September 7, 2019 • 33 mins
Although most people who've used Ouija boards don't think they're communicating with the beyond, there is something mysterious about how it works. Learn the ins and outs of the popular parlor game that sprang directly from the 19th-century spiritualism movement in this classic episode.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello friends. I hope you're having a creepy Saturday afternoon
or morning or night. I would recommend saving this stuff
he should Know select episode until tonight, when you can
break out your Wegia board and learn about Weiga as
you play Wegia and realize that we Jia is just
bunk and completely made up. From October two, how Wegia
(00:23):
boards work? Right here, right now, Welcome to Stuff you
Should Know, a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey,
and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, Jerry's kind of here. Uh, and this is
(00:47):
Stuff you should Know. Yeah, this is the last podcast, Uh,
these two today that we're recording in the infamous murder room.
Oh yeah, it's right, yeah, murder room. Yeah, we're moving offices,
and what better thing to do than to have a seance,
which we're going to conduct after this episode records. Didn't
(01:10):
you didn't don't know me about this first? Yeah, we're
having a seance, buddy, I don't know about that. We're
gonna get down, We're gonna get down the brass tacks
and answer all the unknown questions. Well, you know, I'll
tell you what. I will have a seance with you
using a Weiji board, because now I know how they work,
and I'm not quite as scared of them as I
used to be saying after I saw The Exorcist. Yeah,
Sai or we I say Wegi. Yeah, I kind of
(01:33):
do too, although I think it's probably Wegia right, not
to be confused with the crimes photographer Weig. We're talking
about the board. Although yeah, I think some people say
we Ja. Yeah. I just think it's interesting. I said
Wegi since I was a kid. Yeah, I mean too,
But I also say reci cup instead of reesis because
Umi does too. You mean sister do Yeah, And I'm like, no,
it's Reese's. They're like, no, it's Rec's. Yeah. Well I
(01:56):
don't even say Rec's. I'd just say a reci cup.
I think they. I think I do too. People in
their quirks, Yeah, foibles, I say foibles. Uh. Yeah. You
should hear him sing that potato Potato song everybody, Yeah,
which apparently I got snookered on that. By the way.
That's an old, an old bit. So I was snookered
(02:19):
by an urban legend. What the whole potato Potato song
where I say, like, yeah, a friend of mine's friend
auditioned with this piece and sang it wrong. You thought
it was for real? Yeah, of course I did. I've
never heard that before. It's very funny. Yeah. Had you
heard that, um now, because you would have stopped me.
I know I have heard it before, but it wasn't
(02:39):
too long ago. Was it from my mouth? Maybe? But
I didn't think like that it was. It actually happened.
I think anyway, we gi su every day, we gi board. Yes, um,
and I mentioned exorcists already. You saw that, right, of
course A bunch of times enough. Here is a trivia
(03:00):
question for you. What is the name of the spirit
Reagan communicates with? I didn't even have to look this up?
Uh through her wigi board. Geez, I don't remember Captain Howdy?
Shut up? No, do you remember? Now? Captain Howdy was
who she's talking with? Who is the devil? I guess
that was one of his aliases. I wonder if he
(03:22):
has like a devil passport that says Captain Howdy on
Devil Satan Lucifer Captain. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's true.
That makes it a little less frightening. So um what
was that the early seventies that Exorcist came out, right,
I think so okay um and the Wigi board, the
one she was playing with, I believe was a Parker
(03:43):
Brothers BIGI board was it now has bro um And
that was this mass manufactured, mass marketed toy game. But
it was actually based on like a real phenomenon that
we've talked about here on this show, before the um
spiritualism movement of the nineteenth century. The Luigi board first
(04:05):
made its appearance around then. Supposedly they claim providence for
this way further back than that, but there's no real
evidence that the Ouiji board itself is any older than
the mid nineteenth century, and that it's American in origin. Yeah,
the actual Wijia brand board is what you're talking about,
right right, or talking boards in general, which is another
(04:28):
name for like a Wigi board as a talking board.
But not all talking boards are Wigi boards, that's right.
So you're saying there's no evidence that they existed before,
like in the eight hundreds before that, before that, no,
there there people did use divination. There is a pretty
good source. A fourth century BC Greek scholar who wrote
(04:48):
a history um, who talks about a pair of men
who were killed for dividor for using divination. But they
used a pendulum and a disc with the alphabet round
it to spell out a message. So there were divinations
people did use um like style. Yeah, I don't know
(05:09):
if they use the plan chet. But the Luiji board itself,
despite being marketed for many years, is something from Egyptian antiquity,
is probably something no or that was created no earlier
in the mid nineteenth century in the States. Well one
is uh. An attorney name Alijaban patented what was called
(05:29):
the Wigia Egyptian luck board. Um. And it's important to
point out when when these things are marketed, they when
you read the fine print, they never claim to be
able to, you know, talk with the spirits. It's like
just sort of it's a game, right, it's a game now,
And it was once it became mass marketed, they started
(05:50):
the Yeah. But in eight one it was part of
this larger offshoot of spiritualism. Yeah, and we talked a
bit about egypt pology and it sort of all ties
in seances were big. You remember, they cracked the hieroglyphic
code from the Rosetta stone just a couple of decades before,
so Egypt was like this weird place with all sorts
(06:12):
of strange cults and rituals. Yeah, and it's just it's
strange to me that something like the occult, even on
a minor level, sort of took hold in the United
States at one point. Uh. And I don't know how
if it was accepted by the masses, but like you know,
regular people and noteworthy people would hold seances and try
to communicate with their dead relatives, usually through a medium
(06:34):
who was usually female. Right, you know there weren't a
lot of dudes doing it. Uh. No, there are a
lot of dudes who were involved in it, but the
mediums were typically female, and a lot of them used
things that were like the Luigi board talking boards. Yeah,
like they you mentioned the dial plate, which was a
spinning wheel with letters and numbers, and the alphabet board,
(06:57):
which was sort of like a wigia board, but um,
you just pointed to different letters and waited for a
response from the great beyond. Some had a little pencil
that would like actually write things out right, that used
the plan chet, which is French for a little plank,
which is a little uh, a little board or something
maybe like a circular disc on three legs, and then
(07:18):
one of the legs for a writing plan chet. Um
was basically a hole with a pencil going through it,
so that when the plan chet moved using the medium's hands,
but the spirit was really in control, the pencil would
write something hopefully. Uh So, back to the Wiji Board,
the official game version. Over about seventy years, it changed
(07:41):
ownership a few times, eventually landing at Parker Brothers, which
is now has Bro. Like you pointed out right, Ali
Jaban the guy who um, he didn't come up with
the first Weigi board, but he was the first one
to make an improvement on an existing patent and um,
the Wiji board, as we understand it, that was his
how we see it now, and he actually went off
after he sold the rights to it to a guy
(08:03):
named um Charles Knard. Uh Elijah Bond went off and
created a rival version that had a huge swastika on
It didn't perform so well. Uh no, it did at first,
because we're talking seven did you have that association was
still like a mystical symbol, but it was made by
the Swastika Novelty Company in West Virginia that he founded
(08:25):
to produce this rival board, and it's considered his other
Luigi board. That's pretty funny, isn't that weird? Yeah? My friend,
my friend Jesse Char the other day tweeted something funny
about design. I think it was something likeent of design
is trying to make something not look like a swastika
or a penis. I thought that was pretty good. Did
(08:46):
she make that up or have you heard that? I
have not heard of that, alright, so I'm giving credit
to Jesse Char, so um, chuck. The point is the
Wuiji board took this, this thing that was being used
by mediums as part of a very serious spiritualism movement,
and said, hey, you don't need um, this crazy old
(09:08):
lady to contact your dead uncle. Now you can buy
one and do it in your own home over cocktails exactly. Um.
