Sometimes, the future isn’t meant for us
Map’s End is written and recorded by Nicole Chevalier with music by Scare the Raven.
More of Scare the Raven’s work can be found via our website, MapsEndPodcast.com, or by emailing them at ScareTheRaven@gmail.com. Transcripts and sources can be also found on our website by accessing the episode page.
Have a story you want to share? Head over to our website and click on the submissions tab.
Just want to say hello? Follow us on twitter and instagram at “MapsEndPodcast,” spelled with no spaces and no breaks- that’s “MapsEndPodcast.”
And thanks for listening.
The year is 1891, and all over, newspapers are bustling with the new and exciting. Advertisement columns make promises, drawing in their readers with descriptions of a tool that they classified as “without a doubt, the most interesting, remarkable and mysterious production of the nineteenth century. It’s operations are always invaluable, answering as it does questions concerning the past, present, and future with marvelous accuracy. It furnishes nerver-failing amusement and recreation for all classes, while for the scientific or thoughtful its mysterious movements invite the most careful research and investigation--apparently forming the link which unites the known with the unknown, the material with the immaterial. It focuses up on the conviction that a great truth was contained in the statement of the Danish Prince: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than were ever dreamed of in thy philosophy.”” And while households all over were quick to join in and confirm all the attributes the newspaper advertisement ascribed to this mysterious invention, it definitely fell short of being anything new. This technology had existed for a while, but as is the case with most things, took a while to popularize, at least until it was able to be branded as a form of entertainment. And all of those promises were wonderful- technology so advanced that it could tell the future? It’s the forbidden fruit, times maybe a million. So what happened to it?
Quite frankly, nothing. It’s still around, and if anything, a sort of wary lore has built up around it, separating people into quick groups of hard-set opinions.There have been university studies, research journals, and more than a countable amount of amature investigators. But still, even after 200 years, we have yet to reach a concrete decision. There are still divisive fights being charged trying to dissect its powers, if it even has any. Some people will swear by it, others claim it’s probability and human error, and sometimes your date to the craft fair will tell you, “Look, if you buy that, I’m going to have to go talk to my roommate to find out if we need to break up” even though you made sure that the artist wrote on the back that it was for decorative purpose only, and it looks really nice on your wall okay? It’s a really beautiful piece of resin art, and it fits perfectly, and even though NOTHING AT ALL has happened, and you don’t even use it, your mom will STILL startle and ask you, “Why do you have a Ouija board?”
So now, Darling listener, I invite you, once again, to follow me right up to the Map’s End. But be warned: Here, there be monsters.
Talking boards have been a ghostly staple since the 1880s, at least. That’s when the “phenomenon” of their use was first published. The talking board itself was a natural follow-up to spiritualism, a then-modern belief system that took people by storm. Researchers and historians speculate that Spritualism rose in direct response to the sheer amount of death seen during the civil war, a time when, for most families, they suddenly had to deal with unburied sons, husbands, and brothers, living life where there were no answers. But people long for answers, especially in the face of what could easily seem like senseless violence; they wanted confirmation that things didn’t just end like that, that there was something more, something greater.
