Heiney, James J. (29 August 2016). "Demonic possession". In Fee, Christopher R.; Webb, Jeffrey B. (eds.). American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore. ABC-CLIO. p.305. ISBN 978-1-61069-568-8. Cornelius, J. Edward (2005). Aleister Crowley and the Ouija Board. Los Angeles, Calif: Feral House. ISBN 978-1-932595-10-9. It became hopelessly entangled in the occult years later when Spiritualists adopted it as a tool for divining.

Aleister Crowley had great admiration for the use of the ouija board and it played a passing role in his magical workings. [44] Jane Wolfe, who lived with Crowley at Abbey of Thelema, also used the Ouija board. She credits some of her greatest spiritual communications to use of this implement. Crowley also discussed the Ouija board with another of his students, and the most ardent of them, Frater Achad ( Charles Stansfeld Jones): it is frequently mentioned in their unpublished letters. In 1917 Achad experimented with the board as a means of summoning Angels, as opposed to Elementals. In one letter Crowley told Jones:

A Brief History of the Ouija Board

Horton, Paula (15 March 2008). "Teen gets 41 years in Benton City slayings". Tri-City Herald. McClatchy. But opening the gates of hell wasn’t on anyone’s mind when they started the Kennard Novelty Company, the first producers of the Ouija board; in fact, they were mostly looking to open Americans’ wallets.

Various studies have been conducted, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing that, under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily. [16] [21] A 2012 study found that when answering yes or no questions, Ouija use was significantly more accurate than guesswork, suggesting that it might draw on the unconscious mind. [17] Skeptics have described Ouija board users as "operators". [22] Some critics have noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects. [23] According to professor of neurology Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003): [24] Roland Doe used a Ouija board, which the Catholic Church stated led to his possession by a demon [45] Debbie Galardi recalls playing Ouija with her best friend Laine Morris as children. In present day, she throws her Ouija board into the fire and implies to Laine that something strange happened with the board. After Laine leaves, the Ouija board reappears in Debbie's bedroom. Debbie becomes possessed and hangs herself inside her home. However, Peters did convince the patent office to approve the Ouija board’s application. She did this through a demonstration that spelled out the officer’s supposedly unknown name. It’s unlikely that they wouldn’t already know the officer’s name but it’s another interesting addition to the origin story. A patent file confirms she did a demonstration and the patent was issued on February 10, 1891.The Exorcist’s greatest contribution to what Murch and Kozik call “Ouijastitions” is perhaps the idea that something bad could reach out if you used the board alone. Available NOW through November 1 at 11:59 PM PT at http://www.ouija.com/, the first-of-its-kind AI OUIJA Board from Hasbro is sure to test your bravery and connection to the spirit realm. Ouija existed on the periphery of American culture, perennially popular, mysterious, interesting and usually, barring the few cases of supposed Ouija-inspired murders, non-threatening. That is, until 1973.

According to Peter Popham of The Independent: "Everybody here has long believed that Prodi's Ouija board tale was no more than an ill-advised and bizarre way to conceal the identity of his true source, probably a person from Bologna's seething far-left underground whom he was pledged to protect" [50]He even built a factory according to what the board told him. Then in 1927, he fell off its roof and died. He was supervising the replacement of a flagpole when a support post he was holding gave way. a b Brunvand, Jan Harold (2006) [1996]. "Ouija". American folklore: An encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p.534. ISBN 978-1-135-57877-0. a b Heap, Michael (14 November 2002). "Ideomotor Effect (the Ouija Board Effect)". In Shermer, Michael (ed.). The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. ABC-CLIO. pp.127–129. ISBN 1-57607-654-7.

Dernbach, Katherine Boris (Spring 2005). "Spirits of the Hereafter: Death, Funerary Possession, and the Afterlife in Chuuk, Micronesia". Ethnology. Pittsburgh. 44 (2): 99–123. doi: 10.2307/3773992. JSTOR 3773992.

You might know these devices as Ouija boards. But Ouija is a brand, like Kleenex or Tupperware. And at one point in time, it was a multimillion-dollar business. Reiche, the undertaker, surfaced and asked for his cut of the profits, which Murch speculates left “a bad taste” in people’s mouths about Kennard. a b c d e Ford, Rebecca (December 11, 2013). "Universal's 'Ouija' Adds 'The Fosters,' 'Red Widow' Actresses". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved January 29, 2022. a b Gans, Jeremy (3 October 2017). "Trial by Ouija Board: When jurors misbehave". Pursuit. University of Melbourne . Retrieved 12 May 2022. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the Ouija board stems from Spiritualism, a belief that the dead can communicate with the living. Of course, this idea is something that has existed on a global scale for thousands of years. But, it became quite prominent in the United States during the 19 th century when childbirth, war, and disease among other things led to shorter life spans and frequent deaths. Many people desired a pathway to connect with lost loved ones and get answers to unresolved issues and questions.