And a lot of people took it like that from
the get go. I think some people probably purchased Wiji
boards seriously, but I think from from the outset it
was a part of a party. It was a conversation starter,
(09:28):
something that that you just did socially too for fun,
for sure. I think that there was always a large
segment of the Ouiji board buying population that just took
it as as entertainment. Yeah, exactly, which it's probably how
you should take it. Uh. From Kennard, he had an
employee named William Fold nephew L D who Uh, who
(09:50):
basically took it over to the point where he even
stamped his name inventor on the back of it, even
though he wasn't. And he's credited as being sort of
the father of the Luigia board because he's the one
that really ran with it in a marketing sense and
brought it to the masses and uh would do all
the press for it. Um. He claimed that the French
(10:10):
and German words for yes, we and yah is where
the name comes from, even though that's not true. Well,
even before that, Charles Kennard said that, Um, he came
up with the name by asking the board itself what
it was called. And it's spelled out oh U I
j A, And he asked it what it meant, and
the board told him it was Egyptian for good luck.
So that was the story. And then yeah, I guess
(10:32):
Fold was like it means yes and yes, yes and
yes pretty much in French and German. It's pretty good,
So like we said, um fold sold it to Parker Brothers,
who turned into Hasbro. And now when you buy a
Wigi brand wid you board, it's from Hasbro. Yeah. And
the article here makes a point to U two call
(10:53):
out the Catholics for um basically saying that it could
be an evil thing and not to use it. But
as a little Baptist boy, we were very much told
not to use a Wigi board. I remember specifically, um
my uncle like burning his Wija board. Yeah, did he
(11:13):
go out and buy it just so he could burn it? Friday?
We got a party going in my house. Yeah, it's
pretty funny to look back. When I was a kid,
I was like, yes, get rid of that evil thing.
Were you there when he burned it? No? I wasn't there,
but I heard about it, and that was just good
for him. That's cool. Throw throwing candy Land while you're
at it, because that game stinks. What was the Shoots
and Ladders? I never played that? I was into? Sorry,
(11:37):
remember that one? Yeah? That one made you like hate
the other people you played with though, right, didn't couldn't
you like get ahead by screwing over your fellow players?
That's I think that's why it was called sorry. Yeah.
I think like if you landed on someone, you sent
him back in the beginning and yeah, yeah, maybe I
just played with Jerk soon knows. Maybe so um so chuck.
(12:00):
The Uigi board UM. From the original Bond creation to
the one you get today from Parker Brothers, the design
of it has changed very little. Yeah, I guess we
should describe it. I mean, I assume most people have
seen one, although you know I've never used one, have you? Oh? Yeah,
when I was younger, i'd totally be into trying it out.
(12:20):
It's neat for fun, you know, it's very neat, because
I mean, the thing is just moving around the board
by itself. All right, So we will describe the board
if you have not seen it. Um. It has the
alphabet and two different arcs, has numbers below the alphabets.
It has a yes in one corner with I think
a moon, and a no in one corner with the sun.
(12:44):
And therein lie the answers. My friend. Oh, don't forget
the most important part, basically what amounts to the off button.
It's goodbye written at the bottom the number. So yeah,
it's sort of like a satanic magic eight ball kind of,
except this really works and it's not satanic, right. Um.
So the the way that you use um this talking
(13:07):
board um, which again, if you're interested in this and
you want to see some pretty cool old Buiji boards
and the Swastika board as well, UM and another one
called the Sphinx board, which I think is the coolest one.
It's from like the forties. Um. There's this awesome online
museum called the Museum of Talking Boards, and they have
histories of all this, the history of the Buiji board,
(13:29):
history of talking boards, UM, just some really great articles
and images on there. So go check that out because
it's a pretty cool website. UM. But when you're when
you're using this, um, well the instructions have stayed the
same too, not only the design but the gameplay itself.
It's just about the same as it was way back
in the nineteenth century. Right. And when you use this,
(13:51):
they say you want to have two or more people, yeah, um,
with their fingers lightly resting, just your fingertips lightly resting
on the plant chet and we should say the plant chet, um,
like the other plant chet that used a pencil to write.
It's just a little um plastic heart shape board. I
guess with three small legs, and then a circular um
(14:15):
plastic covered disc in the middle, clear plastic disc that
you look through, and the disc shows you the letter
number or word that the spirit is communicating. That's right.
When you look down through the plane chet, that's the
letter word in question. That's right. So you sit there,
you ask a question aloud. Everyone concentrates. No, no joking
(14:36):
around going on. No, even Fold himself said, you want
to make sure that the people whore at the table
are taking this seriously or else second to work right? Well,
even though it was advertised for mirthmaking, you gotta cut
the mirth down when you're actually operating the board. Take
the guy who has the lampshade on his head, he's
got to get out of that room. Uh. So, then
(14:57):
you ask a question, and then everyone watches, and the
plan Chet, as if by magic or Satan's dark powers,
moves along in either answers yes or no questions, or
spells things out. Um, you want somebody to jot down yeah, sure,
the letters or numbers as they are read out, And
(15:20):
and in the article it says ideally they spell out
words or sin it says they can the players can understand. Um,
like it would. If it's spelled out a nonsense word
like wegia, you would probably just say it's it's malfunctioning,
or you would say what does that mean, and then
it would spell out it's Egyptian for good luck, or
German and French free. Yes, I wonder if wegia boards
(15:40):
always answer the same when you ask them what wegia means.
