Coffee, Murder, & Mystery · Dark and Ominous Entertainment

The History of Ouija

July 12, 2025·35 min

Coffee, Murder, & Mystery opens by asking why the history of the Ouija board even belongs in true crime. The hosts answer by treating the board less like a party trick and more like a cultural object that slowly picked up fear, rumor, and blame. They start with the talking board before the Ouija brand took over the name. Its origin is still unclear, and the episode leans into that uncertainty by pointing out that no one really knows where it came from or how long it had been around. The board is placed in 1886, when it was already popular. Charles Kennard of Baltimore, Maryland, and a group of investors are introduced as people who saw a business opportunity in it. The episode explains that Kennard Novelty Co. grew out of that interest. The name Ouija is discussed through the familiar oui and ja story, but the show also points to another explanation tied to Elijah Bond’s sister-in-law, Helen Peters, who was said to be a strong medium. From there the episode turns to a murder case involving a mother and daughter, where the mother was originally convicted before the conviction was overturned after new evidence showed Maddie had lied. The hosts stay with the uncertainty instead of smoothing it out. They keep circling back to what the daughter may have said, who influenced whom, and how the story shifted over time. The conversation stays plainspoken and, at times, blunt. It also keeps pulling in ordinary details that make the cases feel less abstract. A skunk, a porch, a garden, and a bad decision all get folded into the discussion. Then the episode jumps to 1983, when two couples in Florida said the board told them to leave their home and join a carnival in Virginia. With no money, they claimed the board directed them toward robbery and murder. The victim, Nagok Van Dang, is named as the person they killed. The group turned on each other, and the whole thing collapsed into arrest and conviction. The hosts make no attempt to romanticize it. They treat the carnival idea as absurd and the crime as senseless. The episode closes with a 1995 London case involving Michael McCollum and a younger boy named Michael Eerage. The board spelled out kill, and McCollum stabbed the younger boy to death after believing Satan had ordered him to. The hosts describe the result as deeply sad and note that McCollum took a manslaughter plea. Throughout, the show keeps its familiar trio dynamic, with one voice carrying the timeline and the others jumping in with questions, reactions, and little bursts of disbelief. The tone stays casual even when the material turns dark. It does not pretend the board made anyone act, but it does linger on how people used it to justify what happened next.

As heard by us

A conversational Ouija history that blends folklore, business, and grim true-crime anecdotes.

The episode treats the Ouija board as more than a spooky prop, tying folklore, business history, and a few grim real-world consequences into one easy-to-follow story.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for Ouija board history that wanders into murder, mystery, and paranormal true-crime examples.

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