Did you know that the Ouija board has a major Denver connection?
“The original Ouija boards, which were called “talking boards,” started in the mid-1800s. They became increasingly popular during the Spiritualism movement in the late 1800s after the Civil War, according to Molly Bown House Museum director Andrea Malcomb,” reports Fox 31.
While Ouija boards have been around for decades, the boards received their new name from Denver native Helen Peters Nosworthy and then it became commercialized.
The Ouija board quickly became a popular parlor game, and Denver became known as the “Ouija Board Capital of the World.” The Kennard Novelty Company produced over 1 million Ouija boards in its first year of operation.
“Helen Peters Nosworthy is the woman responsible for giving the Ouija its mysterious name. Her identity was rediscovered by Talking Board Historical Society founder Robert Murch in a series of letters printed in the Baltimore Sun when the founders of Ouija took their grievances with each other public,” says the Talking Board Historical Society website. “Miss Peters, Bond’s sister-in-law” who was known as a “strong medium,” asked the then-unnamed talking board what it would like to be called. The board spelled out O-U-I-J-A, and when asked what the term meant, it responded “Good Luck.”
Today, the Ouija board is still one of the most popular divination devices in the world. It is also a popular subject of popular culture, appearing in movies, books, and television shows.
According to Fox 31, the woman who named and helped patten the board is still living in Denver.
