6 The science behind the concept of the Ouija board is called the Ideomotor Effect. Ideomotor actions are unconscious and involuntary movements led by the subconscious.

Though still relatively unknown to the larger population, the Ideomotor effect explains phenomena such as automatic writing, commanding a pendulum to swing in different directions, and the Ouija board. The results are caused by unconscious behavior, as in reflexive responses to ideas. A person might know the answer to a certain question that is being asked to a spirit through the Ouija board, and then move the planchette involuntarily, either alone or with others. The more people take part, the more likely the board gives consistent and believable answers. Whenever a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question is being asked, the same would happen, as your body might direct the planchette to an answer that you are subconsciously predicting, or know the answer of. ‘Ideomotor actions are unconscious, involuntary motor movements that are performed by a person because of prior expectations, suggestions or preconceptions.’ (John Jackson, 2005).(source)

7 Elijah Bond, the man who patented the Ouija board, has a Ouija Board tombstone that was erected in 2007 by Ouija board collector and historian Robert Murch.

Lawyer and inventor, Elijah Bond, patented the Ouija board in 1891. Even though talking boards, or spirit boards as they were sometimes referred to, had been around for several years, Bond patented the design after proving its functionality to an apparently shocked patent officer. Bond then employed a man named William Fuld, who worked himself up in the company and whose name later became synonymous with the Ouija board. Unlike Fuld, Bond never received the recognition he deserved while he was alive, and was thus buried in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. It was only years later in 2007 that Robert Murch, a Ouija board collector and Historian, located the unmarked grave and decided to pay tribute to Bond’s invention by erecting a Ouija board gravestone in his name.(source)

8 Novelist Emily Grand Hutchings claimed that she wrote the entire Jap Herron novel by channeling Mark Twain’s voice through her Ouija board.

In 1917, novelist Emily Grand Hutchings claimed that her book Jap Herron was dictated by Mark Twain himself, from whom she started receiving messages 2 years prior to the release of the book. 13 years before she started writing the book with the help of a Ouija board, Hutchings corresponded with Twain via letters, mostly asking his advice on writing.(source)

9 Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics anonymous, claimed his popular 12-step recovery program was dictated through a Ouija board by a 15th-century dead monk named Boniface.

Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholic Anonymous and writer of the controversial 12-step recovering program, claims he wrote the famous 12 Steps under the guidance of a 15th-century monk named Boniface. At the time, Wilson had a ‘spook-room’ in his house in which he frequently visited and apparently contacted spirits using a Ouija board. Wilson was known at the time for his involvement in LSD experiments with Aldous Huxley, and his effort to find a cure for alcoholism.(source)

10 Ouija board marketer William Fuld fell to his death while supervising the construction of a three-story Ouija board factory in Baltimore.

In 1917, after consulting the Ouija board which he had marketed and sold for over a decade, William Fuld built a three-story, thirty-six thousand square foot factory in Baltimore. According to Fuld, a spirit communicated with him through a Ouija board earlier that year, telling him to “prepare for big business.” During the construction of this enormous building, which was unlike any other in the area at the time, Fuld fell from the roof of his factory breaking several bones and suffering of a severe concussion. He died later that day in a nearby hospital after one of his broken ribs pierced his heart.(source)