Witchboard World

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This has been rewritten and paraphrased by me based on several different sources on this topic. This is simply my view of the combined references.Some people will tell you that Ouija boards are ancient. In fact, many believe that the boards date back as far as 540 BC. This falsity was further spread by the motion picture Witchboard. In actuality, TRUE Ouija boards are very young when compared to the age shown by the 540 BC claim above. Although similar devices my have existed, actual Ouija boards (meaning a flat surface with the alphabet and numerals appearing on it, and a planchette for choosing letters/numbers) didn't come along until much later on. It is pretty much unknown who invented the Ouija board...but if I had to put my money on it, I'd say it was Elijah Bond since his name graces the original patent documents under the heading "inventor". Still, some say it as a man named Charles Kennard. Regardless of who actually invented the board, Charles Kennard and his Kennard Novelty Company are responsible for being the first to patent a new item that would soon be all the rage. He was awarded the patent on February 10, 1891. He called the new creation "Ouija" because he claims the board told him that Ouija was Egyptian for "Good Luck." Well...Ouija isn't really "Good Luck" in Egyptian but no one seemed to know or care. The name stuck and so did this new fad. He began producing the Ouija boards (also called Egyptian Luck boards) in 1890 (a year before patenting came through) and was selling them by 1891. On top of that, they were only $1.50 and they were made of solid wood. I'm sure that was a lot more money back then but today's boards are made of such cheap cardboard, you almost have to call it paper (and they can cost up to $20 at really expensive stores). The boards were huge and so were the planchettes. I'm very proud to say that I own one of these rare boards. It's on display in my gallery! After only another year, Charles Kennard was out of the Ouija business. He was having some sort of financial troubles or something. Anyway, a man who worked for Kennard Novelty Company ended up taking over. This guy is probably the single most important person in Ouija history as far as getting them into widespread use. This man was William Fuld. His name was then printed on every genuine Ouija board made for over 100 years until Parker Brothers took it off in the late 90s. William Fuld (along with his business partner Isaac) changed the Kennard Novelty Company to the Ouija Novelty Company and continued selling boards at much higher numbers. Shortly down the line, Isaac was fired so the company name was changed once again to the William Fuld Company. Since William Fuld then owned all rights to the Ouija board, he decided to reinvent it's history. He claimed that he invented the board himself. He also said that Ouija was a mixture of the French and German words for "yes." Oui and Ja...Ouija. This is what most people today think the name means...once again probably because of the film Witchboard. All was fairly well until 1927. William Fuld was on the roof of his factory in Baltimore to supervise the replacement of a flagpole.

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