Elijah Bond

But once an answer begins to spell itself out, the people at the table have something to argue about.

someone must be moving it Everyone insists they aren't For something with such a sinister reputation the board has a surprisingly commercial history In 1890, a group of Baltimore businessmen formed the Kennard Novelty Company to manufacture and sell talking boards Spiritualism had already made communication with the dead a popular pursuit The company offered something people could purchase and use at home Elijah Bond's patent, granted on February 10, 1891, described the device as a toy or game.

Its purpose was to amuse people by answering questions through letters indicated on a board.

The patent described how to operate it, without explaining what made the pointer move.

who was uncompromisingly strong.

Surrounding her were men of commerce, her brother-in-law, Elijah Bond, and an ambitious businessman by the name of Charles Kennard.

They had built a wooden board painted with an alphabet, but they lacked an identity for it.

They thought they had a winner because everybody was into spiritualism, but they didn't know how to market this board, how to sell it.

Yeah.

the chief patent officer was a severely skeptical bureaucrat.

And what he wasn't expecting was Elijah Bond and Helen Peters to storm his office.

But they did.

like it.

Let's get attorney Elijah Bond and his medium sister-in-law to join the enterprise.

The

name's Bond.

Elijah Bond.

Local attorney with a psychic sister.

Here's my card.

And soon after, Kennard cuts Reich out of the deal altogether, and he gathers investors to start the Kennard Novelty Company.

One of those investors was Baltimore attorney Elijah Bond.

who made improvements to the device and filed a patent application in 1890, assigning the rights to Kennard and fellow investor William H.A. Maupin.

Coming from the believer's perspective, how do you take something, that was used by mediums or during seances and so on and so forth to commune with the dead and then businessmen improve on it.

Let's call back to our very first episode with the black-eyed kids.

Yeah, don't listen to that one.

And I can show you a picture of Mr. Elijah Bond's tombstone.

Oh, I have seen that before.

This blend of reverence and amusement mirrored what we now see in Halloween parties that are both solemn tributes to the dead and high-energy costume competitions.

By 1890, the first commercial talking board, later branded Ouija, was patented by Elijah Bond, and it slipped from a spiritualist tool into a parlor game marketed for all ages.

Its glossy packaging and simple planchette turned seances into a family activity that could be played in living rooms while candles flickered.

This visual cue has become inseparable from Halloween decor.

Then in 1890, Kennard moved to Baltimore and went looking for investors.

The most important one he found was Elijah Bond, a lawyer and a Confederate veteran.

And Bond brought something else to the table, his sister-in-law, Helen Peters.

Bond described her as a strong medium.

According to the way the story has been passed down, he walked away white-faced and visibly shaken.

Murch says that he's seen the patent file, and that a test really was required.

So something happened in that office, but Elijah Bond wasn't some guy off the street.

He was a patent attorney.

So the modern Ouija board that we know today was created by businessman Charles Kennard.

With the assistance of attorney Elijah Bond and a medium known as Helen Peters in Baltimore.

Now, Luigi was named in 1890.

What? No, go ahead.

In Baltimore, Maryland, by Helen Peters, who at the time was going by Helen Peters Nossworthy.

It was patented in Baltimore, Maryland in 1890 as a harmless parlor game and commercial novelty rather than an ancient occult device.

And on February 10th of 1891, the patent was approved for businessman Elijah Bond.

Not even the creator, Charles Kennard.

In 1890, Kennard owned a company called Kennard Novelty in Baltimore, Maryland.

He owned this with several partners and backers, including a guy named Elijah Bond, who was a lawyer.

The company had heard about the Talking Boards and thought that they showed some business potential, so they set out to manufacture and market their own, which is where Mr. Reishi came in, who already worked with Wood.

It was a business proposition, first and foremost.

The board's first great mystery may be the least supernatural one, and that's who came up with the branding.

Then there is the issue of the patent.

Elijah Bond is named on the patent that was issued on February 10th, 1891 for a toy or game.

That date is real and the patent is real.