Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a religious movement, centered around the idea that spirits of the dead exist and are willing to talk to the living, that gained attention shortly after the New Thought movement. Many sight the date of March 31, 1848, as the start of the Spiritualist movement, as that was the date the Fox sisters, in Hydesville, New York, announced that that they had communed with the spirit of a murder victim.
Spiritualism gained considerable popularity in the U.S., especially in central and western New York State, known as the "Burned-over District" for its inclination to get caught up in religious fervor over new religious fads.
Séances during this time were far from seen as taboo, and many religious groups adopted the practice; séances were even held in the Lincoln White House. One famous clairvoyant and spiritual medium, Emma Hardinge Britten, was even involved in the re-election campaign of Abraham Lincoln culminating in a thirty-two-lecture tour.
Britten wrote several books on spiritualism and is credited with defining the seven principles of Spiritualism which are still in use today by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches.
Examples of communing with spirits can be traced back to the first century A.D. in China with automatic writing. ‘Talking boards’ became popular in the U.S. in the late 19th century with the first recorded instances occurred in Spiritualist camps in Ohio. Elijah Bond received a patent for his Ouija board in 1891 along with Charles W. Kennard and William H. A. Maupin. Bond sold the patent to the Kennard Novelty Company, and by 1893, Kennard was pushed out, and William Fuld took over the business, renaming it the Ouija Novelty Company. The Ouija Board was so successful that the company claimed the Ouija board had made more than $1 million in profit by 1920. Fuld fell from the roof of one of the factories and died in 1927. Reportedly, he fell due to a faulty railing from the roof of the very factory his Ouija board told him to build. His children took over the company before selling it to Parker Brothers in 1966. This Ouija Board is one manufactured by Parker Brothers.