#015: • The Ouija Board • Robert Murch and John Kozik

<p>Today, I got to chat to a couple of the world’s biggest <strong>Ouija Board</strong> nerds on the planet: <strong>Robert Murch</strong> (known throughout the episode as ‘Murch’) who is Chairman of the Board for the <strong>Talking Board Historical Society</strong> (Colorado) and <strong>John Kozik</strong> from the <strong>Salem Witch Board Museum</strong> (in Salem, funnily enough).</p> <p>The Ouija Board is a staple of modern horror movies, but it has a varied past that goes right back to the late 1800s - a past these two gentlemen have spent their entire lives unravelling, researching, hunting, arranging and making available to the public. This is where we begin our conversation. I’ve assumed a lot of prior knowledge on behalf of the listeners here - there’s no in depth discussion about the dead/demons/spirits/whether it’s fake or real. Sit yourself down in front of one with some friends and figure it out or yourself. We did.</p> <p>I’ve always loved the Board and the mystery behind it. How such a simple thing - sold as a mass production game - could single handedly (well, maybe with a little help from That Movie) kick-start the Satanic-Panic movement (can we call it a movement?) is absolutely worth buying somebody a beer over.</p> <p>If you want to go digging your own rabbit hole on the subject of the Ouija, here’s the related links for you - if you wish, you can find the socials on each of the individual sites:</p> <p><strong>Talking Board Historical Society</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://tbhs.org/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://tbhs.org</a></p> <p><strong>The Salem Witch Board Museum</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://www.salemwitchboardmuseum.com/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://www.salemwitchboardmuseum.com</a></p> <p><strong>Robert Murch</strong>:</p> <p><a href="https://robertmurch.com/" rel="nofollow ugc noopener">https://robertmurch.com</a></p> <p>And if you want to fall down the rabbit hole and stay there, there’s some damn nice custom boards available on Etsy:</p> <p><a href="https:/