For more than a century, the Ouija board has both entertained and terrified millions of people across the globe.
And the board game — which some believe is a conduit to another realm — has also inspired no shortage of controversy since it first emerged on the scene just before the 20th century, as Faithwire has extensively detailed.
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Despite gaining popularity over the past 100 years, the game’s history is apparently shrouded in mystery, with select details only reportedly coming to light in recent years.
Historian Robert Murch, who specializes in tracing the origins of the board, told the Guardian last year that the name of the talking board came from a medium named Helen Peters; she was reportedly using the board at a house in Baltimore, Maryland, one day in 1890 when she asked the board what she should call it.
That’s when Peters reportedly received a response: “Ouija” — a word that apparently means “good luck.” And, from there, the name stuck. Then, things turned a bit creepy. Listen to the bizarre history behind the board below:
Read more about the Ouija board here.