An early ad for Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board describes the product as “proven at Patent Office before it was allowed” -- a claim that's basically true, according to historian Robert Murch. Descendants of creator Elijah J. Bond told Murch that the chief patent officer demanded a demonstration, in order to verify that the board actually could bring answers from the spirit world. The patent official, along with Bond and his sister-in-law, sat down and asked the spirit board to spell the official’s name -- supposedly unknown to the applicants. When the planchette led to the correct letters, the visibly shaken official granted patent No. 446,054, issued in February 1891.
Casting a spell at the patent office:
The historian notes that Bond was a patent attorney and may have known the names of all the patent office officials in Washington, DC, especially the ones whom he was likely to encounter.
Murch adds that the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1890 states that there were 30 patent examiners working at the office at that time.
Bond’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters, was responsible for the name, pronounced wee-ja. The family says that Peters asked the board what its name should be and the board spelled out O-U-I-J-A.
"If there really is an afterlife, I'll bet the best way to contact it is through a plastic, mass-produced board game from Milton Bradley!" --Mad Magazine
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"If there really is an afterlife, I'll bet the best way to contact it is through a plastic, mass-produced board game from Milton Bradley!" --Mad Magazine
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