October 26, 2023 • 34 mins
Everyone has at least heard of Ouija boards at one point. Mysterious, fun, eerie, dangerous, fake... most people have a strong feeling one way or the other regarding this game you can find at your local Target. But what is it about this simple game that has us spooked? How did it get its name? How is it tied to Colorado's history? In this episode, we answer all of these questions WITHOUT having to contact "the other side."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Faith is the peerless bridge, supportingwhat we see and to the scene that
we do, not to slender forthe eye. It bears the soul as
bold as it were, rocked insteel, with arms of steel at either
side. It joins behind the veilto what could we presume the bridge would
(00:27):
cease to be, to our farvacillating feet A first necessity. Faith is
the Peerless Bridge by Emily Dickinson.If you've ever visited Colorado, or if
(00:49):
you're lucky enough to live here,then you know it's an outdoor enthusiast's playground,
hiking, biking, skiing. Thelist goes on and on another side
to the centennial state that most peoplewill never see. It's a side that's
a little darker, a little moresinister, and a little bit strange.
(01:11):
Welcome to Strange Colorado. When thisepisode comes out, Halloween will be happening
in less than one week. That'sright, my spooky friends. This is
(01:34):
our time of year, so Ihope you're soaking it in and loving every
minute of it just like I am. And in honor of that whole fall
Halloween spooky season vibe, I foundanother fun, interesting tidbit of history that
has very strong eerie other round tieins that fits perfectly with this, But
(02:00):
what is it about this season inparticular that just sort of sends a shiver
down your spine, makes you wantto wear a big thick sweater and just
sort of bundle up and stay safeinside watching a Harry Potter marathon. Well,
(02:21):
the origins of Halloween and that feelingof change and the oncoming darkness of
winter goes back thousands of years.If you know your Halloween history, then
you probably are already aware that initiallythe holiday was known as sam Hayne as
(02:46):
some pronounce it, but original pronunciationwas actually Sowin, and this originates from
the Celtic Pagans pre Christian era,which encompasses the air of Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, that sort of region ofthe world, which is pretty funny
(03:07):
to me because that's most of myDNA markers and it explains a lot.
When you know, all those videosabout basic fall girls come out, it's
not just us being basic, it'sliterally in our DNA. Okay, maybe
not, but it makes me feelbetter about it anyways. So Sourin,
(03:31):
as I was saying, or Halloweenas we now call it, was originally
a time of year thousands of yearsago in this area of the world where
people began to understand that nature wastucking itself away for the winter. The
trees were starting to drop their leaves, the crops were dying, it was
(03:52):
getting colder, it was time toput up food and prepare for the long,
dark, cold winter ahead, Andas everything around them was sort of
in a state of death and decay. Even though we think the leaves are
beautiful when they're dying, people beganto believe that this meant, because all
(04:13):
of nature was going through this transformation, that the veil, or the divider
between our world and the spirit realm, was very thin, which makes sense
if you are thinking along those linesof so much of the natural world dying
during this time and passing over.It's a huge rush from one side to
(04:38):
the other, so it does makesense that if there is a veil,
it would be a little bit easierto access during this time of year,
which meant to them that if theyhad any recently deceased loved ones, they
believed that these loved ones were stillclose enough to that veil, having recently
(04:58):
passed on, that they would stillbe able to cross back over and visit
their living relatives. So on thenight of Salen, many of these ancient
people would leave food and trinkets outin their homes and on their properties just
(05:19):
in case their friends and relatives whohad passed decided to return they could partake
in the fall festivities and enjoy alittle bit of liveliness in their after life.
It was all about honoring and rememberingtheir dead and celebrating death and life
(05:44):
and the link between the two andthe cycle, which we're really terrified of
now today in our current society becauseit's hidden from us so much of the
time. But back then it wasjust another Tuesday. They saw this stuff
all the time, so celebrating deathwasn't a scary prospect for them. As
(06:04):
these traditions grew and expanded over theyears, people would gather together to celebrate
this holiday, and they would dothings like light large bonfires and invite all
of their friends and family to comeand celebrate the thinning of the veil and
the visiting of their dead loved ones. These bonfires often represented the warmth and
(06:31):
vibrancy and light of the bright summersun during the summer months, and when
these bonfires were ending, people wouldtake a bit of the fire home with
them to light their hearts, andmore and more games began to pop up
in these celebrations as they really startedto embrace the fun side of getting ready
(06:57):
for winter. This is where weget trick or treating from the origins of
going door to door and getting candyfrom people, which is maybe one of
the best parts of Halloween, comesfrom the game these ancient people used to
play when they too would go fromhouse to house dressed up as the mischievous
(07:18):
spirits that they believed were also ableto access the land of the living during
this time. If the veil isthin, it's not just loved ones that
are coming through, it's the littlenasty bits as well. So they would
dress up as these mischievous spirits fromtheir histories and their lore, and they
(07:39):
would go from door to door askingfor food because remember they left food out
for the spirits who decided to visittheir homes during this time. So it
was a great way to get afree snack and to have a little bit
of fun. But of course,street lights weren't a thing hundreds and thousand
years ago, so they would useturnips that they had carved with a candle
(08:05):
inside to light their way. Thesewere called mangle wurzels, and these were
their lanterns. Once these people beganto immigrate to the American colonies way back
in the day, they brought allof their customs with them. Of course,
as so many cultures have, andbeat roots weren't exactly in abundance,
(08:30):
but they did have access to theeven larger and easier to carve pumpkins.
