Ouija Board Secrets: 135 Years of Fear and Mystery

With Halloween approaching, the Ouija board calls to those daring enough to touch the unknown. I do not believe in it myself, but for 135 years it has haunted homes, drawing in the curious, the skeptical, and the foolish. First sold as a parlor game in 1890, the Ouija emerged during a time when spiritualism, the belief that the dead could speak to the living, swept across the United States. Reports from 1886 already describe “talking boards” in Ohio, tools spiritualists used to speed communication with the departed.

The board was an instant hit, presented as a mysterious oracle yet packaged as a harmless family game. Its innocent look could not hide the darkness that seemed to follow. On film, the Ouija first appeared in the 1944 haunted house romance The Uninvited. But horror movies would soon twist its image. The Exorcist depicted a young girl possessed after using a board, cementing its link to evil. Other films, including 13 Ghosts (1960), What Lies Beneath (2000), Paranormal Activity (2007), The Conjuring 2 (2016), and Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), turned curiosity into fear. The cult horror film Witchboard (1986) even inspired lifelong obsessions, such as Robert Murch’s dedication as chairman of the Talking Board Historical Society.

The Ouija’s name likely combines “oui” and “ja,” the French and German words for yes, though one co-founder claimed it meant good luck. The planchette moves through the ideomotor effect, unconscious tiny motions guided by the mind, but many swear something far darker lurks beneath.

Many believe that burning an Ouija board can unleash dark energies, malevolent spirits, or lingering curses. Rather than sending it back into the universe with fire, the safest way to dispose of one is far more ritualistic: cut it into seven pieces, sprinkle each with holy water, and bury it deep in the earth, leaving no trace for restless forces to find.

Religious institutions have long condemned the board. Pope Pius X warned against occult games in 1919, a warning echoed by countless faiths ever wary of competing spiritual powers. Today, the Ouija board remains a forbidden curiosity, a small object bridging fear, fun, and the unknown. This Halloween, as fingers hover over the planchette and the lights flicker, remember that what seems playful may be far more sinister than you imagine.