Ancestry Magazine

The start

In 1848, sisters Kate and Margaretta Fox, preteens from Hydesville, New York, claim to speak with the dead in their reportedly haunted home. The communicator, they determine, is a ghost who answers questions via knocks and taps on a specially-designed tilting table. The spirit also, with the assistance of the Fox sisters, points to letters to spell out words.

The craze

The communication exploits of the Fox sisters become highly publicized, gaining the attention of New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley and U.S. Senator Nathanial Tallmadge among others.

The government      

President Abraham Lincoln is reported to hold séances in the White House. The claims gain media attention but are never verified.

The commercialism

The Ouija board is developed as a simpler means of communicating with spirits via text; it’s granted a patent in 1891. Unlike its predecessors, the Ouija board does not require penmanship of a contacted spirit (the planchette, for example, required spirits to handwrite messages). Instead, the Ouija board is printed with letters and short answers so a spirit can simply point out his or her messages.

The end

The Fox sisters admit to fraud in 1888 (the sisters confess that they make the spirit noises themselves by cracking their toe joints). The Ouija board, however, thrives. In 1967, toy company Parker Brothers buys the rights to the board. Today, the Ouija board features glow-in-the-dark letters and message indicator making it easier—and eerier—to speak with the dead.

Sources: Time magazine, 21 September 1925; www.spirithistory.com; Hasbro