Ouija and the planchette
A board of letters and a pointer, marketed in 1890 as a parlour game, used to ask questions of spirits.
Also: spirit board, talking board, planchette, automatic writing
A Ouija board is a flat board printed with the alphabet, numbers and the words yes and no, with a heart-shaped pointer that sitters touch lightly. The planchette, French for little plank, was a similar tool of the 1850s that held a pencil for automatic writing during the Spiritualist craze. The Ouija board was marketed in the United States from 1890, patented in 1891, and later made by Parker Brothers. Believers hold that spirits move the pointer. In 1853 Michael Faraday showed that unconscious muscle movements, the ideomotor effect, can move objects without the sitter's knowledge. Some Christian churches discourage its use, and the board features in many horror stories, which has coloured its reputation.