for "yes"). An alternative story suggests that the name was revealed to inventor Charles Kennard during a Ouija séance and was claimed to be an Ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck." It has also been suggested that the word was inspired by the name of the Moroccan city Oujda. Despite its common usage, "Ouija" is a registered trademark[1][2] (but the term "Ouija Board" has been abandoned as a registered trademark[3]). History According to some sources, the first historical mention of something resembling a Ouija board is found in China around 1200 B.C., a divination method known as Fu Ji (扶乩). Other sources claim that according to a French historical account of the philosopher Pythagoras, in 540 B.C. his sect would conduct seances at "a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs, which the philosopher and his pupil, Philolaus, interpreted to the audience as being revelations supposedly from an unseen world."[4]. However, other sources call both claims into dispute, claiming that Fu Ji is spirit writing, not the use of a spirit board, and that there is no record of Pythagoras or his students actually having used this method of achieving oracles or divinations. [5] In addition, the claim of ancient Greek use is called into doubt by questions of historical accuracy, as Philolaus was never the pupil of Pythagoras, and indeed was born roughly twenty-five years after Pythagoras's death. The first undisputed use of the talking boards came with the Spiritualism movement in The United States in the mid-19th century. Methods of divination at that time used various ways to spell out messages, including swinging a pendulum over a plate that had letters around the edge or using an entire table to indicate letters drawn on the floor. Often used was a small wooden tablet supported on casters. This tablet, called a planchette, was affixed with a pencil that would write out messages in a fashion similar to automatic writing. These methods may predate modern Spiritualism. U.S. Patent D056,449 . Design patent for toys (D21/813) which was filed May 26, 1920. Issued Oct 26, 1920. Patentee was Clifford H. McGlasson. During the late 1800s, planchettes were widely sold as a novelty. The businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed. The patentees filed on May 28, 1890 for patent protection and thus had invented the first Ouija board. Issue date on the patent was February 10, 1891. They received U.S. Patent 446,054 . Bond was an attorney and was an inventor of other objects in addition to this device. An employee of Kennard, William Fuld took over the talking board production and in 1901, he started production of his own boards under the name "Ouija". [5] The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, claiming that he himself had invented it. Countless talking boards from Fuld's competitors flooded the market and all these boards enjoyed a heyday from the 1920s through the 1960s. Fuld sued many companies over the "Ouija" name and concept right up until his death in 1927. In 1966, Fuld's estate sold the entire business to Parker Brothers, who continues to hold all trademarks and patents. About 10 brands of talking boards are sold today under various names. [5] Usage Psychologists believe the motion of the planchette is explained by the ideomotor effect. A typical session with the board has two or more people touching the planchette with at least one hand each, so that no single person need apply much force in order for the group as a whole to cause it to move. Each person experiences the illusion that the planchette moves under its own power. Skeptic and magician James Randi, in his book An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, points out that when blindfolded, Ouija board operators are unable to produce intelligible messages.[6] Magicians Penn & Teller performed a similar demonstration in an episode of their television show Bullshit! in which the operators moved the planchette into what they thought was the positions of "yes" and "no" without knowing that the board was turned upside-down, which caused them to move the planchette into blank spaces on the board. Those who believe Ouija boards can be used to make actual contact with the spirit world feel that the act of hindering a medium’s ability to use his or her own eyes while the board is in use effectively places too great of a handicap on the whole exercise (see ad hoc hypothesis). (This argument stems from the belief that contacted spirits actually utilize the eyes of the medium during a Ouija session in order to point to the letters and words needed to form a message. Most believers of this notion believe that the board has no intrinsic power in and of itself, but rather, is used simply as a tool to aid a medium while in communication with the spirit world.)[7] Alleged consequences of usage Many anecdotal stories regarding the consequences of using Ouija boards exist in modern culture. Although Ouija boards are viewed by some to be a simple toy, there are people who believe they can be harmful, including Edgar Cayce, who called them "dangerous."[8] Believers warn that evil demons pretend to be cooperative ghosts in order to trick players into becoming spiritually possessed. Others believe the Ouija Board or 'Talking Board' is a passage way for the devil / Satan to come into our world[citation needed]. Some practitioners claim to have had bad experiences related to the use of talking boards by being haunted by "demons," seeing apparitions of spirits, and hearing voices after using them. A few paranormal researchers, such as John Zaffis, claim that the majority of the worst cases of so-called demon harassment and possession are caused by the use of Ouija boards. The American demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, stated that "Ouija boards are just as dangerous as drugs."[9] They further state that "séances and Ouija boards and other occult paraphernalia are dangerous because 'evil spirits' often disguise themselves as your loved ones—and take over your life."[10] In 1944, occultist Manly P. Hall, the founder of the Philosophical Research Society and an early authority on the occult in the 20th century, stated in Horizon magazine that, "during the last 20-25 years I have had considerable personal experience with persons who have complicated their lives through dabbling with the Ouija board. Out of every hundred such cases, at least 95 are worse off for the experience." He went on to say that, "I know of broken homes, estranged families, and even suicides that can be traced directly to this source."[11] Some Christians hold the belief that using a Ouija board allows communication with demons, which they say is Biblically forbidden as a form of divination.[12] Some people who claim to have been oppressed by evil spirits after using a board say that they could only get rid of these problems after Christian deliverance.[13] Some Christians believe that no dead person's soul can be summoned, and that the only summoned spirits are demons who are trying to harm humans.[14] As early as 1924, Harry Houdini wrote that five people from Carrito, California were driven insane by using a board.