Clarification: I wasn't being facetious in saying "the future predictions we 
received were correct".

The query was also intended seriously: are there other past/present Ouija 
practitioners on this list who acknowledge the board as a psychic tool 
through anecdotal evidence?

Nagasiva, thank you for the detailed footnotes to Mitch's book!

Kathryn

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kathryn Evans" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] History of Ouija (/Talking Boards, 
Games)


> That is interesting, as using the wireless mouse has often reminded me of 
> using the Ouija board.
>
> It is also a bit amusing to find a psychic practice of my adolescence as a 
> statistic: 1967 . . . Summer of Love . . . Ravi Shankar . . . sheepskin 
> rugs . . . Strawberry Fields Forever . . . late night Ouija boarding with 
> my best friend . . . and of course the future predictions we received were 
> correct. Anyone else get a flash from the past seeing those boards on the 
> Museum site?
>
> Kathryn
>
> "Silence is the jewel of the Lotus"
>
> Kathryn LaFevers Evans
> Independent Scholar
> Chickasaw Nation
> 705 W. Heather St.
> Ojai, CA 93023
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Laubach, Marty" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 7:39 AM
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] History of Ouija (/Talking Boards, 
> Games)
>
>
> Perhaps an appropriate postscript? a computer mouse pad company has 
> adopted the pattern for its product. I get lots of comments on it...
>
> _marty
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of nagasiva 
> yronwode, YIPPIE Director
> Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2009 11:57 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] History of Ouija (/Talking Boards, 
> Games)
>
> hello again, Sara, all,
>
> the final installment of this wild tangled trail.
>
> 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,
> <snip>
>
> it appears that the history of the ORIGIN of
> the Ouija board has been mapped out pretty
> thoroughly by collectors of the boards and
> aficionados of talking board or spirit board
> history, who have websites and are about to
> be or have publishing books with much promise
> (more about those below).
>
>> > but he has a problem of finding any relevant
>> > literature and I haven't come across
>> > anything myself.
> <snip>
>
> this should conclude my posting on the topic
> after having acquired two books of import
> to the subject and examined what i had of
> relevance in occult bibliographies. if i
> get one or more of the others listed in
> this thread of relevance i'll provide
> my reflections on them.
>
>
> [log in to unmask]:
>> "Occult America: The Secret History of How
>> Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, by Mitch Horowitz.
>
>        Bantam Books, 2009; 291 pages.
>        ISBN: 978-0-553-80675-5
>        http://tinyurl.com/googlebooks-occult-america
>
> "Though patented and sold as entertainment, Ouija
> was no ordinary fad. It was, in fact, a homemade
> device concocted by nineteenth-century American
> Spiritualists who, from the earliest days of their
> movement, yearned to make talking with the dead as
> natural as dinnertime conversation. Whether the
> object of fear or fascination, Ouija proved the
> most enduring symbol of their success."
>
> pages 67, Horowitz. this is from a chapter on
> Ouija called "Don't Try This At Home: Ouija and
> the Selling of Spiritualism". it is a helpful
> brief description of Spiritualism and the history
> of Ouija in America and provides a starting point
> in a popular vein to discover numerous sources,
> which i will do below.
>
> these sources are mentioned by Horowitz, but you
> have to do the fingerwork to follow up on where he
> is drawing out his data for his interesting text.
> for example, he credits "historians/curators Robert
> Murch and Eugene Orlando for their insights into
> Ouija and their intellectual doggedness in tracking
> down its history. Murch has tirelessly traced
> relations among Ouija's investors. Orlando and
> historian John B. Buescher provided references to
> the 'lost link' article from the *New York Daily
> Tribune*. Fuld is quoted from 'William Fuld Made
> $1,000,000 on Ouija but Has No Faith in It,'
> Baltimore *Sun*, 7/4/20."
>
> Horowitz, pp. 263-264 Chapter Four notes.
>
> the 'lost link' article to which he refers is
> mentioned in his text proper:
>
>        "A Mysterious Talking Board and Table
>        Over Which Northern Ohio is Agitated"
>        *New York Daily Tribune*, 3/28/1886.*
>
> which predates the patent by 4 years and
> featured a photograph of a rectangular talking
> board Horowitz describes as "the spitting
> image of Ouija".