The Fox sisters are often credited with the rise of Spirtualism in Western Society, and while there’s enough there for an episode all its own, I’ll try to give you the cliffnotes. The Fox sisters were two sisters, Maggie and Kate, who lived in Hydesville New York with their parents and four other siblings. It soon came to be discovered that Maggie and Kate apparently had an affinity for speaking with the dead, getting the dearly departed to answer their questions via a pattern of knocks and rapping. They built up systems to streamline communication, including a system in which spirits allegedly spelled out words by indicating letters as the sisters recited the alphabet. Though the Fox sisters and their abilities was and remains a contentious topic of hot debate, there is no doubt at all that they managed to spark a new interest in communication with the dead in such a seemingly direct manner. If the traditional systems were snail mail, they had just invented dial-up. And when I say Spiritualism became popular, I mean popular. It was now in-vogue to attend seances and commune with those that have passed on. People, particularly women and lay people, became enraptured with the philosophy and practices, and threw themselves whole-heartedly into it. As Robert Ellwood points out in his 1992 book, How New is the New Age, the affinity with Spiritualism was largely a proletariat fascination. Women who had never before been afforded much agency suddenly found themselves able to channel human spirits, and charge for it all the while. People who had been long subjected to all the horrors of sacrifice with none of the evident reward were able to ask their questions and have them be answered. It was a sense of power, and in that way it was massively progessive for the era. And of course, as Spiritualism grew, so did its facets. It was all at once a religious outlook, an entertainment style, a way to unpack grief, and a chance to associate with others outside your immediate circle. The raps and knocks grew into spirit photographs, seances as we now think of them today, with candles and tables moving, voices from the beyond, and above all, a deep sense of wonder and awe. And of course the press loved it; the entire thing is, at its root, sensational. And those two things fed off one another; the more lurid a story, the more coverage it got, and the more spectators it drew, which made mediums up their game and invent new and exciting ways of bringing back the dead for a chat. But rather than the antiquated conversations of the past, these were scientific; there was physical proof, be it photograph or ectoplasm, and the whole population felt as if they were just over the cusp of discovering something magnificent. On the other hand, it provided support for hereunto faith-driven religious belief, which had historically been fighting with atheistic science by claiming that obviously, there was more to the nature of existence than the scientists had predicted.
As participation continued to grow, so did demand, and as Spiritualism became more and more a source of entertainment as well as belief, mediums had to do more and more to attract potential customers to their doorsteps. Maybe this was the inspiration behind the first talking board. It was definitely efficient, much faster than having to sit through multiple recitations of the alphabet, and, in appearances, more scientific than a speaker going into a trance.
To clear up any confusion, the first talking board was not a ouija board. A ouija board is one particular iteration of the talking board, but we’ll get there in a moment.
One of the first recorded uses of a talking board was from Ohio in 1886. It was described as being 18 by 20 inches long, with the alphabet printed across it, as well as numbers, the words “yes” and “no,” as well as “good evening” and “good night.” Instructions asked the participants to use a “little table three or four inches high … with four legs,” which would be used by the spirits to manipulate over the board in order to communicate. People sitting around the board would grip the little table’s legs, and ask their questions. And it was brilliant. If seances were dial-up, this was 21st century texting. And people loved it. Seeing the opportunity at hand, Charles Kennard of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1890 called in three investors, and together they created Kennard Novelty Company, a toy company dedicated specifically to the production and sale of talking boards. I’d like to note that none of the four men were, themselves Spiritualists. They were opportunists. Opportunists who now needed a name. According to Ouija historian Robert Murch’s review of historical letters, the board received its now eponymous name when Elijah Bond (one of the three investors)’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters hosted a seance in which they asked the board what they ought to call it. The board spelled out Ouija, and when they asked what it meant, it simply replied “Good Luck.” Helen Peters stated afterwards that, at the time she had been wearing a portrait locket that was inscribed with the name “Ouija” over her head, which Murch specialties may have been an image of famous author and popular women’s rights activist Ouida, and that Ouija may have been a misspelling.
One story that plays a part in the mythos of the Ouija board is the story of its patent application. Apparently, the patent officer needed a demonstration in order to prove they were not marketing a faulty product, and asked for a display of the board’s powers by Bond and Peters, requesting they use it to tell him his name, in true Rumplestiltskin fashion. To his astonishment, these two strangers set to work, and their magic board got it right. This may be proof that the Ouija board was powerful from the very beginning, or it might just be proof that Bond was a patent lawyer and had opportunity to see the man before. In any case, the board was approved for patent, which brings us up-to-date with the superlative riddled advertisement at the beginning of this episode.