I don't know, we should I started saying it differently
all of a sudden, down Sidewigi. I've just said wegia
a couple of times. Interesting, how do you pronounce the
thing that you clean your windshield with that is squiga
or a squeegee? Yeah, but that's s q u e
g e e eat. There's three No, I'm just kidding. Evidently,
(16:30):
it can take up to five minutes for the plan
chet to start moving, which I don't know if I
would have the patience for that, I know I might
start moving it on my own. Oh yeah, you know,
well then you would be the life of the party,
especially if you said, like, I'm being contacted by the spirits. Right,
if after five minutes you don't get any movement from
(16:51):
the plane chet, you want to either ask the question
again or ask another question. Um. And there's some there's
some tips for using your Wiji board to mat maximum capacity. Um.
One of them is concentration. Again they do with the
Lambshade needs to go sit in the living room, watch
TV or something while everybody else is doing this. Um,
(17:12):
you want to turn down the lights, maybe, burn some candles,
burn some in incense, turn off that smartphone and the TV. Maybe. Yeah,
and uh, you really want to concentrate. And when you
ask questions, you want to ask them slowly, clearly, simple questions. Um.
And you want to ask them one at a time
and wait for the answer the response before you ask
(17:34):
the next question. Yeah. And they also recommend that you
avoid um scary questions because that could lead you down
a dark path, my friend, and always above all else
in the game by saying goodbye, because if you leave
that portal open to the great beyond, the bad people
(17:54):
might come in through that portal and find you and
kill you. Ask Reagan from the Exorcists, right, things can
go pretty badly. So you want to end each session
with the plan chet over goodbye and then breathe a
sigh of relief exactly. Um. And apparently if this doesn't
work the first time you do it, you shouldn't be frustrated.
In fact, the Museum of Talking Boards has a regiment
(18:17):
that they prescribe um thirty minutes of practice every day
for two weeks, and apparently you'll open your chakras or
something and all of a sudden you will be speaking
through the Wiji board, or the spirits will be speaking
through you go through the Weigi board. Is that before
after the opium regimen that they advise. I think the
(18:43):
Museum of Talking Boards is um. They're more historical. They're
more interested in the history background of the whole thing.
So let's talk about this for a minute. People sit down.
They put their fingertips on this thing. The plan chet moves,
I mean moves like we're not making this up. Like
if you've never messed with a Wigi board before, like
(19:04):
give it a shot with another friend, and like the
chances are the things going to just start moving by itself.
It's eerie, especially when you're younger. Now see, I've never
done it. I explained this to me. What do you mean?
I will show you so, um, I get it. But
the thing, this, this plan chett is very light plastic.
The feet might even have felt on him or something
(19:27):
like that. It's designed to move very easily forward. No,
I think original Planchet's headcast um. But you're just basically
you're you're being pulled around the table, so you actually
want to be in a comfortable position because your fingertips
are just sitting on this thing. And then when you
ask a question after a while, it'll move. I've never
(19:48):
seen one move fast, but it just moves kind of slow.
But I mean, there's no question about you're not thinking.
Isn't moving Like it's moving over to a letter and
then it's moving over to another letter and then it's
selling something out. But you are moving it. No, you're
not in your head. Here here's the thing, like, let's
get to the science of this. You are in fact
(20:09):
moving it and there, but you are not conscious of
moving it, which is the awesome part of it. It's
this thing called idio motion. Yeah, which is someone pronounce
ideo and I didn't know if they were just being
fancy or not. It can go either way ideo idio motion,
but the the it is an actual involuntary motion. It's
(20:31):
one of the types of involuntary motion of which human
beings are capable thanks to our muscles and neurons. Yeah.
It was coined by due named William Carpenter in two
to explain dawsing rods, which is the same kind of
you know thing basically, Yeah, dawsing rods pendulums um idiomotion
is where thought proceeds precedes movement, and the other part
(20:56):
of it is that we're unaware of that movement. Yeah,
it's movement without owning that basically. So when you apply
that to we Ji boards, you have what's called the
ideo motor effect, where you your thought is placed in
the form of a question to Theuiji board, and then
the movement, the unconscious movement. You're not aware that you're moving,
(21:17):
UM moves to answer that question. So if you're thinking yes, like,
am I speaking with uh, you know, great uncle Charlie. Yes,
and you really want to and you're you're thinking, yeah, man,
I hope he's there. So you're unconscious or subconscious? Which
is it? I would guess unconscious. I think it's unfashionable
to use subconsciousness. UM. It would move it to the yes,
(21:42):
but you wouldn't realize. You would think it was just
moving and and that that's where the weji board fund
comes from chuck like you don't realize you're moving it,
like you you have no sensation of movement. And like
you said, this is this idea. Motion is a um,
it's it's we've understood it for a while since early
eight hundreds. And even Fold himself in one of his
(22:05):
patents said, and I think explained that it was moved
by unconscious muscular movement of the prayers. And back in
the eighteen hundreds, this guy named Anton Chevrel Chevroule chavrell
he Um basically proved this using a pendulum on a string. Yeah,
and it's um. You've probably long heard about the the
(22:26):
old wives tale. If you want to find out what
your baby's gender, you hold um like a ring on
a string over the ballet and wait for it to move.
And if it moves back and forth, it's a boy.
That's circular, it's a girl. Um. And it's the same.
Basic thing is is the chevrol pendulum. Basically, it's just
ideo motion. In effect, you are unconsciously swinging the string. Yeah,
(22:51):
and whichever way you probably desire exactly. That's what makes
it so fascinating, is what you're really seeing is the
unconscious telegraphing supposed to of the mother's wishes of what
gender she would like, because she's in fact controlling it,
but she's her muscles are moving so minutely that she's
(23:12):
not aware of the movement. But since the pendulum is
on the string, it really kind of really telegrash these
very very tiny movements and then inertia takes over and
it really starts going. So it just seems amazing because
the hands not moving, but the ring is going crazy.
It's going crazy. Uh, this is the same. If you
(23:33):
ever heard of facilitated communication, it's pretty controversial. Um, you've
probably seen it on the news. It's when basically a
caregiver will guide the fingers of someone who's severely disabled
over a typewriter, typewriter, a typing machine, over a keyboard
to a computer. Uh, to supposedly get answers or communicate. Um.
(23:57):
And it's very controversial. It's art it out in nineteen
seventy seven in Australia, this lady named Rosemary Crossley. Um.
But the American Psychology Association basically says it's not scientifically valid.
These are people that are just what facilitating communication. Yeah,
that they're the caregiver is really guiding this conversation and
(24:18):
it's really not coming from the person that's disabled. Right.