>
> (* - the Murch bio of E. C. Reiche, see below,
> has the title slightly different: "The New
> Planchette. A Mysterious Talking Board and
> Table Over Which Northern Ohio is Agitated".)
>
> in Horowitz's text he mentions Orlando critiquing
> academic sources on Ouija and pointing out
> "'the one recurrent quote found in almost
> every academic article on the Ouija board.'"
>
> they reproduce it here, from Lewis Spence:
>
> "As an invention it is very old. It was in
> use in the days of Pythagoras, about 540 B.C.
> According to a French historical account of
> the philosopher's life, his sect held
> frequent seances or circles at which
> 'a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved
> towards signs, which the philosopher and
> his pupil, Philolaus, interpreted to the
> audienceas being revelations supposedly
> from the unseen world.'"
>
> "Encyclopedia of Occultism",
> by Lewis Spence, 1920.
>
> you can find it here:
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/googlebooks-spence-ouija
>
> Horowitz reports Orlando's evaluation that
> "the story presents two problems: The
> 'French historical account' is never
> identified, and the Pythagorean scribe
> Philalaus lived not in Pythagoras's time
> but in the following century."
>
> quotes from Horowitz, p. 71.
>
>
> at this point i would like to intrude to
> bring up a source that was mentioned in this
> email list, in this thread, that i generally
> like, but which at times has problems as it
> reproduces errors with insufficient scrutiny:
> J. Gordon Melton's "Encyclopedia of Occultism
> & Parapsychology". in the entry _Ouija Board_,
> Melton reproduces Spence almost word-for-word,
> without credit to Spence, repeating these
> apparently unfounded legends or speculation
> (perhaps Gruss had it word for word without
> proper attribution? no matter, Cornelius
> is not far off of this also, see below).
>
> Melton's encyclopedia has:
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> "It is an ancient invention: a similar device
> was used in the days of Pythagora, about
> 540 B.C.E.  According to a French historical
> account of the philosopher's life, his sect
> held seances or circles 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 the unseen world."
>
> "...
> "_Sources:_
> "Gruess [sic], Edmond G., *The Ouija Board:
> Doorway to the Occult*. Chicago: Moody
> Press, 1975.
>
> "White, Stewart Edward. *The
> Betty Book*. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1937."
> -----------------------------------------------
> "Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology:
> A Compendium of Information on the Occult
> Sciences, Magic, Demonology, Superstitions,
> Spiritism, Mysticism, Metaphysics, Psychical
> Science, and Parapsychology, with Biographical
> and Bibliographical Notes and Comprehensive
> Indexes", Volume Two M-Z and Indexes, edited
> by J. Gordon Melton, Gale Research, 1996;
> pp. 965-966; ISBN: 0-8103-9487-1 (Volume 2).
> ===============================================
>
>
> Horowitz goes on to some depth description of
> Ouija's importance in its influence on the
> creation of "The Changing Light at Sandover"
> by American poet James Merrill and mentions
> movies and other things with Ouija themes.
> all in all, Occult America is a very helpful
> resource.
>
> for those interested in the history of Ouija
> in particular, however, especially its origin
> and patenting, Horowitz passes on a clarity
> for many of the mysteries inherent to the
> board, obtained from Murch/Orlando/Buescher.
>
> "The conventional history [that Fuld 'invented'
> Ouija around 1890] is wrong.
>
> "The patent for a 'Ouija or Egyptian luck-board'
> was filed on May 28, 1890, by Baltimore resident
> and patent attorney Elijah H. Bond, who assigned
> the rights to two city businessmen, Charles W.
> Kennard and William H. A. Maupin. The patent was
> granted on February 10, 1891, and so was born
> the Ouija-brand talking board.
>
> "...The Kennard Novelty Company of Baltimore
> employed a teenage varnisher who helped run shop
> operations, and this was William Fuld. ... a
> separate patent -- this time for an improved
> planchette -- was filed by a nineteen-year-old
> Flud. In years to come, it was Fuld who would
> take over the novelty firm and affix his name
> to every board."
