1920 – Harry M. Bigelow of Milwaukee And The Improved Ouija Board
Things must be pretty boring around here, as we seem to be wasting time looking at some old U.S. Patents. Which brings us to a Mr. Harry M. Bigelow, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the City of Milwaukee, County of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.
At first glance over the patent, I thought it was a paper trimmer. It’s unrecognizable from any Ouija board I’ve ever seen, and Mrs. Huntington and myself are avid Ouija Board users. I personally think it’s a lot of bunk, but she seems to like it so I humor her. Which is fine, as I enjoy the occassional appearances by Theodore Roosevelt.
Now if you’ve never seen one, a Ouija Board is a pretty simple thing. It’s just a board with a bunch of letters and numbers on it. You sit with other people and place your hands on a pointer. You ask questions of the spirit world, and they supposedly answer by causing the pointer to move to the appropriate letters. They’ve been made in dozens of themes and styles, but here’s a picture of one to give you the general idea if you’ve never heard of them.
Apparently, these things evolved over time. The pointer, called a planchette, was originally marketed as a cheap and popular toy and was designed to hold a pencil for the spirits to convey written messages. It was approximately 1886 when somebody came up with the idea for the “Talking Board”. And as it evolved, millions of Ouija boards have been sold since, as well as millions of stories which have added to the folklore about demons, curses and other mysterious traits attributed to these, so called, spirit boards.
And now back to Harry M. Bigelow and his improved Ouija. His thoughts were to place the planchette on a permanent rail, allowing it to slide along a dovetail. It seems like it would be a bit boring to me, but that’s what Mr. Bigelow was up to in 1920 and who am I to think poorly of him for it?
Here’s one of the patent diagrams for you to have a look at.
I’ve never heard of an example having ever been manufactured, so hopefully Harry didn’t mortgage the farm on this device. If anyone’s using their Ouija anytime soon, try to let Mr. Bigelow know that Phineous said “Hello”.
Phineous Zivick Huntington
April 28, 2007
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Antique WILLIAM FULD Mystifying Oracle OUIJA BOARD
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