The thing is is what makes this so tragic and
sad is that the caregiver isn't aware that they're actually
making these movements. Again, all of this is unconscious. You
can't tell you're making this movement. And so since the
profoundly handicapped person is moving their hand, the caregiver thinks
(24:41):
that it's them. It's the it's the handicapped person. It's
not like they're trying to snow somebody exactly. They and
they may even really really want this person to communicate
and say these things. Yeah, they're still studying at Syracuse
University actually has UM since nineteen ninety two is the
FC Institute now it's the Institute on Communication and Inclusion
and are still studying it. And you know the controversy
(25:03):
as usuals between the skeptics and the believers. Yeah, well
that's that's the thing. If you want to see who
who believes in the idea motor effect to type that
into Google, it's all like skeptics Dictionary, skeptics, skeptic, Like
every entry is skeptic. But if you type in IDEO
emotion you get um, you know, peer reviewed scientific literature
(25:25):
on that. It's just the IDEO motor effect is basically
taking the proven idea emotion and applying it to debunk
things like Wuiji boards. Uh. They did a study in
the University of British Columbia just last year and UM,
basically they said it's strongest when they are multiple people
(25:47):
on the plan chet And they tested this by blindfolding
people saying you've got someone else on the board with you,
and when in fact there was no one else on
the board, the person would still say it was the
other person moving it, right. They would say there was
no other person, right, And then they say, well, then
it was the spirits moving it. I guess that's funny
that no one says it's the spirits moving into That's
(26:08):
always the other person who's moving in. That's a pretty um,
pretty common trade of any wigiboard game. That you're sitting
there going like you're moving it. No, you're moving it. No,
I'm really not moving it's that And then uh, with
two people working in tandem, you have two sets of
(26:29):
muscles moving unconsciously, but you know, making a movement. Um,
you have one person relinquishing responsibility because they think it's
the other person, which they think freeze the muscles to
move even more strongly because you're saying, it's not me,
it's the other person. Um. And if they both have
(26:53):
a common goal, then the planchet will move even more
um brisk glee. I guess like if both girls are like,
it's gonna move to be R A D, then you
know that plan chet's gonna move to those letters in
that order. But they're both going to be like, I'm
not moving. Uh well, hold on, before we get into
(27:14):
any real life stories, you want to do a message break? Yes, okay,
(27:39):
and we're back. So should we talk about a couple
of these stories? Um uigia are they real? Are they
not stories? Sure? The Herds of Kansas City, Yeah, this
is pretty crazy. Herbert Heard killed his wife Nellie, shot
her in the back four times. Um, and you would
(28:01):
think what a jerk. But what happened was there they
were elderly, they were in their seventies. Um. They played
with the Wigia board one night and um Nellie claimed
that she received a message saying her husband was stepping
out on her, so gave like fred dollars to the
other lady emon that's probably like their life savings. Um,
(28:26):
And so what happened was Nellie tortured him, tied him
to a bed post, whipped him with a knotted rope,
burned him with a red hot poker, stabbed a knife
into his shins, and forced a confession by holding a
gun to his head. And eventually she left the gun
on the bedside table there. Herbert got ahold of it
and killed her. And UM, can't really blame Herbert. And
(28:49):
apparently the courts did not h what else you got
any other ones? Uh? Yeah, there's a m It was
called an Italian enclave in El Cerrito, California. The Italian
community there apparently experienced a wave of mass hysteria that
landed several people in uh an asylum because of Wiji
(29:10):
board use. When the town went Wijia crazy. Yeah, one
policeman like tore off his clothes and ran into a bank.
And um, there's a lot of craziness that happened. It
was just massissia, I guess, and the town was like,
you know what, no more Weiji boards. And finally, in
British authors sax Rohmer supposedly came up with his villain
(29:35):
Dr Fu Manchu when his Wigia board spelled out Chinaman.
So um his Wigia board was racist? Yeah, and uh
you know he says, that's where it came from. So
here's the thing. If you ever want to test whether
Wiji boards are the result of idea motion and the
(29:58):
players actually moving it or not, go to the good
Will and buy one for three dollars and then and
then do this very very simple test. You blindfold the players.
You turn the board ninety degrees so that anybody who's
memorized the layout of a Weiji board can't cheat it right,
and then ask them some questions and you're not going
to get any kind of sensible answer. And if you do,
(30:21):
then you need to trade carefully because you just unlike
the gate to the spirit world, don't forget to tell
it goodbye, to steal off that gate. I always remember
put it on goodbye, folks. So do you hear anything else?
I got nothing else. I feel like here in my forties,
after knowing now that they're not evil tools of Satan,
(30:42):
then I would like to try it out sometime on
a on a Friday night with good friends. Yeah, we'll
play a little cards against Humanity. We'll play some weigia
and then risk and risk to wind it all out
with a big bang. Um, invite me over. Okay, so uh,
if you want to learn more about weigia, weigi that
(31:05):
kind of thing, you can again go check out the
Museum of Talking Boards. It's pretty sweet. And also you
should read this article on how stuff works dot com.
Type O U I j A into the handy search
bar and we'll bring up this article. And since I said, UM,
search bar in there somewhere, I think it's time for
listener mail, I'm gonna call this crack baby. Jeez. We
(31:31):
we got some good response on the old crack episode,
which is a good one. I thought, yeah, I thought
so too, killing it lately. Hey, guys, just finished listening
to the story on crack cocaine. It reminded me of
a story of a crack baby. For many years ago,
it's around two thousand one. I was doing volunteer work
at the local children's hospital in the neonatal I see
you holding babies. Um. I came in one day and
(31:53):
one of the nurses told me to go hold this
one particular baby. She told me it was a crack baby.
That had been crying NonStop for three days and head
and left, so I washed up. I went to go
hold this baby, held the baby in my arms and
just looked at the baby, and the baby was crying,
eyes closed, NonStop, just crying, crying, crying, crying. After several minutes,
the baby's eyes opened a little bit and then closed again,
(32:16):
would keep crying, tears are flowing the whole time. After
several minutes of that, her eyes would remain open longer
and longer, but the baby was still crying and the
tears were still flowing. After several more minutes, the baby's
eyes stayed open, looking at me, crying a little bit less.
The baby started crying less and less and less, then
(32:37):
after several minutes was smiling, giggling and cooing and making
all those nice happy baby noises. After several more minutes
of that, the baby's eyes started to close, and soon
she was asleep, sleeping for the first time in three days.
It was a wonderful experience that I will remember forever.
Jim from Austin, Texas. That's pretty pretty cool. He code
(33:01):
the crack baby to sleep soothed. He's a sooth sayer.
