Just The Right Things

This morning I came across an article from The Smithsonian about the history of the Ouija board. Now I ask you, whom among us mid-century modern women, didn’t consult the Ouija board during our teens?

The mention of the name Ouija board takes me straight back to a group of me and my junior high school friends sitting in the laundry room in the basement of my parents house (the darkest place we could find.)

One of us would aim a flashlight at the board while the rest of took turns trying to answer each other’s darkest and deepest questions. These mainly consisted of “Does Gary like me?” or “Will Gary like me after he stops liking Mary?” or “Should I invite Gary to the dance?”

We always tried to stump the Ouija board by having someone ask a question we thought no one else would know and often it was right.

If you are a Ouija board fan you’ll enjoy reading The Secret of the Ouija Board.  Some fun facts:

• When the creators of the board went to get a patent on the game they had to prove the board worked to the patent officer.
• The board actually named itself!
•  The concept of the Ouija board came from the widespread practice of spiritualism (the belief that the dead communicate with the living) in the mid-1800s.

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