So if you had a pumpkin carvedand set out on your doorstep, people
knew you knew about Halloween, wereparticipating, and that you were handing out
goodies for the evening. And thetraditions continue and people still dress up,
(08:54):
but the mischievous spirit costumes now looka little more like I would imagine this
year Barbie and Ken. Now,why am I talking about the origins of
Halloween. Well, because what we'regoing to talk about today has everything to
do with the thinning of the veiland contacting those on the other side.
(09:20):
This is not a new concept,as I've just demonstrated, and even before
Sowyn sam Hayn Halloween, all ofthese things for millennia, people have been
attempting to connect with the spirit worldin some form or another. Every culture
in every region of the world hassimilar beliefs in the other side, And
(09:43):
when you are thinking about contacting theother side and why people would want to
do that, it really shouldn't takeyou too long to puzzle out that.
Generally, when people are attempting torea through the veil to contact someone,
they're driven by grief. And atno other time in our history was grief
(10:11):
more prevalent in our society here inAmerica than during our major wars, the
first one, most especially being theCivil War. We're going back to eighteen
sixties. The fighting is way moreintense. Conditions are horrific for everybody involved.
(10:33):
Soldiers as young as ten are beingshipped off to god knows where to
fight hand to hand combat while cannonballsare blowing men to bits all around them.
It's almost hard to even wrap yourhead around a reality like that,
what it would have been like forthese men and children. But the other
(10:56):
side of this situation are those thatthey left behind at home, mothers,
daughters, wives, girlfriends, youname it. Generally speaking, women who
were left behind often never saw orheard from their soldier ever, again,
(11:18):
there were not dog tags during thistime. There was no formal notification system
through the Union or the Confederate Armiesfor how to get word to a family
that they had lost their loved one. Death tolls and battles were so high
that bodies would lay out for months, just rotting away in fields, no
(11:41):
way to identify them, and bythe time whoever it was got around to
disposing of the remains, they wereusually just skeletal. That sort of grief
and feeling of not knowing what happenedto your husband or your son I can't
even imagine. So it makes sensethat this is the first time we really
(12:09):
see a surge of spiritualism sweeping throughAmerican culture. People wanted answers, They
wanted to know if their loved oneswere dead, and they wanted to know
that they were okay wherever they were. Mediums became very popular during this time,
(12:30):
people who claimed to be able totalk to those on the other side,
who could channel whichever spirit it wasthat someone was looking for. They
started earning themselves big reputations and lotsof money, and yes, many of
them took advantage of the horrible griefpeople were dealing with to turn a buck.
(12:52):
I'm sure they got their come upand in the end, at least
I hope they did. But thesemediums would often have tools that they would
use, such as tarot cards,crystal balls, divining rods, whatever it
was that they believed would help themchannel the energy to contact the spiritual world.
(13:13):
This is when we first begin tosee the popularity of things called talking
boards really taking off. Now,what is a talking board, Well,
a talking board is a form ofautomatic writing. What's automatic writing? Automatic
writing is a way of communicating withthe spiritual world where basically a medium or
(13:39):
a sensitive person sort of shuts downtheir own thoughts and motivations and gives their
body over to whatever spirit it isthat they are trying to connect with and
allows that spirit to communicate with themthrough the written word. Some people have
(14:00):
done this with just a pen anda paper, where they just kind of
began moving their hand and suddenly wordsform, while others began to use talking
boards, which were boards that usuallyhad some type of an alphabet laid out
on it with words like yes andno. And they would use a plan
(14:22):
chet, which is a small pieceof wood or glass, whatever it was
that would slide easily over the surfaceof the board with minimal contact from the
hands guiding it or not guiding it. The hands that were placed on it,
they're not supposed to be guiding itwhile that does happen. So essentially,
(14:46):
everybody sits around in a seance setting, places their hands on the plan
chet, asks questions, and theplanchet, using the energy of those participating
in the seance who are touching theplant, should move around to different letters
and be able to spell out coherentwords, answering questions and engaging in a
(15:09):
conversation. I mean, you're gettingto have a conversation with someone who is
deceased. This was a very easyway to communicate with the spiritual realm,
and like I said, it becamereally really popular during this era. Now,
with most things that become popular,people figure out how to make money
(15:31):
off of it very quickly, andtalking boards were no different. Now.
Between the Civil War and World WarOne, even though things might have calmed
down a bit, it definitely didn'tdie off. We're still talking about pre
twentieth century America, which wasn't allthat friendly. I mean, if we've
(15:54):
heard it once, we've heard ita thousand times on this podcast. People
died at the drop of hat.Back then, I mean they were prescribing
opioids and arsenic to people who weresick, and lead was in everything,
so death and loss was still athing many people dealt with on the regular,
(16:15):
which means so was grief. Enterthe talking board we know today as
the Ouiji board. Now, duringthis era, it was only known as
a talking board. Yes, peopleused it for seances, but it was
actually sort of a parlor game aswell. It was something for people to
do at parties, which is prettyfunny if you think about it, because
(16:37):
it still is. It's a sleepoverstaple. This version of the more modern
talking board was a little more streamlined. It had the alphabet in two arching
rows across the middle of the board, with a yes in one corner,
a no in another, and goodbyeat the bottom, as well as a
(17:00):
row of numbers. And then there'salso the essential piece, which is the
plan chet. The plan chet issort of the focus of all of the
energy surrounding the use of this board. It's generally shaped like a triangle or
a heart, something pointed right sothat there's a point to the plan chet
(17:25):
that is used to point to specificletters, words, and numbers on the
board so that there is no confusionabout whatever word is being spelled. There
are also very important rules for usinga Wiji board, and yes this is
in every horror movie that they've madesurrounding these boards, but they hold true.