He's a soothe coore mere to go. Jim. Yeah uh,
and now he brings it Christmas presents every year. That
would be a great story. Do it, Jim. Uh. If
you have something to tell us that you've done based
(33:21):
on something we've talked about, I would say that's that
Jim story falls under that umbrella, wouldn't you. Yeah, we
want to hear about it. Basically, just let us have
it on Twitter at s y s K. Podcast on
Facebook dot com slash Stuff you Should Know, or you
can send us an email to stuff podcast at how
stuff Works dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a
(33:45):
production of iHeart Radios. How Stuff Works. For more podcasts
for my Heart Radio becausit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hello friends. I hope you're having a creepy Saturday afternoon
or morning or night. I would recommend saving this stuff
he should Know select episode until tonight, when you can
break out your Wegia board and learn about Weiga as
you play Wegia and realize that we Jia is just
bunk and completely made up. From October two, how Wegia
(00:23):
boards work? Right here, right now, Welcome to Stuff you
Should Know, a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey,
and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant, Jerry's kind of here. Uh, and this is
(00:47):
Stuff you should Know. Yeah, this is the last podcast, Uh,
these two today that we're recording in the infamous murder room.
Oh yeah, it's right, yeah, murder room. Yeah, we're moving offices,
and what better thing to do than to have a seance,
which we're going to conduct after this episode records. Didn't
(01:10):
you didn't don't know me about this first? Yeah, we're
having a seance, buddy, I don't know about that. We're
gonna get down, We're gonna get down the brass tacks
and answer all the unknown questions. Well, you know, I'll
tell you what. I will have a seance with you
using a Weiji board, because now I know how they work,
and I'm not quite as scared of them as I
used to be saying after I saw The Exorcist. Yeah,
Sai or we I say Wegi. Yeah, I kind of
(01:33):
do too, although I think it's probably Wegia right, not
to be confused with the crimes photographer Weig. We're talking
about the board. Although yeah, I think some people say
we Ja. Yeah. I just think it's interesting. I said
Wegi since I was a kid. Yeah, I mean too,
But I also say reci cup instead of reesis because
Umi does too. You mean sister do Yeah, And I'm like, no,
it's Reese's. They're like, no, it's Rec's. Yeah. Well I
(01:56):
don't even say Rec's. I'd just say a reci cup.
I think they. I think I do too. People in
their quirks, Yeah, foibles, I say foibles. Uh. Yeah. You
should hear him sing that potato Potato song everybody, Yeah,
which apparently I got snookered on that. By the way.
That's an old, an old bit. So I was snookered
(02:19):
by an urban legend. What the whole potato Potato song
where I say, like, yeah, a friend of mine's friend
auditioned with this piece and sang it wrong. You thought
it was for real? Yeah, of course I did. I've
never heard that before. It's very funny. Yeah. Had you
heard that, um now, because you would have stopped me.
I know I have heard it before, but it wasn't
(02:39):
too long ago. Was it from my mouth? Maybe? But
I didn't think like that it was. It actually happened.
I think anyway, we gi su every day, we gi board. Yes, um,
and I mentioned exorcists already. You saw that, right, of
course A bunch of times enough. Here is a trivia
(03:00):
question for you. What is the name of the spirit
Reagan communicates with? I didn't even have to look this up?
Uh through her wigi board. Geez, I don't remember Captain Howdy?
Shut up? No, do you remember? Now? Captain Howdy was
who she's talking with? Who is the devil? I guess
that was one of his aliases. I wonder if he
(03:22):
has like a devil passport that says Captain Howdy on
Devil Satan Lucifer Captain. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's true.
That makes it a little less frightening. So um what
was that the early seventies that Exorcist came out, right,
I think so okay um and the Wigi board, the
one she was playing with, I believe was a Parker
(03:43):
Brothers BIGI board was it now has bro um And
that was this mass manufactured, mass marketed toy game. But
it was actually based on like a real phenomenon that
we've talked about here on this show, before the um
spiritualism movement of the nineteenth century. The Luigi board first
(04:05):
made its appearance around then. Supposedly they claim providence for
this way further back than that, but there's no real
evidence that the Ouiji board itself is any older than
the mid nineteenth century, and that it's American in origin. Yeah,
the actual Wijia brand board is what you're talking about,
right right, or talking boards in general, which is another
(04:28):
name for like a Wigi board as a talking board.
But not all talking boards are Wigi boards, that's right.
So you're saying there's no evidence that they existed before,
like in the eight hundreds before that, before that, no,
there there people did use divination. There is a pretty
good source. A fourth century BC Greek scholar who wrote
(04:48):
a history um, who talks about a pair of men
who were killed for dividor for using divination. But they
used a pendulum and a disc with the alphabet round
it to spell out a message. So there were divinations
people did use um like style. Yeah, I don't know
(05:09):
if they use the plan chet. But the Luiji board itself,
despite being marketed for many years, is something from Egyptian antiquity,
is probably something no or that was created no earlier
in the mid nineteenth century in the States. Well one
is uh. An attorney name Alijaban patented what was called
(05:29):
the Wigia Egyptian luck board. Um. And it's important to
point out when when these things are marketed, they when
you read the fine print, they never claim to be
able to, you know, talk with the spirits. It's like
just sort of it's a game, right, it's a game now,
And it was once it became mass marketed, they started
(05:50):
the Yeah. But in eight one it was part of
this larger offshoot of spiritualism. Yeah, and we talked a
bit about egypt pology and it sort of all ties
in seances were big. You remember, they cracked the hieroglyphic
code from the Rosetta stone just a couple of decades before,
so Egypt was like this weird place with all sorts
(06:12):
of strange cults and rituals. Yeah, and it's just it's
strange to me that something like the occult, even on
a minor level, sort of took hold in the United
States at one point. Uh. And I don't know how
if it was accepted by the masses, but like you know,
regular people and noteworthy people would hold seances and try
to communicate with their dead relatives, usually through a medium
(06:34):
who was usually female. Right, you know there weren't a
lot of dudes doing it. Uh. No, there are a
lot of dudes who were involved in it, but the
mediums were typically female, and a lot of them used
things that were like the Luigi board talking boards. Yeah,
like they you mentioned the dial plate, which was a
spinning wheel with letters and numbers, and the alphabet board,
(06:57):
which was sort of like a wigia board, but um,
you just pointed to different letters and waited for a
response from the great beyond. Some had a little pencil
that would like actually write things out right, that used
the plan chet, which is French for a little plank,
which is a little uh, a little board or something
maybe like a circular disc on three legs, and then
(07:18):
one of the legs for a writing plan chet. Um
was basically a hole with a pencil going through it,
so that when the plan chet moved using the medium's hands,
but the spirit was really in control, the pencil would
write something hopefully. Uh So, back to the Wiji Board,
the official game version. Over about seventy years, it changed
(07:41):
ownership a few times, eventually landing at Parker Brothers, which
is now has Bro. Like you pointed out right, Ali
Jaban the guy who um, he didn't come up with
the first Weigi board, but he was the first one
to make an improvement on an existing patent and um,
the Wiji board, as we understand it, that was his
how we see it now, and he actually went off
after he sold the rights to it to a guy
(08:03):
named um Charles Knard. Uh Elijah Bond went off and
created a rival version that had a huge swastika on
It didn't perform so well. Uh no, it did at first,
because we're talking seven did you have that association was
still like a mystical symbol, but it was made by
the Swastika Novelty Company in West Virginia that he founded
(08:25):
to produce this rival board, and it's considered his other
Luigi board. That's pretty funny, isn't that weird? Yeah? My friend,
my friend Jesse Char the other day tweeted something funny
about design. I think it was something likeent of design
is trying to make something not look like a swastika
or a penis. I thought that was pretty good. Did
(08:46):
she make that up or have you heard that? I
have not heard of that, alright, so I'm giving credit
to Jesse Char, so um, chuck. The point is the
Wuiji board took this, this thing that was being used
by mediums as part of a very serious spiritualism movement,
and said, hey, you don't need um, this crazy old
(09:08):
lady to contact your dead uncle. Now you can buy
one and do it in your own home over cocktails exactly. Um.
