hi all,

I'm so glad this subject is getting some attention here.

Sabina Magliocco: 
> > See also Bill Ellis's books _Lucifer Ascending: the occult in 
> > folklore and popular culture_ (University Press of Kentucky, 2004) 
> > for a chapter on how adolescents use the Ouija board to both 
> > challenge and reaffirm the dominant discourse.  

Bill Ellis is a very substantive source for reference on 
folklore and participative transformation. the book mentioned
above is a continuation from his excellent "Raising the Devil --
Satanism, New Religons, and the Media", within which one may
find the chapter 'Speak to the Devil: Ouija Boards and 
Deliverance', covering an introduction of the subject,
'The Ouija Ritual', 'Exorcism and Ouija as Parallel 
Experiences', and 'Ouija and Exorcism as Mythmaking'.
his approach is analytical, clarifying, and important as
an attempt to see what people (primarily teens) were doing 
in the late 20th century with popularized spiritualist tools:
primarily as a testing mechanism for their extant faith.

in his followup mentioned above, he devotes an entire 
chapter (8: "The @#$%&! Ouija Board") to the tool itself 
and includes a decent history of it that Sara's student 
should be able to use and from which to proceed. to save
you some trouble, he relies upon these historical 
sources as regards the origin of Ouija:

	"Old Hat New Hat", by Michael Goss, 
		in *Magonia*, 1991; 40:p. 9-11
		(citing page 11)

	Encyclopedia of the Unexplained: Magic, Occultism
		and Parapsychology, ed. by Richard Cavendish,
		1974, McGraw-Hill (citing page 172)

and
	"Black Madame, Come Out!": On Schoolchildren
		and Spirits, by Bengt af Klintberg,
		in *ARV: Scandanavian Yearbook of 
		Folklore*, 1988; 44:155-67 (citing
		page 163)

plus (omitted by him but referenced in his text:)

	An Encyclopedia of Psychic Science, by Nandor Fodor,
		Citadel Press, 1966 (citing page 270).

	The Ouija Board: Doorway to the Occult, by 
		Edmund C. Gruss, 1975, Moody Press
		(citing pages 25-26).

he mentions William Fuld and Pearl Curran as i had 
previously in association with the board's early
promotions and well-known usage, gives a helpful
introduction to the board's origins, and examines
the early developments of religious reaction to 
its use, citing studies:

	"The Ouija Board, Bolshevik of the Spirit 
		World", by unknown author, in 
		*Literary Digest* 64, 1920; 
		(31 Jan.); 64, 67 (both cited)
	
	"Ouija Board is Wartime Fad", by unknown 
		author, in *Science Digest* 17 (1945,
		April); 30 (uncited)

	Thirty Years Among the Dead, by Carl A. Wickland,
		Spiritualist Press, 1968 (1924)
		(citing page 19)

	"The Truth About the Ouija Board", by J. Godfrey
		Raupert", in *American Ecclesiastical
		Review* 1976 (November); 463-478 (citing
		page 463 a regards anti-ouija warnings)

	"The Devil's Flatiron", by Manly Palmer Hall, in
		*Horizon* 1944 (4 Fall-Winter); 71-77
		(cited generally)

and that rounds out the citations for the history chapter.

> > Ellis's entire book actually deals with this tension, 
> > and why subdominant groups in Western society (esp. 
> > US society) have always been drawn to supernaturalism 
> > and the occult.

beautifully described. Ellis classes the Ouija board with
other testing or initiatory events such as what he calls
'legend-tripping', explaining how this interweaves with 
rumor-panic materials that flow through Christian culture,
particularly of certain cultures.

"Sean E. Currie" <[log in to unmask]> to Sabina:
> Thanks for the mentioning Ellis' book.  It sounds very
> interesting.  

it is, especially for those who have an extended interest
in Christian reactions to and use of occult folklore, the
history of games and divination, and of Spiritualism of
a kind.

> You might want to suggest taking a look at _The 
> Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology_ 

edited by J. Gordon Melton, yes. a wealth of data there,
a good portion of it reliable.

> which dates the use of Ouija* boards back the time of 
> Pythagoras.  

the varying claims made for the origination of spirit boards
is quite amusing, extending as you say to Greeks as well as
to the Chinese. divination and games interweave back into the
remote human past and in some cases cannot either be sourced
or distinguished from one another.
    
> _Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game_, while
> non-academic, might be of interest as well.  

there are many articles and books (most of them religious) 
warning of the dangers of the use of a variety of occult
and conventional objects and games. they say a flourishing
at the end of last century and have entered the used book
market in a flood now and can be picked up for a tenth
of their cover price and less (i'm collecting them). they
often contain very little usable information to the serious
academic researcher unless one is interested in sociology
and how religious are seeing popular culture of the time
(e.g. the fear-mongering about Dungeons and Dragons made
a good number of us laugh who like to play Role-Playing
Games). Ellis cites Gruss enough that there might be 
something there.

I have a copy of Stoker Hunt's book you mention above,
and i would not describe it as valuable for someone who
wants to learn about Ouija's origins. Ellis is far
better, though his sources are limited in scope also.

> *Parker Brothers actually has a trademark on the name Ouija.  

probably now owned by Hasbro, yes. Ellis makes it clear in 
his chapter mentioned above that Parker Bros bought out Fuld 
and began promoting the Ouija board more heavily. thus it 
grew in popularity by marketing and promotion to eclipse 
the spirit boards preceding it.

thanks for filling out this excellent thread. 

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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