(17:49):
Number one, never use a Wigiboard alone. Number two, you
always have to close the board whenyou're done using it. That means saying
goodbye to whoever or whatever you've beenspeaking with. Don't just set the board
(18:12):
aside and walk away mid conversation,because basically you're leaving an open portal to
the other realm in your living room. And after you say goodbye, put
that sucker back in the box.When you are done done with the board,
(18:33):
it has to be disposed of properly. Of course, not everybody believes
in this stuff, but on theoff chance that it might be real,
it doesn't hurt to cover your basesif you're going to use one of these
things. So there you go.There is the basic setup for the Wiji
board as it was back in theturn of the twentieth century. Times nineteen
(18:59):
h under dish and now enters thestar players in today's story a man named
Charles Canard and another man named ElijahBond. These two set out to patent
the board for themselves, or atleast a version of the board. Now,
it really seems like even though thesetwo were businessmen, at least according
(19:23):
to the stories, they believed inthe powers of the talking board. They
believed it worked, and they believedit would sell because it worked. They
respected the board and sort of cameup with their own design, which is
the one that I just described theclassic when you think of Auiji board,
(19:44):
that's what they came up with thelayout. But when they were thinking about
what to call this board, theythought about maybe using their own last names.
They went down a whole long listof things, and they just couldn't
settle on something that felt right.So Elijah Bond called in his sister in
(20:07):
law. His sister in law wasa woman named Helen Peters Noseworthy. At
this time in nineteen hundred, Helenwas living with her husband Ernest in Denver,
where they had moved from the Southin eighteen ninety six. Helen was
about forty years old at this time, and she was really well known for
(20:29):
being a successful, powerful medium.Who better to help name this board than
someone who's already plugged in to theother side. So Elijah and Charles invited
Helen over to host a seance withthem to ask the board itself what it
wanted to be called. So,even though we're talking about nineteen hundred and
(20:56):
even though some of the spiritualist movementhad died off thanks to the efforts of
men like Harry Houdini who worked veryhard to shine a light on all of
the false prophets so to speak,and the fake mediums who were stealing money
from people who were in the depthsof their grief, there were still those
(21:18):
who held strongly to the belief thatspiritualism as a religion was a good godly
practice that also allowed them to stayin touch with deceased loved ones. And
Helen was someone that everybody knew wasable to practice this successfully. And this
(21:40):
could definitely be because her upbringing wasmore than just a little bit spooky,
at least in my opinion. Yousee, Helen came from a very wealthy
and established Southern family. So whenshe was a child during the Civil War
or a young girl teenager, therehad been a battle that was on her
(22:03):
family's property and afterwards there were deceasedsoldiers all over the place, all around
their home. Helen and her siblingsventured outside and started poking around these corpses.
They decided that they wanted some mementosfrom the dead men, and so
(22:26):
they cut off all the buttons fromtheir clothes and brought them back home as
a collection. I know times weredifferent back then, but that's that's morbid.
So Helen always kind of had amacabre, eerie side to her,
(22:47):
and spiritualism fit right in with that. So Helen, Charles, and Elijah
sat down with the board one evening. They all placed their hands on the
plan chet and Helen began to leadthe seance to ask the board what its
name was. Helen asked several timesfor the board to spell out its name,
(23:11):
and every single time she asked,the plan chet would move from one
letter to the next, repeatedly spellingout a single word, Oh you I
j a ouija. Finally sure thatthe board meant what it was spelling,
(23:33):
as it happened multiple times, themen asked the board what the word meant.
It then spelled out good luck,whether that was a well wishing for
them or a more ominous message forso many people messing in other worldly matters
(23:55):
we don't really know. Interestingly,though, throughout this seance, Helen happened
to be wearing a locket containing apicture of her favorite novelist, an english
woman whose pen name was Wida,and her signature on her works looked a
(24:15):
lot like it was spelled wija.Hmm. Coincidence, I don't know,
but they ran with it and Bondand Canard applied for a patent locally in
Maryland, where they were at thetime. They were refused the patent by
(24:40):
the local patent office because the patentofficer said there wasn't really any way to
prove that the board worked, oreven really to know what it did,
so they couldn't patent it. Undeterred, Elijah and Canard then applied to Washington
for a patent. Initially they wererefused, but determined, they collected Helen
(25:08):
and traveled to the patent office inWashington and applied again in person. With
the Wija board in tow They setup shop inside the patent office, and
one patent officer after another came into assess the board to see if they
might give it a shot, andtime and time again, each patent officer
(25:30):
that they saw denied them. Thatwas until intrigued, the chief patent officer
became curious and decided to check itout for himself. He entered the area
where Helen and the men were stationedwith the wija board and told them,
quote, you don't know me andI don't know you, but if this
(25:53):
contraption can spell out my name,you've got your patent. So essentially,
he was challenging them to figure outwhat his name was because they hadn't been
introduced yet, and if they couldusing the weed aboard, he saw that
as proof of its efficacy. Couldthey have heard the Chief patent Officer's name
(26:15):
around the office as they were hangingout? Yeah, but maybe not.