And a lot of people took it like that from
the get go. I think some people probably purchased Wiji
boards seriously, but I think from from the outset it
was a part of a party. It was a conversation starter,
(09:28):
something that that you just did socially too for fun,
for sure. I think that there was always a large
segment of the Ouiji board buying population that just took
it as as entertainment. Yeah, exactly, which it's probably how
you should take it. Uh. From Kennard, he had an
employee named William Fold nephew L D who Uh, who
(09:50):
basically took it over to the point where he even
stamped his name inventor on the back of it, even
though he wasn't. And he's credited as being sort of
the father of the Luigia board because he's the one
that really ran with it in a marketing sense and
brought it to the masses and uh would do all
the press for it. Um. He claimed that the French
(10:10):
and German words for yes, we and yah is where
the name comes from, even though that's not true. Well,
even before that, Charles Kennard said that, Um, he came
up with the name by asking the board itself what
it was called. And it's spelled out oh U I
j A, And he asked it what it meant, and
the board told him it was Egyptian for good luck.
So that was the story. And then yeah, I guess
(10:32):
Fold was like it means yes and yes, yes and
yes pretty much in French and German. It's pretty good,
So like we said, um fold sold it to Parker Brothers,
who turned into Hasbro. And now when you buy a
Wigi brand wid you board, it's from Hasbro. Yeah. And
the article here makes a point to U two call
(10:53):
out the Catholics for um basically saying that it could
be an evil thing and not to use it. But
as a little Baptist boy, we were very much told
not to use a Wigi board. I remember specifically, um
my uncle like burning his Wija board. Yeah, did he
(11:13):
go out and buy it just so he could burn it? Friday?
We got a party going in my house. Yeah, it's
pretty funny to look back. When I was a kid,
I was like, yes, get rid of that evil thing.
Were you there when he burned it? No? I wasn't there,
but I heard about it, and that was just good
for him. That's cool. Throw throwing candy Land while you're
at it, because that game stinks. What was the Shoots
and Ladders? I never played that? I was into? Sorry,
(11:37):
remember that one? Yeah? That one made you like hate
the other people you played with though, right, didn't couldn't
you like get ahead by screwing over your fellow players?
That's I think that's why it was called sorry. Yeah.
I think like if you landed on someone, you sent
him back in the beginning and yeah, yeah, maybe I
just played with Jerk soon knows. Maybe so um so chuck.
(12:00):
The Uigi board UM. From the original Bond creation to
the one you get today from Parker Brothers, the design
of it has changed very little. Yeah, I guess we
should describe it. I mean, I assume most people have
seen one, although you know I've never used one, have you? Oh? Yeah,
when I was younger, i'd totally be into trying it out.
(12:20):
It's neat for fun, you know, it's very neat, because
I mean, the thing is just moving around the board
by itself. All right, So we will describe the board
if you have not seen it. Um. It has the
alphabet and two different arcs, has numbers below the alphabets.
It has a yes in one corner with I think
a moon, and a no in one corner with the sun.
(12:44):
And therein lie the answers. My friend. Oh, don't forget
the most important part, basically what amounts to the off button.
It's goodbye written at the bottom the number. So yeah,
it's sort of like a satanic magic eight ball kind of,
except this really works and it's not satanic, right. Um.
So the the way that you use um this talking
(13:07):
board um, which again, if you're interested in this and
you want to see some pretty cool old Buiji boards
and the Swastika board as well, UM and another one
called the Sphinx board, which I think is the coolest one.
It's from like the forties. Um. There's this awesome online
museum called the Museum of Talking Boards, and they have
histories of all this, the history of the Buiji board,
(13:29):
history of talking boards, UM, just some really great articles
and images on there. So go check that out because
it's a pretty cool website. UM. But when you're when
you're using this, um, well the instructions have stayed the
same too, not only the design but the gameplay itself.
It's just about the same as it was way back
in the nineteenth century. Right. And when you use this,
(13:51):
they say you want to have two or more people, yeah, um,
with their fingers lightly resting, just your fingertips lightly resting
on the plant chet and we should say the plant chet, um,
like the other plant chet that used a pencil to write.
It's just a little um plastic heart shape board. I
guess with three small legs, and then a circular um
(14:15):
plastic covered disc in the middle, clear plastic disc that
you look through, and the disc shows you the letter
number or word that the spirit is communicating. That's right.
When you look down through the plane chet, that's the
letter word in question. That's right. So you sit there,
you ask a question aloud. Everyone concentrates. No, no joking
(14:36):
around going on. No, even Fold himself said, you want
to make sure that the people whore at the table
are taking this seriously or else second to work right? Well,
even though it was advertised for mirthmaking, you gotta cut
the mirth down when you're actually operating the board. Take
the guy who has the lampshade on his head, he's
got to get out of that room. Uh. So, then
(14:57):
you ask a question, and then everyone watches, and the
plan Chet, as if by magic or Satan's dark powers,
moves along in either answers yes or no questions, or
spells things out. Um, you want somebody to jot down yeah, sure,
the letters or numbers as they are read out, And
(15:20):
and in the article it says ideally they spell out
words or sin it says they can the players can understand. Um,
like it would. If it's spelled out a nonsense word
like wegia, you would probably just say it's it's malfunctioning,
or you would say what does that mean, and then
it would spell out it's Egyptian for good luck, or
German and French free. Yes, I wonder if wegia boards
(15:40):
always answer the same when you ask them what wegia means.
I don't know, we should I started saying it differently
all of a sudden, down Sidewigi. I've just said wegia
a couple of times. Interesting, how do you pronounce the
thing that you clean your windshield with that is squiga
or a squeegee? Yeah, but that's s q u e
g e e eat. There's three No, I'm just kidding. Evidently,
(16:30):
it can take up to five minutes for the plan
chet to start moving, which I don't know if I
would have the patience for that, I know I might
start moving it on my own. Oh yeah, you know,
well then you would be the life of the party,
especially if you said, like, I'm being contacted by the spirits. Right,
if after five minutes you don't get any movement from
(16:51):
the plane chet, you want to either ask the question
again or ask another question. Um. And there's some there's
some tips for using your Wiji board to mat maximum capacity. Um.