The board may owe a lot of its success to this first patent. While it set out exactly how the board looked and how it was to be used, it made no effort to explain why it worked. This omission allowed users to build up their own understanding of the ouija, be it psychic abilities, the interference of ghosts, the power of collective thought, or whatever really. And it’s that exact uncertainty, both the how and why, that let it succeed in such enormous proportions. As Spiritualism fell out of favor, the Ouija Board remained, because it had never been marketed solely as a divination tool. It’s patent was for games, and it easily filled a myriad of roles. Of course, there were the quote unquote “mediums” who utilized it, but there were also people just genuinely looking for some entertainment. Because the product was never placed into any one specific box, leaving its purpose to become part of the mysterious aura surrounding it, it was highly adaptable. So from parlor games to full-out seances, the board was purchased and used a LOT. Not to mention that the United States was shrouded in uncertainty at the time; from the economic collapse of the Great Depression, to the World and Vietnam Wars and later social unrest of the civil rights movement, and counter-cultural free spirited Summer of Love. In fact, in the one year following the Parker Brothers’ purchase of the board, they had sold over two millions copies.
So what gave? You wouldn’t be shocked to discover your friends owned a monopoly game, so what moved the Ouija so swiftly out of “harmless fun” and into “a demon will possess you?” AS fate would have it, more popular culture. Specifically the 1973 film, The Exorcist. Now listeners, I don’t want to get too in detail with the movie itself, because, again, that’d be a waste of a perfectly good future episode. But for those of you who don’t know, the exorcist is, in short, a film about the possession of a child, supposedly having been caused by their usage of a Ouija board. And seeing as the US was right on the brink of Satanic Panic, the stage was, again, perfectly set for the Ouija to reenter the public eye. For such a cursed object, it really does seem to have phenomenal timing. And as is the case for the horror genre in general, once you find something that can scare the crap out of your audience, you stick to it. Hollywood starting spitting out horror movies that showed teenagers being punished for their usage of Ouija boards by vengeful spirits and demons, and the two became inexorably linked. Something that was featured on I Love Lucy suddenly became the pinnacle and door to all evil. Crazy, right? Potentially, no.
Paranormal investigators as well as exorcists will swear up, down, left and right that playing with Ouija boards opens up portals or vulnerabilities to malicious spirits. Across all cultures, evil or demonic forces are generally categorized as excellent liars, capable of deceiving humans without even really having to try. So, the paranormal experts warn, how are you supposed to really know if you’re talking to grandma, or one of Satan’s legon? Dale Kaczmarek of the Ghost Research Society warns that, even if it isn’t the devil incarnate, users should still think twice. He is quoted in LiveAbout.com’s article on the dangers associated with the boards as saying “The board itself is not dangerous, but the form of communication that you are attempting often is. Most often the spirits whom are contacted through the Ouija are those whom reside on 'the lower astral plane. These spirits are often very confused and may have died a violent or sudden death; murder, suicide, etc. Therefore, many violent, negative and potentially dangerous conditions are present to those using the board. Often times several spirits will attempt to come through at the same time but the real danger lies when you ask for physical proof of their existence. You might say, 'Well, if you're really a spirit, then put out this light or move that object.' What you have just done is simple, you have 'opened a doorway' and allowed them to enter into the physical world and future problems can and often do arise,” end quote. Religious authorities, especially Christian, are famously against usage of the board, believing in the very real possibility of demonic possession, and warning that it simply isn’t worth the risk of opening yourself to the possibility. I can also state from secondhand experience, that if you neglect to close the board after using it, you may cause an entire dorm building to be haunted, and the entirety of the theater department student base will make sure that becomes a large part of your legacy. Looking at you, Jack. Do better. Also related- if you find yourself in this situation, this host does not recommend making a bloodpact with the conjured spirits, and specifically advises against the fact. Looking at you, room 312.
Now listeners, I have to admit to being a very specific kind of skeptic comes to things like this, which makes it difficult to research stories, when most of them either just sound false or are so entirely expletive-ridden that i would get marked as explicit content just for glancing at them on-air. So, after sifting through way too many listicles and reddit subthreads, I would like to, first of all, formally invite you to send in your own Ouija board stories, but in the meantime, here is a compilation of ten stories I pulled from ThoughtCatalog’s 20+ Terrifying And True Ouija Board Stories as well as Castleofchaos.com’s 10 Ouija Board Encounters You Have to Read.