As the story goes, Helen,Elijah and Charles and the patent officer placed
their hands on the plan chet,and smoothly and without hesitation, the plan
chet moved from one letter to anotheras it spelled out the man's name correctly.
(26:37):
According to reports, he abruptly stoodup from the table, as white
as a ghost, and said,you've got your patent. A grand success
for the group, and now theygot their patent. They started making money.
Things were going great, but justone year after this victory, Ellen
(27:00):
would lose faith completely in the boardshe fought so hard to get a patent
for. You see, Helen hadreturned to her family's southern home on a
visit, and as she was therethe super creepy collection of dead soldier's buttons
that her and her siblings had cutoff the clothes of the deceased men that
(27:23):
had been on their property. Theyhad actually displayed these inside their home as
like trophies, super normal right whileat home during this visit, the buttons
disappeared. And these buttons were aprized possession to Helen and her siblings,
(27:48):
so of course they wanted to knowwhat happened to them, who took them?
Where are they? Helen said,I have an idea. Let's consult
the board. The board will tellus where they are, or at least
who took them. So they agreed. They sat down to a seance and
asked the board who stole the buttons, and the board named one of the
(28:12):
siblings. Of course, there wasdenial and angry words exchanged as the one
who had been accused said that theboard was lying and that they had not
stolen the buttons. The other siblingswere angry and demanded that the buttons be
(28:32):
returned, and so a huge feudwas born between the group of siblings,
causing an actual permanent rift in thisfamily over dead soldiers buttons. Half of
the siblings believed the board and halfof the siblings did not. Interestingly enough,
(28:56):
Helen sided with the half that didnot believe the board. She was
extremely devastated over the rift in herfamily, and from that point on she
swore off the Ouigi board and shewould not allow any one of her family
members or friends to use it,telling everyone that she could that the Wuiji
(29:18):
board was to be avoided at allcosts because it lied. Whether she believed
the board had been manipulated to setup one of her family members, or
whether she believed that whatever was communicatingon the other side was deliberately trying to
cause a rift and strife within herfamily, I'm not sure, but she
(29:41):
would never again go near one.Immediately following this incident, Helen and her
husband returned to Denver. They enjoyeda quiet life far away from anything to
do with the Luigi Board, andspent forty four presumably happy years here in
(30:04):
the Denver area. In nineteen forty, Helen would pass away and be buried
next to her husband in the FairmontCemetery. They had no children together,
and due to lack of care ofthe years and no family members nearby,
their graves fell into disrepair and wereactually lost over time. That is until
(30:30):
twenty eighteen, when the efforts ofan organization known as the Talking Board Historical
Society decided they wanted to dig intothe real history of the Wiji Board,
and when they did, they discoveredHelen's story and how she had been the
one to actually give the Wijiaboard itsname. They combed through records and found
(30:56):
the site where Helen and her husband'sgraves sat in Fairmont and erected a custom
headstone. This headstone is large andunmistakable. It details her story regarding the
Wigiboard in large letters across the front. It has the title the Woman who
(31:18):
named the Wigiaboard, as well asthe picture of an actual board, and
on the back a few quotes fromthose who are around at the time and
cited Helen's instrumental involvement in the board'spatenting. So now, if you go
to Fairmont and you visit Helen andher husband's gravesite, the only thing anybody
(31:44):
is going to know her for isthe wigiboard, the one thing she wanted
nothing to do with any longer.If she's around at all to see this,
that can't be a pleasant thing forher her I wouldn't imagine, And
it would be really interesting if someonehappened to take a wija board into the
(32:09):
Fairmont Cemetery and try to ask Helenhow she felt opening up a wija board
in the Fairmont. You might geta lot of people coming through, and
I'd be surprised if Helen did.She'd probably stay as far away from that
board as she possibly could, ifshe didn't turn around and huck it right
(32:30):
at your head. If anybody triesto do that, please let me know.
I want to hear all about it. So what do you think?
Are weija boards real? Is thisgame you can pick up at your local
store in the children's section something that'sinnocuous and silly and just fun for party
(32:51):
games, or are we literally andfiguratively playing with fire here dealing with entity
and spirits that we really have noclue what they're capable of and what they
want. Is it safe to getthat close to the veil and to try
to reach through to make a connectionto something or someone on the other side,
(33:17):
whether it's real or whether it's fake. I think I'm going to air
on the safe side, take Helen'sadvice, and steer clear until next time.
Happy Halloween, and I hope thatall of your interactions with the veil
this time of year are good ones. Sources for today's episode include Fox thirty
(33:44):
one, Wikipedia Burialsanbeyond dot com,find a Grave dot com, and an
article from the University of Bristol titledThe Thin Veil of Autumn by Andy Winfield.