One of them is concentration. Again they do with the
Lambshade needs to go sit in the living room, watch
TV or something while everybody else is doing this. Um,
(17:12):
you want to turn down the lights, maybe, burn some candles,
burn some in incense, turn off that smartphone and the TV. Maybe. Yeah,
and uh, you really want to concentrate. And when you
ask questions, you want to ask them slowly, clearly, simple questions. Um.
And you want to ask them one at a time
and wait for the answer the response before you ask
(17:34):
the next question. Yeah. And they also recommend that you
avoid um scary questions because that could lead you down
a dark path, my friend, and always above all else
in the game by saying goodbye, because if you leave
that portal open to the great beyond, the bad people
(17:54):
might come in through that portal and find you and
kill you. Ask Reagan from the Exorcists, right, things can
go pretty badly. So you want to end each session
with the plan chet over goodbye and then breathe a
sigh of relief exactly. Um. And apparently if this doesn't
work the first time you do it, you shouldn't be frustrated.
In fact, the Museum of Talking Boards has a regiment
(18:17):
that they prescribe um thirty minutes of practice every day
for two weeks, and apparently you'll open your chakras or
something and all of a sudden you will be speaking
through the Wiji board, or the spirits will be speaking
through you go through the Weigi board. Is that before
after the opium regimen that they advise. I think the
(18:43):
Museum of Talking Boards is um. They're more historical. They're
more interested in the history background of the whole thing.
So let's talk about this for a minute. People sit down.
They put their fingertips on this thing. The plan chet moves,
I mean moves like we're not making this up. Like
if you've never messed with a Wigi board before, like
(19:04):
give it a shot with another friend, and like the
chances are the things going to just start moving by itself.
It's eerie, especially when you're younger. Now see, I've never
done it. I explained this to me. What do you mean?
I will show you so, um, I get it. But
the thing, this, this plan chett is very light plastic.
The feet might even have felt on him or something
(19:27):
like that. It's designed to move very easily forward. No,
I think original Planchet's headcast um. But you're just basically
you're you're being pulled around the table, so you actually
want to be in a comfortable position because your fingertips
are just sitting on this thing. And then when you
ask a question after a while, it'll move. I've never
(19:48):
seen one move fast, but it just moves kind of slow.
But I mean, there's no question about you're not thinking.
Isn't moving Like it's moving over to a letter and
then it's moving over to another letter and then it's
selling something out. But you are moving it. No, you're
not in your head. Here here's the thing, like, let's
get to the science of this. You are in fact
(20:09):
moving it and there, but you are not conscious of
moving it, which is the awesome part of it. It's
this thing called idio motion. Yeah, which is someone pronounce
ideo and I didn't know if they were just being
fancy or not. It can go either way ideo idio motion,
but the the it is an actual involuntary motion. It's
(20:31):
one of the types of involuntary motion of which human
beings are capable thanks to our muscles and neurons. Yeah.
It was coined by due named William Carpenter in two
to explain dawsing rods, which is the same kind of
you know thing basically, Yeah, dawsing rods pendulums um idiomotion
is where thought proceeds precedes movement, and the other part
(20:56):
of it is that we're unaware of that movement. Yeah,
it's movement without owning that basically. So when you apply
that to we Ji boards, you have what's called the
ideo motor effect, where you your thought is placed in
the form of a question to Theuiji board, and then
the movement, the unconscious movement. You're not aware that you're moving,
(21:17):
UM moves to answer that question. So if you're thinking yes, like,
am I speaking with uh, you know, great uncle Charlie. Yes,
and you really want to and you're you're thinking, yeah, man,
I hope he's there. So you're unconscious or subconscious? Which
is it? I would guess unconscious. I think it's unfashionable
to use subconsciousness. UM. It would move it to the yes,
(21:42):
but you wouldn't realize. You would think it was just
moving and and that that's where the weji board fund
comes from chuck like you don't realize you're moving it,
like you you have no sensation of movement. And like
you said, this is this idea. Motion is a um,
it's it's we've understood it for a while since early
eight hundreds. And even Fold himself in one of his
(22:05):
patents said, and I think explained that it was moved
by unconscious muscular movement of the prayers. And back in
the eighteen hundreds, this guy named Anton Chevrel Chevroule chavrell
he Um basically proved this using a pendulum on a string. Yeah,
and it's um. You've probably long heard about the the
(22:26):
old wives tale. If you want to find out what
your baby's gender, you hold um like a ring on
a string over the ballet and wait for it to move.
And if it moves back and forth, it's a boy.
That's circular, it's a girl. Um. And it's the same.
Basic thing is is the chevrol pendulum. Basically, it's just
ideo motion. In effect, you are unconsciously swinging the string. Yeah,
(22:51):
and whichever way you probably desire exactly. That's what makes
it so fascinating, is what you're really seeing is the
unconscious telegraphing supposed to of the mother's wishes of what
gender she would like, because she's in fact controlling it,
but she's her muscles are moving so minutely that she's
(23:12):
not aware of the movement. But since the pendulum is
on the string, it really kind of really telegrash these
very very tiny movements and then inertia takes over and
it really starts going. So it just seems amazing because
the hands not moving, but the ring is going crazy.
It's going crazy. Uh, this is the same. If you
(23:33):
ever heard of facilitated communication, it's pretty controversial. Um, you've
probably seen it on the news. It's when basically a
caregiver will guide the fingers of someone who's severely disabled
over a typewriter, typewriter, a typing machine, over a keyboard
to a computer. Uh, to supposedly get answers or communicate. Um.
(23:57):
And it's very controversial. It's art it out in nineteen
seventy seven in Australia, this lady named Rosemary Crossley. Um.
But the American Psychology Association basically says it's not scientifically valid.
These are people that are just what facilitating communication. Yeah,
that they're the caregiver is really guiding this conversation and
(24:18):
it's really not coming from the person that's disabled. Right.