Doing the board with six or seven people, only one of my friends knows Latin and he is not touching the oracle, the contact starts speaking to us in Latin. This same friend later pulled his hand back from the oracle having received what looked like a small scratch on his wrist, not bleeding but bright red as if fresh. His girlfriend at the time was plagued by a contact they had made and would wake with strange bruises on her legs.
I have no evidence, and I do not care if you don’t believe me. I’ve used a board with results, and let something into my home. And have been physically assaulted by this entity.
It started out with that feeling like you’re being watched, and doors closing, and footsteps on the hardwood when you were home alone. And progressed slowly into being kept awake by something shaking the bed, or pulling off your covers. Sometimes even whispering your name. The board would disappear for days on end, then show up in places you never would have put it. I became obsessed with it. Then it was a black mass in the corner of the room. Or the silhouette of a man watching you from the doorway. After that it escalated pretty quickly. I had my hair pulled. Fingers pricked. Scratched. Choked. Held down in bed while this thing whispered in my ear in what could have only been Latin….. We had our house blessed and the bad thing hasn’t shown back up. Just the normal occurrences now. But I will never again play with one of those boards.
I was about 12 or 13 spending the night at a friend’s house, goofing around with the Ouija board with him & his sister and we were getting all sorts of gibberish plus words spelled out, just kind of scaring ourselves for fun not taking it very seriously when we got the message “I can see you through the window” and then “I can see you through his eyes” or something like that…there was just a small window in the basement room where we were, and just the back yard and woods past the driveway visible through that window…we asked it more questions and it said “I’m under the car” so we somehow got up the nerve to go out with a flashlight and peer under the car, where we saw a huge black stray cat which was hissing.
We ran inside freaking out and at that exact moment the power failed and all the lights in the house went out. We just about actually shit ourselves. Few minutes later the power came back and we sat up till dawn that night scared and never played with the board again.
My great aunt has never married, and when I asked why, my dad told me the story. Apparently when she was sixteen she had a pretty serious boyfriend. When she used a board, she asked if they would get married, and it said no. She asked if they would break up… no… asked if one of them would die and it said yes, and when she asked which of them it said ‘goodbye’. A week later he was in a woodchipper accident at the mill where he worked.
My friend and I were about 14 or 15. She had a Ouija board that we used quite often. (I always thought she was pushing it for the fun factor, I never took it to seriously) One night we started , and it was about 9 p.m we started getting very strange sayings, none of them i can remember 27 years later) and we got a name. although the name i have forgotten over the years, it said he was from Malaysia. He was here to protect us. (i do remember that much) The next thing we know its 7a.m! It was like we blinked and the sun was up. It was VERY freaky. we LOST 10 HOURS of our life. Neither of us remember anything about it. We were just sitting there at the table staring at each other like “WTF HAPPENED??” To bad we didn’t have a 3rd person there to tell us. She would never use it again, I did, but i never had that happen again.
I was staying at a hotel with friends in northern Ontario for a chess tournament. Geeky I know. Can’t exactly remember the town. Anyway, we were looking for some thrills at night and someone busted out a board. One of those official ones you can get from toys’r’us. We asked a few questions I can’t remember but I will never forget when we asked if it knew if any of us was going to die. Yeah I know strange question to ask. Uh so it spelled out a persons name that was with us at the time. And then a date which was approximately a year later. My friend died a year later from cancer in his knee. He knew about it 6 months before he died. To this day I am still curious about the device but damned if I’ll ever touch it again.
I always thought these things were BS. However years ago this changed when I did it once with some random people at a get together. We were talking to all sorts of different “spirits” and I wasn’t taking any of it seriously. Then I thought of a way to put this to the test. I’m Kuwaiti American and was born in Kuwait. So I know Arabic and knew of a friend of my brother that past away recently. So I asked to speak with him. Now only one person knew me at the get together and even then didn’t know that much about me. I was definitely the only one who could speak Arabic (I was in Oklahoma at the time). So I asked in Arabic how he died. The board spelled out car crash. I was a bit shocked but still didn’t buy it completely. So I asked a more detailed question. I asked in Arabic how old was he when he died. It pointed to 1 and then 3. That’s when I started really freaking out. No one would have ever known of these details let alone understood what I was asking. I asked for more details on the crash (he flew out of the sunroof) and after that I stopped. Haven’t touched a Ouija board since.