>
> Horowitz, p. 69.
>
> with that, and the mention of the 'lost link',
> Horowitz passes on the map of Ouija's origins
> and places some important high points of its
> history before us. his sources are mentioned
> but not in a manner that easily allows us to
> FIND them. in fact, this may be a general
> criticism of Horowitz and his methods: that
> his 'familiar' or 'tabletop' text and its
> sourcing is informal and leaves pieces but
> nothing complete in the way of source
> referrals or indicators to follow it out
> (he could easily have provided URLs on
> his sources, as i will do below, but he
> did not, for some reason).
>
> for that we must turn to *Google*. after
> some searching online using Horowitz's
> text for key terms, i found the following
> references to historical sources on Ouija,
> followed by a reference or two, followed
> by authors previously mentioned:
>
> ==========================================
> Today's Ouija/Talking Board Experts
>
> 1) Eugene Orlando
>
> 1a) Museum of Talking Board Curator
>
> it appears that the Museum of Talking Boards is
> entirely Mr. Orlando's project. on Horowitz's
> web page, Horowitz writes the following:
>
> "At his online Museum of Talking Boards,
> Ouija collector and chronicler Eugene Orlando
> posts an 1886 article from the New-York Daily
> Tribune (as reprinted that year in a
> Spiritualist monthly, The Carrier Dove)
> describing the breathless excitement
> around the new-fangled alphabet board and
> its message indicator. ... This was a full
> four years before the first Ouija patent was
> filed. Obviously Bond, Kennard, and their
> associates were capitalizing on an invention
> not conceiving of one."
> -----------------------------------------------
> -- Mitch Horowitz - Ouija: A History
>   http://www.mitchhorowitz.com/ouija.html
>   (accessed 10/17/09)
> ===============================================
>
> quite a bit of the text on this page is the same
> as, or largely resembles and may be a variant or
> initial version of, his "Occult America" text.
> you can easily read this and get a good preview,
> or compare it with the googlebooks version.
>
>
> 1b) Contacting Mr. Orlando
>
> if your student wants to track down the sources
> that Mitch Horowitz did, then he will need to
> contact Eugene Orlando, who likely has numerous
> email addresses associated with his online museum.
> here is the data i found from Alexa for him:
>
>        Eugene Orlando
>        P. O. Box 723
>        Corte Madera, CA 94976
>
>        [log in to unmask]
>        [log in to unmask]
>
>
> and from PopCult Magazine:
> --------------------------------------
>
> "The 54-year-old private investor ...
> has not only placed his collection of
> talking boards online, but he has also
> exhaustively researched their history
> and cultural influences. From his
> oddity-festooned home office in San
> Francisco..., Orlando has created a
> sterling resource on what is usually
> considered to be a mysterious subject."
>
> and
>
> "All the boards, planchettes, and other
> apparatus are from my collection with
> the exception of a very few and they are
> duly noted. I've written all the text,
> taken all the pictures, and done all
> the graphic design."
>
> -- Eugene Orlando, quoted in
>   PopCult Magazine article on Museum website,
>   copyright 2002
> 
> http://www.popcultmag.com/passingfancies/websiteoftheweek/talkingboards/talkingboards1.html
>   (accessed 10/17/09)
>
>
> 1c) Future Projects
>
> see below under Robert Murch!
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
> 2) Robert L. Murch, Jr.
>
> searching for Robert Murch yielded a LOT of
> data, and this is especially pertinent to
> the history of Ouija in particular and
> talking boards in general.
>
>
> 2a) Maintainer of WilliamFuld.com
>
> this website is a fount of information and
> will likely be raw materials for the book that
> Mr. Murch and Mr. Orlando are working on (see
> below). Horowitz accurately describes Murch as
> doing research on the people associated with
> the Ouija patent, and this domain presents bios
> on most if not all of them. Mr. Murch's bio page:
>
>        WilliamFuld.com -- Robert Murch
>        http://www.williamfuld.com/robertmurchbiography.html
>
>
> 2c) Collector of Spirit Boards and Noted Expert
>
> the above is also the index page of what
> may be found at robertmurch.com, and mentions
> that he is the co-founder with Gary Halteman,
> of Spirited Ventures, Inc. (a spirit board
> manufacturer), where we can learn of his
> collection of over 300 different variations of
> talking boards and his 1999 employment by
> Dreamworks "as a spirit board expert and
> vendor in the film 'What Lies Beneath'
> starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford."