(34:05):
Thanks for listening, Please remember torate, review, and subscribe wherever
you listen to podcasts. You canalso find me on Facebook and Instagram at
Strange Colorado Podcast. If you havea strange story of your own or an
episode suggestion, you can reach meat Strange Colorado Podcast at gmail dot com.
Faith is the peerless bridge, supportingwhat we see and to the scene that
we do, not to slender forthe eye. It bears the soul as
bold as it were, rocked insteel, with arms of steel at either
side. It joins behind the veilto what could we presume the bridge would
(00:27):
cease to be, to our farvacillating feet A first necessity. Faith is
the Peerless Bridge by Emily Dickinson.If you've ever visited Colorado, or if
(00:49):
you're lucky enough to live here,then you know it's an outdoor enthusiast's playground,
hiking, biking, skiing. Thelist goes on and on another side
to the centennial state that most peoplewill never see. It's a side that's
a little darker, a little moresinister, and a little bit strange.
(01:11):
Welcome to Strange Colorado. When thisepisode comes out, Halloween will be happening
in less than one week. That'sright, my spooky friends. This is
(01:34):
our time of year, so Ihope you're soaking it in and loving every
minute of it just like I am. And in honor of that whole fall
Halloween spooky season vibe, I foundanother fun, interesting tidbit of history that
has very strong eerie other round tieins that fits perfectly with this, But
(02:00):
what is it about this season inparticular that just sort of sends a shiver
down your spine, makes you wantto wear a big thick sweater and just
sort of bundle up and stay safeinside watching a Harry Potter marathon. Well,
(02:21):
the origins of Halloween and that feelingof change and the oncoming darkness of
winter goes back thousands of years.If you know your Halloween history, then
you probably are already aware that initiallythe holiday was known as sam Hayne as
(02:46):
some pronounce it, but original pronunciationwas actually Sowin, and this originates from
the Celtic Pagans pre Christian era,which encompasses the air of Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, that sort of region ofthe world, which is pretty funny
(03:07):
to me because that's most of myDNA markers and it explains a lot.
When you know, all those videosabout basic fall girls come out, it's
not just us being basic, it'sliterally in our DNA. Okay, maybe
not, but it makes me feelbetter about it anyways. So Sourin,
(03:31):
as I was saying, or Halloweenas we now call it, was originally
a time of year thousands of yearsago in this area of the world where
people began to understand that nature wastucking itself away for the winter. The
trees were starting to drop their leaves, the crops were dying, it was
(03:52):
getting colder, it was time toput up food and prepare for the long,
dark, cold winter ahead, Andas everything around them was sort of
in a state of death and decay. Even though we think the leaves are
beautiful when they're dying, people beganto believe that this meant, because all
(04:13):
of nature was going through this transformation, that the veil, or the divider
between our world and the spirit realm, was very thin, which makes sense
if you are thinking along those linesof so much of the natural world dying
during this time and passing over.It's a huge rush from one side to
(04:38):
the other, so it does makesense that if there is a veil,
it would be a little bit easierto access during this time of year,
which meant to them that if theyhad any recently deceased loved ones, they
believed that these loved ones were stillclose enough to that veil, having recently
(04:58):
passed on, that they would stillbe able to cross back over and visit
their living relatives. So on thenight of Salen, many of these ancient
people would leave food and trinkets outin their homes and on their properties just
(05:19):
in case their friends and relatives whohad passed decided to return they could partake
in the fall festivities and enjoy alittle bit of liveliness in their after life.
It was all about honoring and rememberingtheir dead and celebrating death and life
(05:44):
and the link between the two andthe cycle, which we're really terrified of
now today in our current society becauseit's hidden from us so much of the
time. But back then it wasjust another Tuesday. They saw this stuff
all the time, so celebrating deathwasn't a scary prospect for them. As
(06:04):
these traditions grew and expanded over theyears, people would gather together to celebrate
this holiday, and they would dothings like light large bonfires and invite all
of their friends and family to comeand celebrate the thinning of the veil and
the visiting of their dead loved ones. These bonfires often represented the warmth and
(06:31):
vibrancy and light of the bright summersun during the summer months, and when
these bonfires were ending, people wouldtake a bit of the fire home with
them to light their hearts, andmore and more games began to pop up
in these celebrations as they really startedto embrace the fun side of getting ready
(06:57):
for winter. This is where weget trick or treating from the origins of
going door to door and getting candyfrom people, which is maybe one of
the best parts of Halloween, comesfrom the game these ancient people used to
play when they too would go fromhouse to house dressed up as the mischievous
(07:18):
spirits that they believed were also ableto access the land of the living during
this time. If the veil isthin, it's not just loved ones that
are coming through, it's the littlenasty bits as well. So they would
dress up as these mischievous spirits fromtheir histories and their lore, and they
(07:39):
would go from door to door askingfor food because remember they left food out
for the spirits who decided to visittheir homes during this time. So it
was a great way to get afree snack and to have a little bit
of fun. But of course,street lights weren't a thing hundreds and thousand
years ago, so they would useturnips that they had carved with a candle
(08:05):
inside to light their way. Thesewere called mangle wurzels, and these were
their lanterns. Once these people beganto immigrate to the American colonies way back
in the day, they brought allof their customs with them. Of course,
as so many cultures have, andbeat roots weren't exactly in abundance,
(08:30):
but they did have access to theeven larger and easier to carve pumpkins.