When I was about 14 my best friend had a sleep over birthday party. Being the silly little girls we were we decided to make a ouija board to use, not really knowing any of the rules like making it say goodbye. After an hour or so I wandered off to read some tarot cards and watch the rest of the Exorcist with the other couple of girls who didn’t want to commune with spirits. (Rereading that last sentence I sound like such a stereotype. I still use tarot cards though so I never grew out of this phase it seems.)
Here’s where it got weird. After I left the spirit talking to my friends changed. As in it switched to a different spirit altogether. His name was Max and he was looking for me. I’ve never known a Max in my life. My friends yelled out what he was saying as it moved and I was writing off as them teasing me until he started giving them information about me that no one at that party knew. Things about minor abuse I was facing and other little things.
That freaked me out right out. I begged for them to stop playing, even after Max tried to convince me that he was not trying to hurt me. My friends were awesome and stopped playing before I started crying and I thought that was the end of it.
The next time a Ouija board came out was the next year and only one girl from the original party was among the group. We were baking a cake so when the buzzer went off she and I headed up to take it out of the oven. When we got back to the group another girl turned to me and asked ‘Who’s Max?’ Apparently he’s stuck around after that first time. If my friends want to use a Ouija board they don’t invite me over unless they want to speak to Max. He’s always around.
A few times in my life I’ve heard a voice call out my name. it usually makes me stop for a minute, no more but at least twice had I not stopped I would have been in the path of a car going to fast to stop before it would have hit me. I strongly believe Max has stuck around to be helpful but had we not pulled out that Ouija board I would have never known about him.
My GF told me this story about an experience she had with a ouija board while in high school sometime in 1986. She had a friend named Johnny who was suffering from CF or some other debilitating illness, who had recently been hospitalized as a result. Both she and her friend Shelly visited Johnny regularly in the hopes of keeping his spirits up and for a quick recovery. One night after visiting Johnny, they were at Shelly’s when they decided to try out a ouija board. After a while, they started communicating with a spirit who seemed to know a lot about them that it really shouldn’t. After some banal questions about boys and general questions one would expect teenaged girls to ask, my GF decided to ask about Johnny and his condition. The board quickly spelled out “24 June 1987 Johnny wont have to worry anymore” and went to “goodbye”. My GF and Shelly were so convinced that board was giving them a date for recovery that they actually wrote the message down and sealed it in an envelope. The following year on 24 June, it turned out that Johnny indeed no longer needed to worry about his condition. It was the day he died.
“Played with a Ouija several times many years ago. Got mainly dark and scary replies with names we didn’t know. One claimed to be my Uncle though. We started to do it all the time, every day with a homemade board.
“A few weeks later I was in a club, saw a friend I hadn’t seen for maybe 2 years from across the room. He literally came running over to me with a strange look on his face. He said ‘I can’t believe it’s you! I have something strange to tell you but you have to listen to me.’ Before I could answer him he went on.
‘I went to see a reader, she told me that she had a message for a friend of mine. A woman…she said your name!! She told me to tell you to stop playing with the Ouija board because you are going to get burnt! Does that make sense to you?’ I was speechless and really scared.
“I don’t know if that was for real, or how else it could have happened. But I sure as hell never touched one again.”
Map’s End is written and recorded by Nicole Chevalier with music by Scare the Raven.
More of Scare the Raven’s work can be found via our website, MapsEndPodcast.com, or by emailing them at ScareTheRaven@gmail.com. Transcripts and sources can be also found on our website by accessing the episode page.
Have a story you want to share? Head over to our website and click on the submissions tab.
Just want to say hello? Follow us on twitter and instagram at “MapsEndPodcast,” spelled with no spaces and no breaks- that’s “MapsEndPodcast.”
And thanks for listening.