Posted on 11/17/2020 7:06:00 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Ouija board almost always emerges amid discussions about the pitfalls of playing with fire. Some dismiss the game as simple and harmless, while others see it as a diabolical window into the spirit world — a tool that can open users up to demonic influence.
There are countless stories of people claiming unexplainable phenomena after playing the game. These claims, which are understandably met with skepticism, seem to challenge the common framing of the board as a mere parlor game.
Dr. Michael Brown is among those who warn people to be wary of the Ouija board. “You’re trying to get in tune with supernatural knowledge, with supernatural information; you’re trying to make contact with another realm,” he said. “And even if for a lot of people nothing really happens and it’s just a piece of wood or whatever, the goal is to make something happen.”
Sold by toy giant Hasbro, the Ouija board’s official sales language promises to let users into the “world of the mysterious and mystifying,” offering people ages eight and up answers from “the spirit world.”[iv]
“Ask your question with a friend using the planchette that comes with the board, but be patient and concentrate because the spirits can’t be rushed,” the description continues. “Handle the Ouija board with respect and it won’t disappoint you!”
This description hasn’t changed all that much since 1891, when the toy was advertised in the Pittsburgh Dispatch. An ad at the time said that the board’s “mysterious movements invite the most careful research and investigation — apparently forming the link which unites the known with the unknown, the material with the immaterial.”[v]
One of the most remarkable facts about the Ouija board is that its general design and appearance hasn’t radically changed much over the years. It has essentially always been a board with letters of the alphabet, numbers zero through nine, and the words yes, no, and goodbye.[ix]
And there has apparently always been a planchette — the device that is said to move around the board, exposing letters and numbers in ordered fashion. But its origins have always been a bit clouded in uncertainty.
The roots of the board were set in the mid-nineteenth century when America experienced what Smithsonian magazine called an “obsession with spiritualism” and the belief that the living could communicate with the dead.[x] By 1886, the Associated Press was reporting on the new emergence of so-called talking boards, and by 1890 a group of businessmen led by Charles Kennard, from Baltimore, had come together to figure out a way to monetize the new tool.[xi]
At that point, Kennard and his team — which included attorney Elijah Bond and Col. Washington Bowie — formed the Kennard Novelty Company, but they hadn’t yet come up with a name for the talking board. Murch told Smithsonian magazine that it was Bond’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters, a purported medium, who is said to have conjured up the name after asking the board what they should call it.[xii]
A US patent granted for the Ouija board on February 10, 1891, includes images of the board and lists Bond as the inventor.[xiii] The patent describes the toy in detail and proclaims that the men sought “to produce a toy or game by which two or more persons can amuse themselves by asking questions of any kind and having them answered by the device used and operated by the touch of the hand.”
The creators used the fact that the Ouija board was granted a patent in advertising language to help sell the product, with one newspaper ad in the late 1800s proclaiming that “Ouija was thoroughly tested at the United States Patent Office before the patent was allowed.”[xiv]
It didn’t take long for these so-called talking boards to become a big hit, with San Francisco’s the Morning Call reporting in 1893 that “planchette fever” had broken out in Northern California, noting that people were “anxious to hold communion with the dead and distant living.”[xvi]
The Kennard Novelty Company eventually expanded to a second factory in Baltimore and opened locations in New York, Chicago, and London. Within a few years, Smithsonian noted that Bond and Kennard were no longer involved with the company, and that it was being run by a man named William Fuld.[xvii]
Now, Fuld’s story is one of the strangest elements in the history of the Ouija board’s evolution. His life came to a tragic end on February 26, 1927, with the New York Times publishing a February 27 obituary titled, “Ouija Board Inventor Dies in Fall Off Roof: Fuld Loses His Balance While Placing New Flag Pole on His Toy Factory.”[xviii]
According to the obituary, Fuld fell “three stories to the street from the roof of his toy factory.” The Times article, which seems to incorrectly label Fuld as the creator of the board, doesn’t mention some of the other purported details of the story — mainly that Fuld claimed the board told him to build the very factory from which he fell and died.[xx] It’s a strange story indeed, but one worthy of recounting in light of the board’s ongoing infamy.
The popularity of the Ouija board has ebbed and flowed over the years, with times of uncertainty such as war purportedly driving more interest and usage. Spiritualism itself exploded during the Civil War, with the mass of American deaths fueling people’s quest to connect with their deceased loved ones.[xxi]
Remarkably, Parker Brothers sold 2 million Ouija boards in 1967 after the company bought the game, and decades earlier in 1944 — a time of international strife — one department store is said to have sold fifty thousand units.[xxii]
But why has the board lived on and maintained its place in culture? Murch has argued that the 1973 movie The Exorcist transformed how people view the Ouija board, as the film “terrified America.”[xxiii]
At the end of the day, not everyone believes the accounts of those who experiment with Ouija boards. Are they lying, delusional, or simply imagining what’s unfolding? Regardless of where you stand, it’s impossible to deny that millions of people claim to have experienced something seemingly otherworldly. Either way, why risk playing with fire?
