Ouija Boards can be very dangerous tools and can bring forth something that you will not wish to be involved with or have contact with (Remember "Amityville Horror", and "The Exorcist"?)  We have heard too many stories about these devices bringing evil entities into homes and causing damage or dangerous situations for the families and friends that reside there.  This section is for information only, please use at your own risk and take all cautions necessary.

A ouija board is a medium through which messages are supposedly communicated by the dead to or through the players of seance. Ouija boards are also known as "witch boards" and "talking boards." The nickname "ouiji" or "weejie" is also used quite a bit. The word "ouija" is actually a combination of two words, the french word "oui" and the German word "ja." Both words mean "yes" in english.

Many Spiritualists and investigators into the occult have held that the board is a means for making direct contact with the dead and that the messages which are spelled out are from the dead.

Others have held that the messages are suggestions from the unconscious mind or the result of muscular tension and unconscious direction of the hand. 
 
The playing pieces consist of a game board (like a Monopoly board) and a pointer, called a planchette.  The game board has all the letters  of the alphabet written on it. The numbers 0-9 are also usually included, along with yes/no and hello/goodbye spaces.  The layout of a typical board looks like this:

The pointer is made of plastic or glass, and either points to the letters with one end or has a clear window embedded in it through which one can view the letters.To play, two or more people lightly touch the pointer and concentrate on a question. Now, first place your fingers (this works best with a friend, by the way) gently on the glass and concentrate. Than after having asked the relevant question, the glass will start to move and point to various letters, which will form words and sentences and provide with the answer to your question .

The pointer may work as the result of tiny involuntary physical movements, and the messages you see are coming from your subconscious or psychic mind.

History

The ancient Egyptians used a device similar to the ouija board. A ring was attached to a strand of thread, held over a circular table with symbols on it, and the ring would strike the table to spell out answers.

The earliest known patent for a talking board in the patent offices in London, England was filed by Adolphus Theodore Wagner, a professor of music and resident of Berlin of the Kingdom of Prussia. Wagner described his device as a “PSYCHOGRAPH, OR APPARATUS FOR INDICATING PERSONS THOUGHTS BY THE AGENT OF NERVOUS ELECTRICITY” on January 23, 1854.

Ouija replaced the messy planchette (the writing was messy cursive scrawls) when a board was used in place of the sheet of paper, and all three stilts on the planchette were covered with felt enabling it to slide in any direction. This made the communications fast, clear, and easy.

Pearl Curran, a housewife from St. Louis, began using a friend's ouija board in 1913. The ouija board began to spell out communications that were purportedly from a spirit contact by the name of Patience Worth. Pearl and Patience then began collaborating via automatic writing, and their output was prodigious: Patience "dictated" over a million words of poetry, plays and novels to Mrs. Curran.  The works were of sufficiently high literary quality to be published and to enjoy some success among readers, and were rich in historical detail.

The Ouija board, the kind we see in toy stores today, came about in 1889 when William Fuld of Baltimore, Maryland, and his brother Isaac, marketed Ouija boards to the American public. They had a small operation and the board was the hottest item they would ever produce. People bought the board not as a game, but as a device with which they would talk to their loved ones killed in battle during the two world wars. Around 1960 Parker Brothers approached the two Fuld brothers since they were having trouble making enough boards to satisfy the demand for them. PB then took over the rights. In the 70s, the Ouija was not popular any more and the Parkers close their operation.