>
>     Cryptique -- Spirited Ventures
>     http://www.cryptique.com/spiritedventures.html
>     (accessed 10/17/09)
>
> also see this very thorough patent history:
>
>     WilliamFuld.com -- William Fuld's Ouija
>        Patents and Trademarks
>     http://www.williamfuld.com/ouija_patentsandtrademarks_williamfuld.html
>
>
> 2d) Future Projects
>
> both also mention the following:
>
> "...in the summer of 2008, Robert Murch began
> working with Michael Albert, President of Papa's Toys,
> who currently manufactures the Canadian Ouija board.
> With the help of Albert, The Toronto Public Library,
> and the McMaster Library, Murch has successfully
> traced the Ouija through it's many Canadian locations
> and document it's development throughout Canada.
> Without this information much of the Ouija's
> Canadian past would be lost.
>
> "Robert L Murch Jr., resides in Boston, Massachusetts.
> He is presently working with Baltimore city officials,
> the Maryland Historical Society, The Baltimore Museum
> of Industry, and the Maryland State Archives to preserve
> their Ouija legacy and document their favorite son,
> William Fuld. While he continues his research he is
> currently working with Eugene Orlando from the Museum
> of Talking Boards to co-write a book about the history
> of the Ouija board."
>
>
> 2e) Contacting Robert Murch, Jr.
>
> 617-291-7451
> http://www.williamfuld.com/contact.html
>
> and note his references!
>     RobertMurch.com -- References
>     http://www.robertmurch.com/references.html
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
> 3) Dr. John B. Buescher
>
> I cannot find much about his latest activities,
> but i did find
>
>        * two books on the history of Spiritualism
>           1 published by Skinner and
>           1 by the University of Notre Dame,
>
> and     * he used to have a very well-regarded
>        website at spirithistory.com (available
>        as late as August 4, 2008
>        (see the web.archive at:
> http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.spirithistory.com
>        for a TREMENDOUS cache of data we can only hope
>        does not drop off of their holdings or goes into
>        print from Dr. Buescher! I explored the cache for
>        an hour or two, fascinated, with gasps and laments
>        that this wasn't still online!).
>
>
> the two books i found that were pertinent were:
>
>
> 3a) The Other Side of Salvation
>
> The Other Side of Salvation: Spiritualism and the
>  Nineteenth-Century Religious Experience
>  by John B. Buescher
> 
> http://www.uua.org/publications/skinnerhouse/browseskinner/titles/20434.shtml
>  (accessed 10/17/09)
>
> Review here:
> --  
> http://www.seekbooks.com.au/book/The-Other-Side-of-Salvation/isbn/9781558964488.htm
>
> and i did not see one mention of the Ouija or of
> talking/spirit boards, but it would not surprise
> me at all if they were mentioned in this text.
>
>
> 3b) The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear
>
> "The Remarkable Life of John Murray Spear:
> Agitator for the Spirit Land", by John Benedict
> Buescher, University of Notre Dame Press, 2006;
> 384 pages; ISBN 978-0-268-02200-6.
> http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01101
> (accessed 10/17/09)
>
> I did not see a mention of Ouija or of talking
> or spirit boards, but it is possible that it is
> featured in this text, considering what a VERY
> unusual person Spear seems to have been.
>
>
> 3c) Other Information From Dr. Buescher
>
> scanning through the latest version of Dr. Buescher's
> website, it appears he was and probably still is
> dedicated to providing online reference to those
> who have an interest in Spiritualism. a glance at
> this bibliography makes clear that he is an amazing
> resource on the subject:
>
>   Books, Articles and Links by Spiritualists
>        or About Spiritualism
> 
> http://web.archive.org/web/20080612074031/www.spirithistory.com/books.html
>   (accessed 10/17/09)
>
> obviously Dr. Buescher is a GOOD reference.
