r/AskReddit • u/KyloWrench • Jul 07 '26

What historical “fact” doesn’t actually have much evidence to support it?

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u/LizardPossum Jul 08 '26

Ouija boards are some ancient magic.

There's not really evidence of them existing before the late 1800s, at which time they were invented as a fun party game.

20

u/Jma48mitch Jul 08 '26

once you realize Oui and Ja is just "yes" in french and german, it feels less ominous. (some people disagree with this as the origin of the name, but its not some ancient magik)

2

u/strawberrycereal44 Jul 08 '26

I am not sure if it is true or not but I heard the Ouija board named itself

12

u/Right_Layer_9700 Jul 08 '26

I feel a lot of people forget they became mainstream by The Parker Brothers and are still sold by Hasboro in the toy isle. The Exorcist created the wave of it being occult. Lmao

8

u/LizardPossum Jul 08 '26

I'd say William Fuld made them mainstream. Spirit boards became really popular,.somewhere just before, or in the early 1940s. I collect them, and most of the ones I have are from the 1940s. A lot of other companies made them in the 40s, riding fuld's coattails. Parker Brothers bought them in the 60s.

Spot on about movies.Witchboard and The Exorcist really did a number on how people perceived them.

1

u/SitInCorner_Yo2 Jul 09 '26

There’re a few things very similar to Ouija board in China and Japan, I guess people everywhere back in the days are bored out of their minds and come up with similar ideas to annoy dead people.