So if you had a pumpkin carvedand set out on your doorstep, people
knew you knew about Halloween, wereparticipating, and that you were handing out
goodies for the evening. And thetraditions continue and people still dress up,
(08:54):
but the mischievous spirit costumes now looka little more like I would imagine this
year Barbie and Ken. Now,why am I talking about the origins of
Halloween. Well, because what we'regoing to talk about today has everything to
do with the thinning of the veiland contacting those on the other side.
(09:20):
This is not a new concept,as I've just demonstrated, and even before
Sowyn sam Hayn Halloween, all ofthese things for millennia, people have been
attempting to connect with the spirit worldin some form or another. Every culture
in every region of the world hassimilar beliefs in the other side, And
(09:43):
when you are thinking about contacting theother side and why people would want to
do that, it really shouldn't takeyou too long to puzzle out that.
Generally, when people are attempting torea through the veil to contact someone,
they're driven by grief. And atno other time in our history was grief
(10:11):
more prevalent in our society here inAmerica than during our major wars, the
first one, most especially being theCivil War. We're going back to eighteen
sixties. The fighting is way moreintense. Conditions are horrific for everybody involved.
(10:33):
Soldiers as young as ten are beingshipped off to god knows where to
fight hand to hand combat while cannonballsare blowing men to bits all around them.
It's almost hard to even wrap yourhead around a reality like that,
what it would have been like forthese men and children. But the other
(10:56):
side of this situation are those thatthey left behind at home, mothers,
daughters, wives, girlfriends, youname it. Generally speaking, women who
were left behind often never saw orheard from their soldier ever, again,
(11:18):
there were not dog tags during thistime. There was no formal notification system
through the Union or the Confederate Armiesfor how to get word to a family
that they had lost their loved one. Death tolls and battles were so high
that bodies would lay out for months, just rotting away in fields, no
(11:41):
way to identify them, and bythe time whoever it was got around to
disposing of the remains, they wereusually just skeletal. That sort of grief
and feeling of not knowing what happenedto your husband or your son I can't
even imagine. So it makes sensethat this is the first time we really
(12:09):
see a surge of spiritualism sweeping throughAmerican culture. People wanted answers, They
wanted to know if their loved oneswere dead, and they wanted to know
that they were okay wherever they were. Mediums became very popular during this time,
(12:30):
people who claimed to be able totalk to those on the other side,
who could channel whichever spirit it wasthat someone was looking for. They
started earning themselves big reputations and lotsof money, and yes, many of
them took advantage of the horrible griefpeople were dealing with to turn a buck.
(12:52):
I'm sure they got their come upand in the end, at least
I hope they did. But thesemediums would often have tools that they would
use, such as tarot cards,crystal balls, divining rods, whatever it
was that they believed would help themchannel the energy to contact the spiritual world.
(13:13):
This is when we first begin tosee the popularity of things called talking
boards really taking off. Now,what is a talking board, Well,
a talking board is a form ofautomatic writing. What's automatic writing? Automatic
writing is a way of communicating withthe spiritual world where basically a medium or
(13:39):
a sensitive person sort of shuts downtheir own thoughts and motivations and gives their
body over to whatever spirit it isthat they are trying to connect with and
allows that spirit to communicate with themthrough the written word. Some people have
(14:00):
done this with just a pen anda paper, where they just kind of
began moving their hand and suddenly wordsform, while others began to use talking
boards, which were boards that usuallyhad some type of an alphabet laid out
on it with words like yes andno. And they would use a plan
(14:22):
chet, which is a small pieceof wood or glass, whatever it was
that would slide easily over the surfaceof the board with minimal contact from the
hands guiding it or not guiding it. The hands that were placed on it,
they're not supposed to be guiding itwhile that does happen. So essentially,
(14:46):
everybody sits around in a seance setting, places their hands on the plan
chet, asks questions, and theplanchet, using the energy of those participating
in the seance who are touching theplant, should move around to different letters
and be able to spell out coherentwords, answering questions and engaging in a
(15:09):
conversation. I mean, you're gettingto have a conversation with someone who is
deceased. This was a very easyway to communicate with the spiritual realm,
and like I said, it becamereally really popular during this era. Now,
with most things that become popular,people figure out how to make money
(15:31):
off of it very quickly, andtalking boards were no different. Now.
Between the Civil War and World WarOne, even though things might have calmed
down a bit, it definitely didn'tdie off. We're still talking about pre
twentieth century America, which wasn't allthat friendly. I mean, if we've
(15:54):
heard it once, we've heard ita thousand times on this podcast. People
died at the drop of hat.Back then, I mean they were prescribing
opioids and arsenic to people who weresick, and lead was in everything,
so death and loss was still athing many people dealt with on the regular,
(16:15):
which means so was grief. Enterthe talking board we know today as
the Ouiji board. Now, duringthis era, it was only known as
a talking board. Yes, peopleused it for seances, but it was
actually sort of a parlor game aswell. It was something for people to
do at parties, which is prettyfunny if you think about it, because
(16:37):
it still is. It's a sleepoverstaple. This version of the more modern
talking board was a little more streamlined. It had the alphabet in two arching
rows across the middle of the board, with a yes in one corner,
a no in another, and goodbyeat the bottom, as well as a
(17:00):
row of numbers. And then there'salso the essential piece, which is the
plan chet. The plan chet issort of the focus of all of the
energy surrounding the use of this board. It's generally shaped like a triangle or
a heart, something pointed right sothat there's a point to the plan chet
(17:25):
that is used to point to specificletters, words, and numbers on the
board so that there is no confusionabout whatever word is being spelled. There
are also very important rules for usinga Wiji board, and yes this is
in every horror movie that they've madesurrounding these boards, but they hold true.