The thing is is what makes this so tragic and
sad is that the caregiver isn't aware that they're actually
making these movements. Again, all of this is unconscious. You
can't tell you're making this movement. And so since the
profoundly handicapped person is moving their hand, the caregiver thinks
(24:41):
that it's them. It's the it's the handicapped person. It's
not like they're trying to snow somebody exactly. They and
they may even really really want this person to communicate
and say these things. Yeah, they're still studying at Syracuse
University actually has UM since nineteen ninety two is the
FC Institute now it's the Institute on Communication and Inclusion
and are still studying it. And you know the controversy
(25:03):
as usuals between the skeptics and the believers. Yeah, well
that's that's the thing. If you want to see who
who believes in the idea motor effect to type that
into Google, it's all like skeptics Dictionary, skeptics, skeptic, Like
every entry is skeptic. But if you type in IDEO
emotion you get um, you know, peer reviewed scientific literature
(25:25):
on that. It's just the IDEO motor effect is basically
taking the proven idea emotion and applying it to debunk
things like Wuiji boards. Uh. They did a study in
the University of British Columbia just last year and UM,
basically they said it's strongest when they are multiple people
(25:47):
on the plan chet And they tested this by blindfolding
people saying you've got someone else on the board with you,
and when in fact there was no one else on
the board, the person would still say it was the
other person moving it, right. They would say there was
no other person, right, And then they say, well, then
it was the spirits moving it. I guess that's funny
that no one says it's the spirits moving into That's
(26:08):
always the other person who's moving in. That's a pretty um,
pretty common trade of any wigiboard game. That you're sitting
there going like you're moving it. No, you're moving it. No,
I'm really not moving it's that And then uh, with
two people working in tandem, you have two sets of
(26:29):
muscles moving unconsciously, but you know, making a movement. Um,
you have one person relinquishing responsibility because they think it's
the other person, which they think freeze the muscles to
move even more strongly because you're saying, it's not me,
it's the other person. Um. And if they both have
(26:53):
a common goal, then the planchet will move even more
um brisk glee. I guess like if both girls are like,
it's gonna move to be R A D, then you
know that plan chet's gonna move to those letters in
that order. But they're both going to be like, I'm
not moving. Uh well, hold on, before we get into
(27:14):
any real life stories, you want to do a message break? Yes, okay,
(27:39):
and we're back. So should we talk about a couple
of these stories? Um uigia are they real? Are they
not stories? Sure? The Herds of Kansas City, Yeah, this
is pretty crazy. Herbert Heard killed his wife Nellie, shot
her in the back four times. Um, and you would
(28:01):
think what a jerk. But what happened was there they
were elderly, they were in their seventies. Um. They played
with the Wigia board one night and um Nellie claimed
that she received a message saying her husband was stepping
out on her, so gave like fred dollars to the
other lady emon that's probably like their life savings. Um,
(28:26):
And so what happened was Nellie tortured him, tied him
to a bed post, whipped him with a knotted rope,
burned him with a red hot poker, stabbed a knife
into his shins, and forced a confession by holding a
gun to his head. And eventually she left the gun
on the bedside table there. Herbert got ahold of it
and killed her. And UM, can't really blame Herbert. And
(28:49):
apparently the courts did not h what else you got
any other ones? Uh? Yeah, there's a m It was
called an Italian enclave in El Cerrito, California. The Italian
community there apparently experienced a wave of mass hysteria that
landed several people in uh an asylum because of Wiji
(29:10):
board use. When the town went Wijia crazy. Yeah, one
policeman like tore off his clothes and ran into a bank.
And um, there's a lot of craziness that happened. It
was just massissia, I guess, and the town was like,
you know what, no more Weiji boards. And finally, in
British authors sax Rohmer supposedly came up with his villain
(29:35):
Dr Fu Manchu when his Wigia board spelled out Chinaman.
So um his Wigia board was racist? Yeah, and uh
you know he says, that's where it came from. So
here's the thing. If you ever want to test whether
Wiji boards are the result of idea motion and the
(29:58):
players actually moving it or not, go to the good
Will and buy one for three dollars and then and
then do this very very simple test. You blindfold the players.
You turn the board ninety degrees so that anybody who's
memorized the layout of a Weiji board can't cheat it right,
and then ask them some questions and you're not going
to get any kind of sensible answer. And if you do,
(30:21):
then you need to trade carefully because you just unlike
the gate to the spirit world, don't forget to tell
it goodbye, to steal off that gate. I always remember
put it on goodbye, folks. So do you hear anything else?
I got nothing else. I feel like here in my forties,
after knowing now that they're not evil tools of Satan,
(30:42):
then I would like to try it out sometime on
a on a Friday night with good friends. Yeah, we'll
play a little cards against Humanity. We'll play some weigia
and then risk and risk to wind it all out
with a big bang. Um, invite me over. Okay, so uh,
if you want to learn more about weigia, weigi that
(31:05):
kind of thing, you can again go check out the
Museum of Talking Boards. It's pretty sweet. And also you
should read this article on how stuff works dot com.
Type O U I j A into the handy search
bar and we'll bring up this article. And since I said, UM,
search bar in there somewhere, I think it's time for
listener mail, I'm gonna call this crack baby. Jeez. We
(31:31):
we got some good response on the old crack episode,
which is a good one. I thought, yeah, I thought
so too, killing it lately. Hey, guys, just finished listening
to the story on crack cocaine. It reminded me of
a story of a crack baby. For many years ago,
it's around two thousand one. I was doing volunteer work
at the local children's hospital in the neonatal I see
you holding babies. Um. I came in one day and
(31:53):
one of the nurses told me to go hold this
one particular baby. She told me it was a crack baby.
That had been crying NonStop for three days and head
and left, so I washed up. I went to go
hold this baby, held the baby in my arms and
just looked at the baby, and the baby was crying,
eyes closed, NonStop, just crying, crying, crying, crying. After several minutes,
the baby's eyes opened a little bit and then closed again,
(32:16):
would keep crying, tears are flowing the whole time. After
several minutes of that, her eyes would remain open longer
and longer, but the baby was still crying and the
tears were still flowing. After several more minutes, the baby's
eyes stayed open, looking at me, crying a little bit less.
The baby started crying less and less and less, then
(32:37):
after several minutes was smiling, giggling and cooing and making
all those nice happy baby noises. After several more minutes
of that, the baby's eyes started to close, and soon
she was asleep, sleeping for the first time in three days.
It was a wonderful experience that I will remember forever.
Jim from Austin, Texas. That's pretty pretty cool. He code
(33:01):
the crack baby to sleep soothed. He's a sooth sayer.
He's a soothe coore mere to go. Jim. Yeah uh,
and now he brings it Christmas presents every year. That
would be a great story. Do it, Jim. Uh. If
you have something to tell us that you've done based
(33:21):
on something we've talked about, I would say that's that
Jim story falls under that umbrella, wouldn't you. Yeah, we
want to hear about it. Basically, just let us have
it on Twitter at s y s K. Podcast on
Facebook dot com slash Stuff you Should Know, or you
can send us an email to stuff podcast at how
stuff Works dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a
(33:45):
production of iHeart Radios. How Stuff Works. For more podcasts
for my Heart Radio becausit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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