Ouija board, << WEE juh or WEE jee >>, is a device supposed to allow people to talk with supernatural spirits and ask them questions. Two or more people gather around a board with alphabet letters and numbers printed on it. They lightly place their fingers on a small three-legged pointer called a planchette. The pointer seems to move by itself, answering questions by pointing to “yes” or “no” on the board or by spelling out words by moving from letter to letter.
According to people who believe in the Ouija board, spirits guide the pointer. Some believers fear that users can put themselves in danger by contacting demons in this way. Others think that the motion is an illusion and that the fingers of the questioner influence the pointer. Still others use the Ouija board just as a game for fun.
The Ouija board was invented in 1892 by William Fuld, the owner of a novelty company in Baltimore. Its name comes from the French word oui and the German word ja, both of which mean yes. Fuld based the Ouija board on earlier activities that were once practiced as part of a movement called spiritualism, popular in the 1800’s. In this movement, people held séances to speak to the spirits of the dead. They used many methods to make contact with spirits, including using an object that, when held by two or more participants, would seem to move by itself. Popular methods included table-tipping, which involved asking a table to rise up on one side and tap out messages. Another method used an upturned glass as a planchette to spell out messages around a handwritten circle of letters. Such activities are still found in the folklore in some parts of the world, including Europe and Japan.