(17:49):
Number one, never use a Wigiboard alone. Number two, you
always have to close the board whenyou're done using it. That means saying
goodbye to whoever or whatever you've beenspeaking with. Don't just set the board
(18:12):
aside and walk away mid conversation,because basically you're leaving an open portal to
the other realm in your living room. And after you say goodbye, put
that sucker back in the box.When you are done done with the board,
(18:33):
it has to be disposed of properly. Of course, not everybody believes
in this stuff, but on theoff chance that it might be real,
it doesn't hurt to cover your basesif you're going to use one of these
things. So there you go.There is the basic setup for the Wiji
board as it was back in theturn of the twentieth century. Times nineteen
(18:59):
h under dish and now enters thestar players in today's story a man named
Charles Canard and another man named ElijahBond. These two set out to patent
the board for themselves, or atleast a version of the board. Now,
it really seems like even though thesetwo were businessmen, at least according
(19:23):
to the stories, they believed inthe powers of the talking board. They
believed it worked, and they believedit would sell because it worked. They
respected the board and sort of cameup with their own design, which is
the one that I just described theclassic when you think of Auiji board,
(19:44):
that's what they came up with thelayout. But when they were thinking about
what to call this board, theythought about maybe using their own last names.
They went down a whole long listof things, and they just couldn't
settle on something that felt right.So Elijah Bond called in his sister in
(20:07):
law. His sister in law wasa woman named Helen Peters Noseworthy. At
this time in nineteen hundred, Helenwas living with her husband Ernest in Denver,
where they had moved from the Southin eighteen ninety six. Helen was
about forty years old at this time, and she was really well known for
(20:29):
being a successful, powerful medium.Who better to help name this board than
someone who's already plugged in to theother side. So Elijah and Charles invited
Helen over to host a seance withthem to ask the board itself what it
wanted to be called. So,even though we're talking about nineteen hundred and
(20:56):
even though some of the spiritualist movementhad died off thanks to the efforts of
men like Harry Houdini who worked veryhard to shine a light on all of
the false prophets so to speak,and the fake mediums who were stealing money
from people who were in the depthsof their grief, there were still those
(21:18):
who held strongly to the belief thatspiritualism as a religion was a good godly
practice that also allowed them to stayin touch with deceased loved ones. And
Helen was someone that everybody knew wasable to practice this successfully. And this
(21:40):
could definitely be because her upbringing wasmore than just a little bit spooky,
at least in my opinion. Yousee, Helen came from a very wealthy
and established Southern family. So whenshe was a child during the Civil War
or a young girl teenager, therehad been a battle that was on her
(22:03):
family's property and afterwards there were deceasedsoldiers all over the place, all around
their home. Helen and her siblingsventured outside and started poking around these corpses.
They decided that they wanted some mementosfrom the dead men, and so
(22:26):
they cut off all the buttons fromtheir clothes and brought them back home as
a collection. I know times weredifferent back then, but that's that's morbid.
So Helen always kind of had amacabre, eerie side to her,
(22:47):
and spiritualism fit right in with that. So Helen, Charles, and Elijah
sat down with the board one evening. They all placed their hands on the
plan chet and Helen began to leadthe seance to ask the board what its
name was. Helen asked several timesfor the board to spell out its name,
(23:11):
and every single time she asked,the plan chet would move from one
letter to the next, repeatedly spellingout a single word, Oh you I
j a ouija. Finally sure thatthe board meant what it was spelling,
(23:33):
as it happened multiple times, themen asked the board what the word meant.
It then spelled out good luck,whether that was a well wishing for
them or a more ominous message forso many people messing in other worldly matters
(23:55):
we don't really know. Interestingly,though, throughout this seance, Helen happened
to be wearing a locket containing apicture of her favorite novelist, an english
woman whose pen name was Wida,and her signature on her works looked a
(24:15):
lot like it was spelled wija.Hmm. Coincidence, I don't know,
but they ran with it and Bondand Canard applied for a patent locally in
Maryland, where they were at thetime. They were refused the patent by
(24:40):
the local patent office because the patentofficer said there wasn't really any way to
prove that the board worked, oreven really to know what it did,
so they couldn't patent it. Undeterred, Elijah and Canard then applied to Washington
for a patent. Initially they wererefused, but determined, they collected Helen
(25:08):
and traveled to the patent office inWashington and applied again in person. With
the Wija board in tow They setup shop inside the patent office, and
one patent officer after another came into assess the board to see if they
might give it a shot, andtime and time again, each patent officer
(25:30):
that they saw denied them. Thatwas until intrigued, the chief patent officer
became curious and decided to check itout for himself. He entered the area
where Helen and the men were stationedwith the wija board and told them,
quote, you don't know me andI don't know you, but if this
(25:53):
contraption can spell out my name,you've got your patent. So essentially,
he was challenging them to figure outwhat his name was because they hadn't been
introduced yet, and if they couldusing the weed aboard, he saw that
as proof of its efficacy. Couldthey have heard the Chief patent Officer's name
(26:15):
around the office as they were hangingout? Yeah, but maybe not.
