Ouija Board
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Real Identity: Not Applicable
Appearances (BB): Revenant
Powers/Skills: Communication
Voiced By: Not Applicable
The origins of divination through planchette writing is of dispute but are traced to both ancient Greece and China, in 542 and 1000 B.C.E., respectively. The first use of talking boards came in the mid-19th century during the United States' Modern Spiritualist Movement. Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard came up with a plan to patent the planchette with an alphabet printed on it. Patent protection was filed on May 28, 1980 and the patent, itself, was issued on February 10, 1891. William Fuld, an employee of Kennard, took over production of the Ouija Board. The name's origins are of dispute. Some believe it to be Ancient Egyptian for "Good Luck," inspired by a Moroccan city, or a Spanish word for witchcraft. In 1966, the Ouija business was sold to Parker Brothers.
It is believed that when a medium uses the Ouija during a seance, they allow a spirit to use their eyes and help point out the message they want to give. The scientific community believed to debunk it as subconscious acts called ideomotor action. It occurs when subconscious thought produces a different answer than a conscious one. While Parker Brothers sells it as a simple toy, there are those in the occult community who warn that the Ouija is dangerous. Demons are often associated with acting as the user's family and possessing them. In 1924, Harry Houdini recorded five instances in which people from Carrito, California were driven insane from using the board. Subsequent cases appeared on a regular basis.
In the 2050's, the Ouija Board is still well known. From juvenile hall, Willie Watt began to secretly terrorize Hamilton Hill High School. Max Gibson, Blade Sommers, Dana Tan, and Chelsea Cunningham thought it was the Ghost of Garrison Jacobs, a student killed in a construction accident. Some of them performed a seance with an Ouija Board. Watt took advantage of them to try and profess his love to Sommers but it was interrupted by Nelson Nash. Watt struck back at his hated bully but was saved by Batman.