This led to the birth of “talking boards,” the precursor to the Ouija board, in the late 1880s. It had letters, numbers, and a small cursor to point towards its script.

First introduced in 1890 by the Kennard Novelty Company as a “ wonderful talking board,” the simple piece of cardboard is marked with letters, numbers, and the words “yes,” “no,” and ...

The boards were then mass-produced by the Kennard Novelty Company, which was sold to Parker Brothers in 1967. Today, the Ouija board is produced by Hasbro, which markets the product as a way to ...

The Kennard Novelty Company obviously couldn’t prove that their board actually talked to the dead, so they patented it instead as a children’s toy.

Charles W. Kennard, First to Manufacture the Ouija Board Believe it—or not! If not, grab a Ouija Board and ask it yourself! Ouija Board named itself in Baltimore where 7-Eleven now stands ...

But it’s not the “possessed” boards nor those that date back to around when ouija boards were first patented by Charles Kennard in 1891 that catch your eye as you enter King’s collection room.

Voila! American capitalism seized upon the idea. By 1890, Charles Kennard and Elijah Bond had formed the Kennard Novelty Company, and the Ouija Board became an instant commercial success. It used no ...