As the story goes, Helen,Elijah and Charles and the patent officer placed
their hands on the plan chet,and smoothly and without hesitation, the plan
chet moved from one letter to anotheras it spelled out the man's name correctly.
(26:37):
According to reports, he abruptly stoodup from the table, as white
as a ghost, and said,you've got your patent. A grand success
for the group, and now theygot their patent. They started making money.
Things were going great, but justone year after this victory, Ellen
(27:00):
would lose faith completely in the boardshe fought so hard to get a patent
for. You see, Helen hadreturned to her family's southern home on a
visit, and as she was therethe super creepy collection of dead soldier's buttons
that her and her siblings had cutoff the clothes of the deceased men that
(27:23):
had been on their property. Theyhad actually displayed these inside their home as
like trophies, super normal right whileat home during this visit, the buttons
disappeared. And these buttons were aprized possession to Helen and her siblings,
(27:48):
so of course they wanted to knowwhat happened to them, who took them?
Where are they? Helen said,I have an idea. Let's consult
the board. The board will tellus where they are, or at least
who took them. So they agreed. They sat down to a seance and
asked the board who stole the buttons, and the board named one of the
(28:12):
siblings. Of course, there wasdenial and angry words exchanged as the one
who had been accused said that theboard was lying and that they had not
stolen the buttons. The other siblingswere angry and demanded that the buttons be
(28:32):
returned, and so a huge feudwas born between the group of siblings,
causing an actual permanent rift in thisfamily over dead soldiers buttons. Half of
the siblings believed the board and halfof the siblings did not. Interestingly enough,
(28:56):
Helen sided with the half that didnot believe the board. She was
extremely devastated over the rift in herfamily, and from that point on she
swore off the Ouigi board and shewould not allow any one of her family
members or friends to use it,telling everyone that she could that the Wuiji
(29:18):
board was to be avoided at allcosts because it lied. Whether she believed
the board had been manipulated to setup one of her family members, or
whether she believed that whatever was communicatingon the other side was deliberately trying to
cause a rift and strife within herfamily, I'm not sure, but she
(29:41):
would never again go near one.Immediately following this incident, Helen and her
husband returned to Denver. They enjoyeda quiet life far away from anything to
do with the Luigi Board, andspent forty four presumably happy years here in
(30:04):
the Denver area. In nineteen forty, Helen would pass away and be buried
next to her husband in the FairmontCemetery. They had no children together,
and due to lack of care ofthe years and no family members nearby,
their graves fell into disrepair and wereactually lost over time. That is until
(30:30):
twenty eighteen, when the efforts ofan organization known as the Talking Board Historical
Society decided they wanted to dig intothe real history of the Wiji Board,
and when they did, they discoveredHelen's story and how she had been the
one to actually give the Wijiaboard itsname. They combed through records and found
(30:56):
the site where Helen and her husband'sgraves sat in Fairmont and erected a custom
headstone. This headstone is large andunmistakable. It details her story regarding the
Wigiboard in large letters across the front. It has the title the Woman who
(31:18):
named the Wigiaboard, as well asthe picture of an actual board, and
on the back a few quotes fromthose who are around at the time and
cited Helen's instrumental involvement in the board'spatenting. So now, if you go
to Fairmont and you visit Helen andher husband's gravesite, the only thing anybody
(31:44):
is going to know her for isthe wigiboard, the one thing she wanted
nothing to do with any longer.If she's around at all to see this,
that can't be a pleasant thing forher her I wouldn't imagine, And
it would be really interesting if someonehappened to take a wija board into the
(32:09):
Fairmont Cemetery and try to ask Helenhow she felt opening up a wija board
in the Fairmont. You might geta lot of people coming through, and
I'd be surprised if Helen did.She'd probably stay as far away from that
board as she possibly could, ifshe didn't turn around and huck it right
(32:30):
at your head. If anybody triesto do that, please let me know.
I want to hear all about it. So what do you think?
Are weija boards real? Is thisgame you can pick up at your local
store in the children's section something that'sinnocuous and silly and just fun for party
(32:51):
games, or are we literally andfiguratively playing with fire here dealing with entity
and spirits that we really have noclue what they're capable of and what they
want. Is it safe to getthat close to the veil and to try
to reach through to make a connectionto something or someone on the other side,
(33:17):
whether it's real or whether it's fake. I think I'm going to air
on the safe side, take Helen'sadvice, and steer clear until next time.
Happy Halloween, and I hope thatall of your interactions with the veil
this time of year are good ones. Sources for today's episode include Fox thirty
(33:44):
one, Wikipedia Burialsanbeyond dot com,find a Grave dot com, and an
article from the University of Bristol titledThe Thin Veil of Autumn by Andy Winfield.
(34:05):
Thanks for listening, Please remember torate, review, and subscribe wherever
you listen to podcasts. You canalso find me on Facebook and Instagram at
Strange Colorado Podcast. If you havea strange story of your own or an
episode suggestion, you can reach meat Strange Colorado Podcast at gmail dot com.
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