[15] That same year, Dr. Carl Wickland in his book stated that "the serious problem of alienation and mental derangement attending ignorant psychic experiments was first brought to my attention by cases of several persons whose seemingly harmless experiences with automatic writing and the Ouija board resulted in such wild insanity that commitment to asylums was necessitated."[16] The former medical director of the State Insane Asylum of New Jersey, Dr. Curry, stated that the Ouija board was a "dangerous factor" in unbalancing the mind and believed that if their popularity persisted insane asylums would be filled with people who used them.[17] Decades later, in 1965, parapsychologist Martin Ebon in his book Satan Trap: Dangers of the Occult, states that "it all may start harmlessly enough, perhaps with a Ouija board," which will, "bring startling information... establishing credibility or identifying itself as someone who is dead. It is common that people... as having been 'chosen' for a special task." He continues, "Quite often the Ouija turns vulgar, abusive or threatening. It grows demanding and hostile, and sitters may find themselves using the board compulsively, as if 'possessed' by a spirit, or hearing voices that control or command them."[18] In her 1971 autobiography, the psychic Susy Smith said, "Warn people away from Ouija and automatic writing. I experienced many of the worst problems of such involvement. Had I been forewarned by reading that such efforts might cause one to run the risk of being mentally disturbed, I might have been more wary."[19] Additionally, the late Roman Catholic priest Malachi Martin believed talking boards are dangerous and claimed that by using these devices a person opens themselves to demonic oppression or possession, topics upon which Martin spoke and wrote extensively for many years.[20] Literature Talking boards have become an iconic part of culture, demonstrated by their appearances in many books and movies. Their roles in such vary from being a benign object to an evil entity. A more peculiar role of talking boards in literature stems from authors using the board to channel complete written works from the deceased. In the early 1900s, St. Louis housewife Pearl Curran used her Ouija board communications with the ubiquitous spirit Patience Worth to publish a number of poems and prose. Pearl claimed that all of the writings came to her through séances, which she allowed the public to attend. In 1917 writer Emily G. Hutchings believed she had communicated with and written a book dictated by Mark Twain from her Ouija board. Twain's living descendants went to court to halt publication of the book that was later determined to be so poorly written that it could not have been written by Twain dead or alive. Since the 1970s, author Jane Roberts has transcribed text channeled from what she described as an "energy personality essence" named Seth. Topics attributed to Seth discuss the nature of physical reality, the origins of the universe, the theory of evolution, the many-worlds interpretation, the Christ story, and the purpose of life among other subjects and form a collection of more than 10 books and a number of videos and audio recordings. Author John Fuller used a Ouija board in his research for his 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401. As he was skeptical of its effectiveness, he worked with a medium and claimed they both contacted Don Repo, the flight engineer on the flight which crashed into the Everglades en route to Miami. According to Fuller, the information divined described facts that neither he nor the medium previously knew. More recently, Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill used a Ouija board and recorded what he claimed were messages from a number of deceased persons. He combined these messages with his own poetry in The Changing Light at Sandover (1982). Author Jerry Hicks (Ask and It Given) whose wife Esther claims to speak for a nonphysical entity group called Abraham, experimented with the Ouija Board prior to contact with Abraham. The board told him to "read everything about Albert Schweitzer", hardly demonic. Notable users Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, used a Ouija board and gained a fear of the number 621. This number also happens to be his birthday, June 21. He is convinced he is going to die on that day. He said: "It's just stupid, it is not a way to live. Once I had to fly to Glastonbury on my birthday, that was a real mess." [1] GK Chesterton used a Ouija board. Around 1893 he had gone through a crisis of skepticism and depression, and during this period Chesterton experimented with the Ouija board and grew fascinated with the occult. [21] Alice Cooper claims that an Ouija Board suggested that he was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch with the name Alice Cooper, and thus the band's name "Alice Cooper". Aleister Crowley advocated the use of Ouija boards, and they played a major role in many of his magickal workings.[22][23] Poet James Merrill used a Ouija board for years, and even encouraged entrance of spirits into his body. He wrote the poem The Changing Light at Sandover with the help of a Ouija board. Before he died, he recommended people not to use Ouija boards.[24] Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi held a séance in 1978 with other professors at the University of Bologna in which a Ouija board spelled the word Gradoli. This turned out to be the name of a street in Rome where a Red Brigades safe house was located.[25] Bill Wilson the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous used the Ouija Board to contact spirits.[26] His wife said that he would get messages directly without even using the board.[27]For a while, his participation in A.A was deeply affected by his involvement with the Ouija board. Wilson claimed that he received the twelve step method directly from a spirit without the board and wrote it down.[28] The investigators of Most Haunted have been known to use Ouija Boards. Gerard Way, the lead vocals of My Chemical Romance, has claimed to have strange encounters with Ouija Boards. Famed Jack-of-all-trades MacGyver once used a Ouija board to decode the encryption of a digital bomb. Razorlight singer Johnny Borrell is said to have used an Ouija board to help him write songs, particularly Keep the Right Profile and Hold On. It also told him that he could write intelligent lyrics, but this is a lie widely assumed to be told by Satan. During sleepovers with her friends, Amy Carter would use an Ouija board to get into contact with Abraham Lincoln who is believed to be in the Lincoln Bedroom. Hip Hop group Bone Thugs N Harmony were famous users of ouija boards.They claim to have used these boards when they were children,they made a song called "Mr.Ouija" and "Mr.Ouija 2".The group has said that they quit using the ouija board . Other incarnations Other incarnations of the board exist in Asia. These are all home-made, with words written on paper in local languages. The planchette is replaced by other items, most commonly a pen, a dish (Chinese condiment saucer) or a coin. It is often played by inquisitive teenagers. Various horror movies have been made about the consequences of playing with these incarnations of the board, most notably by the Hong Kong and South Korea movie industry. One of the more well known movies to date is the 2004 South Korean film Bunshinsaba.