Scripture implores us to “put on the full armor of God” so that we can “stand against the devil’s schemes.” It also tells us that the real struggle we face is a spiritual one. It’s easy to forget these truths in our hyper-material world. But I fully explain the dangers of this perspective in Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts where you can explore how this all manifests and why faith truly matters.
Excerpted from PLAYING WITH FIRE: A MODERN INVESTIGATION INTO DEMONS, EXORCISM, AND GHOSTS. by Billy Hallowell. Published by Emanate Books, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
Not contrary. Basic logic. if they are participating in exorcism they HAVE to believe. If they didn’t believe they wouldn’t be participating. It IS mental illness, schizophrenia, delusional behavior, and a little munchausen by proxy reinforcement coming from the exorcist.
"The boards do NOTHING."
Multiple exchanges with you on this thread say just as much; and that the main issue is a person seeking out communication with the spiritual realm.
If you so desire, I will put in the request. My prayers are with you and may you be guided through the experience you are requesting.
And yet the fear the board. Thus showing they don’t believe that, and that they are fools.
Well, I cant speak for others fear or not of the board.
True story: my wife and I rented a beautiful farm home in rural Virginia a few months ago...used to be a poorhouse for the county in the 1800's with many acres for farming. Found a closet full of board games in a closet. We declined to play the Ouija in the stack and also had no weird events during our stay (except for a family of groundhogs eating the barn cat's food).
“seeking out communication with the spiritual realm.”
Perception of reality is a function of the frequency of consciousness from which it is viewed. (Prayer raises a person’s operational frequency of consciousness)
The problem is that most people live in a “Flat Consciousness Society” and like the “Flat Earth Society” do not have the intelligence or consciousness development to perceive beyond their very limited five physical body senses.
When a person learns to change frequencies of consciousness, just as changing tuning frequency on a TV tuner changes channels, so does a person’s perception of reality and abilities. This is how the mystics of all religions do what they do.
Scientific inquiry from a materialistic perspective can be applied to spirituality as consciousness itself when perceived from a higher frequency of consciousness is physical to the observer.
“Anything that takes one’s focus of off God potentially invites evil. “
Your entire comment is 100% accurate.
"If it is necessary for a good spirit to contact you directly (and it happens), then it will be under the direction of God doing something for you a mortal can’t do. Best to work on your relationship with God and the Holy Spirit than try to contact good spirits directly."
Exactly right. When engaging in occult practices, it is impossible to tell a spirit is good if he wants to conceal it from you. Angels (including fallen angels, i.e., demons) have a superior intellect to ours and will deceive us as it suits their purpose. That is why the Bible forbids recourse to mediums and seers-- when we place ourselves in that situation, we are just asking for trouble, no matter how smart and spiritually strong we think we are.
I would never make a threat relating to this or any other topic. Thoughts manifest and we must be very careful asking for anything.
I have no power or ability. I am merely an empty vessel. Any work that is done is through me and not by me.
All work is done through prayer. So I merely forward the request. I make no judgement. I’ve been stung by nasties many times over the years. When it happens, it is a lesson for me to step aside and allow.
The entire political battle right now is a battle of the weeds vs the “good seeds.” We are in very interesting times.
Blessings
It’s an invitation to the spirit world, and that open door can permit evil spirits in. I know that many antique dealers won’t touch them at any price. Scoffers are simply “unenlightened” and luckily so.
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Yep. Know a young lady who played with one for a short while until her 4 year old daughter started screaming one night during the “playing” and screamed “MOMMY, WHO IS THAT MAN?!!?” while pointing into an empty space in the room.
You said you’d send the next nasty spirit you encountered at me. That is a threat. Well it would be if there were such a thing.
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
These abilities, often termed “gifts”, are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, increased faith, the gifts of healing, the gift of miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
“to another distinguishing between spirits”
"When a person learns to change frequencies of consciousness, just as changing tuning frequency on a TV tuner changes channels, so does a person’s perception of reality and abilities. This is how the mystics of all religions do what they do."
It is interesting...but I no longer have interest in it. Christians are told multiple times in the Bible to not engage in such things.
Realizing this kind of thing can be dangerous, perhaps you should not copy me on that.;-)
Please note, the exact words I used were “if you so desire.” I am not attached to your experiences.
That is not a threat, it is merely an offer to put in the request if you want the experience. I would never make a deal with darkness as that alone would open me to getting stung.
I’ve been doing this too many years and have made many painful mistakes/learning experiences over the years. If I did it, I would be responsible for your experience. That is not something I desire to participate in.
My O board told me to drink vodka and run down the street naked.
I’ll never do that again.
Stupid board.
Mt research interest is the neuroscience of the Bible.
Most live their lives in the lower Delta, Theta, Alpha and Beta frequencies and never develop to the Gamma frequencies.
Everything that Jesus teaches are the practices and values necessary for this developmental journey. The teaching leads to an awakening or awareness and full experience that Jesus is already here helping us.
If you believe the evil spirits to exist then it is a threat. The addition of weasel words doesn’t change that. “I’d shoot you in the head if you want” is still a threat, even with the additional words.
So what we know for sure about you is that you are a weasel. Good bye.
"Everything that Jesus teaches are the practices and values necessary for this developmental journey."
The work of Christ is about the redemption of those who are His; through his loving sacrifice on the cross.
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