Ouija Board Origins

The exact origins of the Ouija Board cannot be traced but there is evidence to suggest they may have arisen from ancient civilizations. Perhaps they are based on the ancient Chinese divination method of fuji? Dating back to 1100BCE fuji involved guiding a stick around a tray filled with sand. The messages spelled out in the container were thought to be communications from the spirit world.

In its early years the Ouija Board was referred to as a Talking Board and looked very different from the boards we recognize these days. These early designs had a pencil fitted to the planchett which was rested upon sheets of blank paper. The participants would ask a question and the planchett would travel across the paper until it had spelt out the messages from the spirits. Over time, the design was modified until the boards had letters, numbers and words fixed upon them.

The modern Ouija Board which we know today dates back to the late 19th Century where they were first sold as novelty items. William Fuld of the Kennard Novelty Company was the first to introduce the Talking Board to the mainstream and in 1901 patented the term 'Ouija Board' to market them. This was the perfect time to introduce these boards to the general public as interest in spiritualism was growing in popularity.

An interesting side-note is that the original Ouija Boards did not have the words "hello" and "goodbye" on them. It was only added by the Victorians who didn't want to anger the spirits with bad manners so demanded a courteous opening and closing to their Ouija sessions!

Fuld claimed the word Ouija was from the Egyptian for 'good luck'. In fact, this is untrue. However, the name can be linked to the words for yes in French and German, "oui" and "ja" respectively. One of the earliest mysteries surrounding the boards can be attributed to the death of Fuld himself. In 1927, whilst attempting to repair a flag mast on the factory roof that produced the boards he fell to his death. The official explanation is that one of the supports gave way however, others believe a more sinister force was at work and something supernatural caused his demise!

The Fuld family eventually sold the trademark 'Ouija Board' to the toy and game manufacturer Parker Brothers in 1966. Parker Brothers still own the trademark to this day. To date, they are estimated to have sold up to 25 million units.

Much of the opposition to using Ouija Boards comes from religions groups with many of them believing the boards carry a threat of demonic possession. Some fundamentalist Christian groups have burnt the boards as they see them as symbols of witchcraft! However, there is much scientific study to suggest Ouija Boards are nothing more than a toy and it is only the conscious/unconscious activities of the participants that is responsible for making the boards 'work'.

So the Ouija Board we know today may have their origins in ancient China. The methods used to use the Boards have changed through time but the debate as to their credibility is still a source of great debate. Perhaps Parker Brothers summed this up perfectly with their marketing slogans: "It's just a game...isn't it?"

Written by Gary Mullen from HandcraftedUK, supplier of Ouija Boards.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Mullen

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The Origins of the Ouija Board

Throughout history man has been obsessed with his mortality, fascinated by what lies beyond this life. The ouija board is probably the most famous tool used for communication with the dead, and it seems to have been around for centuries. In China there are records dating from 1,200 BC, claiming ouija instruments were frequently used in written communications with the dead, while 13th century Mongols were said to use a table and "rapping noises" for the same purpose. In 540 BC the Greek philosopher Pythagoras and his sect held frequent séances or circles at which 'a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs. Pythagoras and his pupil supposedly interpreted the board's actions to the audience, describing them as revelations from the unseen world. The results were compiled into an "Apocrypha" (meaning "those having been hidden away - a book of uncertain authorship.

Today's ouija board was designed in Baltimore in 1892 by Elija J Bond and William Fuld, when the boards became popular for use in "parlour games". It's a refined version of one invented in 1853 by French spiritualist Monsieur Planchette. The earlier board was a large piece of paper with a two wheeled heartshaped wedge which had a pencil attached to one end. Today's board is inscribed with numbers and letters, and the wedge is now called a "planchette".

The layout of the ouija board varies slightly from country to country. The original and most popular layout places the "yes" at the top of the circle and the "no" at the bottom. The letters are placed in a circle starting with the letter A next to the word yes and continuing around until the letter Z ends up on the other side of the word "yes". The ten numbers from one to zero are placed at the bottom next to the "no". The ouija board usually requires a minimum of two people to operate it. It is very rare that one person has the power to operate the board.

ouija boards have become an iconic part of culture, and have featured in a number of books and films. Their roles 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 written works from the deceased:

~ Pearl Curren held public séances, and claimed her ouija board allowed her to communicate with the spirit of Patience Worth, resulting in Curren publishing a number of poems and prose.

~ Sylvia Plath's poem "Dialogue over a Ouija Board" incorporates the text of one of the sessions she held with her husband using a ouija board.

~ Emily Hutchings claimed in 1917 she had communicated with Mark Twain, who dictated a book she wrote through the ouija board. Twain's descendents halted publication of the book through the courts, which was later said to be so badly written it could not have been written by Twain - dead or alive.

~ James Merrill used messages he claimed he obtained from various deceased people while using a ouija board in his poetry "The Changing Light at Sandover".

~ John Fuller worked with a spirit medium while researching his book "The Ghost of Flight 401", which was about a flight which crashed into the Everglades en route to Miami. They claim they contacted the flight engineer through the board, and the information obtained was not known to either him or the medium.

~ Writer GK Chesterton used a ouija board to try and break a period of skepticism and depression. His experiments with the item launched his interest in the occult.

~ Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous used a ouija board to contact spirits. His wife claimed he would receive messages directly without using the board. For a while, his participation in AA was deeply affected by his involvement with the ouija board. Wilson claimed he received the twelve step method directly from a spirit without the board and wrote it down.

Although ouija boards are considered harmless toys to many people they are a force for evil, opening a door for demons and other malevolent entities to enter our world and create havoc or even destroy a person. The very thought of the potential power of a ouija board is thought to have a very negative effect upon a fragile mind. And that thought alone should be enough to warn us of their power - benign or otherwise.

The writer was born in Africa, and lived there for the first 38 years of her life. She worked in the world of public relations for over five years, running her own PR company and dealing extensively with the world of journalism and the print media. She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/, a site for Writers. Her blog can be visited at: http://www.writing.com/authors/zwisis/blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Todd