hi Sara,

this crosses into my interest area insofar as numerous 
items which are considered 'dangerous' and 'evil' by
conventional Christian society and demonized or blown
out of proportion as to their actual dangers (and 
therefore becoming bundled with subversion ideology 
components and levelled against occultists/magicians)
intersect with the history of games -- one of my 
favourite of topics, both card (such as Tarot) and 
board (such as Enochian Chess!).

I have set about collecting texts on the topics of 
games and divination and in particular have watched
for something relevant on spirit boards, failing to
have seen anything, alas. I've nonetheless become 
familiar with the typical character of them, 
including their details of rumour and actuality.

thanks for asking this question. fascinating.


Sara Thejls <[log in to unmask]>:
> I have a student who would like to write a paper on the 
> history and use of the ouija board, 

that would be like the history and use of Kleenex within
the larger context of the history of facial tissues, or
the history and use of Jello within the larger context
of the history of gelatin/desserts. in this case, the way
you've put your question it is the history and use of 
Ouija (a product of Parker Brothers game manufacturer) 
in the larger context of gaming-divinatory devices (see
the game of 'Ka-Ba-La' for another example) or in the
larger context of Spiritualism and what are called 
spirit boards or talking boards (consult the Museum
of Talking Boards, see below).

getting a fix on the category of inquiry is going to be
the first line of business here. the relevant key terms
for an index browse or search are likely going to be these:

	* "spirit board"; "talking board"; planchette
		mediumship; spiritualism

	* "board games history"; patents
		ouija; "parker brothers"

and extending from these the names associated thereto.
I would recommend that a very interesting (at least 
visual) starting point would be the Museum of Talking 
Boards, especially these pages at that site:

	http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/history.html
	http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/ancient.html
	http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/books.html

the last of which has a number of titles some of which 
may offer your student a source-point for titles
of relevant work. for example, he does mention this
bibliography:

	Consulting Spirits, by Joel Bjorling, 
	Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998; 800-225-5800

which i examined for mentions of 'ouija' in Google books
and found no relevant historical sources mentioned. I'm
going to go through my occult bibliographies i've been
collecting for a few years to see if i can find anything 
mentioned in them on Ouija, because by and large the bulk 
of what is being cited on web pages and even in this
bibliography are anti-ouija diatribes by Christians 
opposed to Spiritualism and to the occult at large.

the author of the Museum of Talking Boards also 
recommends the works of Kardec, though i have not
myself examined these: 
	The Spirits' Book, 
	The Mediums' Book 
	The Gospel According to Spiritism

as well as the following books and articles which
i have not seen:

	"Table Turning, Ouija and Planchette"
	Illusions and Delusions of the Occult
	Rawcliffe, D.H. (1959) Dover Publications

	"The Wonderful Ouija Board" Fads, Follies 
	and Delusions of the American People
	Sann, Paul (1967) Bonanza Books Crown Publishing

these two appear to be expose' texts.

	"Ouija Boards" [entry]
	Man Myth & Magic Volume 15 pg 2089
	Heywood, Rosalind (1970) BPC Publishing

I happen to have the Man Myth and Magic volume in 
question (edited by Richard Cavendish) and will 
examine it within the coming days for relevant
source data in it (not likely).

	"The Ouija Board"
	ESP, Seers & Psychics
	Christopher, M. (1970) Thomas Crowell Co

	"Chairmen of the Ouija Board"
	Warfield's The Baltimore Business Monthly, 
	(magazine, August 1990)
	Anft, Michael and Ellsberry, John

	"Mechanisms for Mystical Messages"
	Spirit Summonings
	Mysteries of the Unknown, Time-Life Books (1989)

of uncertain value.

the Museum's author does give the interested 
individual some clues as to variation of the theme, 
especially his pictographic array of historical 
boards, which one may compare with the Ouija.
your student may even wish to contact the 
individual who put the site together: 
[log in to unmask]

additional data of questionable relevance online:
	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija
	http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ouija_board
	http://www.hauntedbay.com/history/ouija.shtml

but back to your student.

> but he has a problem of finding any relevant 
> literature and I haven't come across 
> anything myself. 

he'll probably have to look within the larger 
categories to find data or go to game historians
or historians of the occult/spiritualism to find
anything at all.

a brief search at Amazon turned up this, which
i am going to explore to find out if it is of
any value (i may even know the author): 
"Occult America: The Secret History of How 
Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, by Mitch Horowitz.

a history of games and ouija search turned up
nothing of value to my knowledge. my Parlett
"The Oxford History of Board Games" does not
recognize Ouija as a game at all and so does
not contain an entry to my read. the only one
(without many index entries on Ouija) was:
"The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, 
from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit by 
Philip E. Orbanes. I'm also getting this text
and will provide feedback on it when it arrives.

> Do any of you have any recommendations?

the only thing i can think of off-hand is to focus on 
history of Spiritualism (beyond Conan Doyle, covering
people like Hester Dowden, or Mrs. John H. Curran) and 
find something more recent which includes the history 
of talking boards/spirit boards, and this would provide 
the proper backdrop for the investigation of Ouija. 

parallelling this should be the history of the game 
manufacturer Parker Brothers (whose property is now 
owned by Hasbro), and whatever individuals (e.g. 
Charles W. Kennard, William Fuld, not to be confused
with Robert Fludd!), were involved in the manufacture 
and patenting of Ouija (compare Monopoly/Magie in 
that there appears to have been a common backdrop 
prior to the patenting of a novelty version).

thank you for focussing on this!!!

nagasiva yronwode ([log in to unmask]), Director 
  YIPPIE*! -- http://www.yronwode.org/
----------------------------------------------------- 
  *Yronwode Institution for the Preservation
   and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
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