>
> 3d) Other Projects (Future?)
>
> Dr. Buescher more recently published something
> of definite interest to occultists/magicians:
>
> "Aquarian Evangelist: The Age of Aquarius as
> It Dawned in the Mind of Levi Dowling
> (Theosophical History Occasional Papers,
> Volume XI)"
>
> which was listed at Amazon published in 2008.
> searching around on its title i also found
> "An Interview with Dr. John B. Buescher"
> http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2008/jbuescher_intrvw_apr2008.asp
>
> Biographical on Dr. Buescher:
> http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Buescher_John_2431281.aspx
> (accessed 10/17/09)
>
> --------------------------------------------
>
> 4) Philip Orbanes
>
>> 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.
>
> it turns out that this is a good reference on
> the general subject and has some very cool tidbits
> on the history of games and Parker Bros specifically.
> the author consults correspondence and tapes from
> the company's executives of the time, and upon
> occasion makes references outside of this (within
> the Ouija section of Chapter 5 noting once, for
> example, to the Museum of Talking Boards!!).
>
> "With $975,000 in cash and Channing Bacall's
> blessing, [Robert Barton, president of Parker
> Brothers at the time, in the late 1960] made
> the most expensive product acquisition in the
> firm's history. He purchased the rights for
> the venerable *Ouija* board from the sons of
> William Fuld, who had popularized this "Mystic
> Oracle" four decades earlier.
>
>   [AUTHOR's NOTE: Robert B. M. Barton,
>    interview by Professor John Fox,
>    audiocassette, 27 December 1986.]
>
> "...*Ouija* would outsell *Monopoly* in 1967
> -- 2.3 million copies to 2 million.
>
>   [AUTHOR'S NOTE: Preston Gise, Parker
>    Brothers -- Acquisition Review
>    memorandum for General Mills,
>    16 January 1968.]
>
> "...In 1891, Elijah Bond received a U.S.
> patent on the forerunner of the *Ouija* board. But
> the following year, 1892, Fuld purchased Bond's
> rights in the patent and applied for an improvement.
> (Evidence of the origins of *Ouija* devices can be
> found in ancient Greece and China. The Romans were
> also known to have *Ouija*-like devices.)
> Notwithstanding where it may have originated,
> Fuld was bent on exploiting his new acquisition.
> He founded a firm known as the Southern Novelty
> Company in Baltimore, Maryland. Years later, he
> changed its name to the Baltimore Talking Board
> Company and began to make 'Oriole' Talking Boards
> and *planchettes* ...."
> --------------------------------------------------
> "The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers
> from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit", by
> Philip E. Orbanes, Harvard Business School
> Publishing Compmany, 2004; pp. 145-146;
> 229n32, 229n33; ISBN: 1-59139-269-1.
> ==================================================
>
> 5) J. Edward Cornelius
>
> noted in another post was Jerry Cornelius'
> "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board", which
> is primarily (8 of 10 chapters) a book about
> Aleister Crowley, but has some references on
> Ouija in its notes to chapters 1 and 2.
>
> my Brother Cornelius cites both the Stoker
> Hunt book and the text by Gruss and Hotchkiss.
> in Chapter 1 he provides many pop-culture
> references featuring the Ouija, and in
> Chapter 2 he begins to attempt to cover its
> history. he mentions Chinese sand diviners,
> then repeats Lewis Spence almost word-for-word
> without crediting him:
>
> "In Greece, circa 540 B.C., the philosopher
> Pythagoras was said to use a special talking
> table on wheels. With hands placed upon the
> table it would move toward different signs
> and symbols. Pythagoras, or his pupil
> Philolaus, would then interpret the message
> to the waiting audience as being divine
> revelations supposedly from an unseen world."
>
> page 12.
>
> more importantly, Brother Cornelius points
> out another dimension to the Ouija origins
> (repeating an 'E.C. Reichie' legend?):
>
> "The earliest possible facts upon which
> historians can agree about the origins of
> the "Ouija" as we know it today center
> around E.C. Reiche, a coffin maker in
> Chesterson, Maryland. It is generally
> believed that he had a strong interest in
> spiritism and table-tapping due to his
> unique trade. He wanted to create a simple
> means to communicate with the deceased
> more for personal reasons rather than
> something for the public. Initially he
> 'noticed sympathetically that a large table
> was a heavy thing for a frail spirit to
> juggle about {so} he devised a little
> table.'
