ABSTRACT
In combination, the French and German word for yes, “oui” and “ja,” give this diversion its name. The playing board is a flat polished sheet of wood or wood derivative about 18″ by 12″ with the alphabet, A through Z, enscribed in a wide half-moon lengthwise. A heart-shaped pointer mounted on tiny castors operates the board. Called a game by some and an oracle by others, the ouija board works in this manner: two people place their fingertips on the pointer which rests on the lettered board. Activated by deep concentration (most evident when the two participants are in direct sympathy with one another) the pointer moves from one letter to another spelling out words and making sentences in answer to a question; but if the participants lack sufficient mental energy and are impatient, the pointer might just move to a designated “yes” or “no” corner of the board and be done with it. Part of the mystery of ouija is knowing whether the participants moved the pointer or some master spirit hovering in the room. Playing by candlelight on a rainy night accentuated the “divine” experience. Around 1920, the ouija board was at its height as a fad for communicating with “the other side,” which in itself was a fad manifested in an ever growing interest in the occult. Players reasoned that what ouija spelled out had to come from a third party, and that third party had to be one of the dead since no one else was in the room.