>
>   [AUTHOR'S NOTE citing Gruss/Hotchkiss
>    and mentioning that "Original quote
>    from *The Literary Digest*, July 3,
>    1920, p. 66.]
>
>        When he teamed up with his two
> friends, Elijah J. Bond and Charles
> Kennard, they put their heads together
> and the three of them created the final
> design for the talking board. However,
> no written records survive which allow
> these facts to be easily verified. At
> this point we can only speculate as to
> what might have inspired these three
> gentlemen or from where their original
> design might have come."
> -----------------------------------------
> "Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board",
> by J. Edward Cornelius, Feral House 2005;
> p. 19; ISBN: 978-1-932595-10-4.
> =========================================
>
> something of the role that Ernest Charles
> Reiche played in the lives of those who
> originated the Ouija board is described
> by Robert Murch on his numerous biographical
> pages at WilliamFuld.com (or in this case at
> one of the many extended pages as in this
> example at http://www.ecreiche.com/ ).
> Murch explains that
>
> "E. C. Reiche is first mentioned in an article
> which appeared in the *New York World Magazine*
> written by Edgar Goodman on May 23rd 1920.
>
> [ http://www.williamfuld.com/ouija_articles_05231920.html ]
>
> This was later retold in 'Ouija, Ouija, Who's
> Got The Ouija?' in the *Literary Digest* on
> July 3rd 1920.
>
> [ http://www.williamfuld.com/ouija_articles_07031920.html ]
>
> The article presents two theories on who invented
> the Ouija board. It claims that Col. Washington
> Bowie testified in court that either E. C.
> Reiche [note: spelled "Reichie" -- ny] was the
> actual inventor or it could be attributed to
> Charles Kennard. However, after careful review
> of the court transcripts we find no mention of
> Reiche or any testimony of Col. Washington
> Bowie for that matter."
> ----------------------------------------
> -- E. C. Reiche's Official Biography
>   http://www.ecreiche.com/
>   (accessed 10/17/09); copyright 2007
> ========================================
>
>
> Cornelius also references *The Baltimore
> Sun* article covered by Mitch Horowitz, and
> helpfully includes these other articles,
> making note of them in his Ouija history
> as it was seen by the American court system:
>
> -- "Claimant to Title of Ouija Board Craze Dies,"
>   *The Baltimore Sun*, November 19, 1939.
>
> -- "Wm. Fuld is Killed in Fall from Roof, Support
>   gives way while he is helping erect flagpole
>   atop factory," *The Baltimore Sun*,
>   February 25, 1927.
>
> -- "Monopoly on Ouija," *The New York Times*,
>   February 24, 1966.
>
> -- "Nothing Occult in Ouija, Federal Court Rules.
>   Boards are Taxable, according to Opinion
>   Handed Down by Judge Ros," *The Baltimore Sun*,
>   June 2, 1921.
>
> -- "Ouija Board is Taxable, Appellate Court Says.
>   Judge Woods, in Richmond, Hands Down Opinion
>   Affirming Baltimore Judgmeent," *The Baltimore
>   Sun*, February 10, 1922.
>
> -- "The Supreme Court Refuses to Say What It
>   Thinks of Ouija," *The Baltimore Sun*,
>   June 6, 1922.
>
> nagasiva yronwode ([log in to unmask]), Director
>  YIPPIE*! -- http://www.yronwode.org/
> -----------------------------------------------------
>  *Yronwode Institution for the Preservation
>   and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
> ps -- I may make one final post (an appendix)            which will be a 
> listing of all known
>      manufacturers of talking / spirit boards,
>      their dates of operation, and what they
>      have sold, inclusive of what is for sale
>      right now! that may take me a while, tho.
>      perhaps at that point i'll attempt a key
>      term set for research revised with all
>      of the data and terms now disclosed.
>
> END
>