The Board Game That Might Be Moving Itself.

A board covered in letters. A small plastic pointer. A question whispered into the dark.

And then something moves.

For more than a century, the Ouija board has blurred the line between harmless entertainment and supernatural terror. But how did a Victorian-era novelty become one of the most feared board games in history?

In this episode of Geek & Grimm, we trace the Ouija board's strange journey from the séance parlors of the 1890s to the shelves of Parker Brothers, where it once outsold Monopoly. We'll explore the mysterious story behind its name, the cultural panic sparked by The Exorcist, and the science of the ideomotor effect, which might explain why the planchette seems to move on its own.

Is the Ouija board really a doorway to the spirit world? Or does it reveal something even stranger about the human mind?

Sometimes the scariest thing at the table isn't a ghost. It's who's moving the pointer.

Geek by day. Grimm by night.

The Arcade Game That Never Existed.

A mysterious arcade cabinet. Players reporting nightmares and missing memories. Men in black suits collecting data. Then, without explanation, the machine disappears.

According to legend, Polybius briefly haunted Portland arcades in 1981. No authenticated original cabinet or code has surfaced, but the story keeps finding new players.

In this episode of Geek & Grimm, Seth examines the real incidents that make the legend feel believable, from Brian Mauro’s marathon Asteroids session and Michael Lopez’s later account of falling ill after playing Tempest to federal investigations involving arcade gambling machines. These connections offer possible ingredients for the legend, not proof of a secret experiment.

Along the way: a Greek historian with an unexpectedly fitting name, and a final look at Play2Prevent and Jeff Minter’s 2017 Polybius.

Most games go from code to culture. Polybius went from culture to code.

Geek by day. Grimm by night.

The book that my never have existed.

What happens when a book that never existed becomes something people believe is real?

Created by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, the Necronomicon began as a fictional book of forbidden knowledge. But its reputation escaped the pages of his stories, inspiring real publications, occult fascination, horror films, and generations of pop culture mythology.

In this episode of Geek & Grimm, we pull the Necronomicon from the archive and explore how an imaginary artifact became a cultural phenomenon, why forbidden knowledge fascinates us, and what this legendary book reveals about humanity's fear of the unknown.

Because sometimes the most unsettling thing isn't what's written in a book.

It's what happens when we believe it.

Geek by day. Grimm by night.

Somewhere between the comic shop and the crypt, the stories get stranger.

Welcome to Geek & Grimm, a podcast exploring the curious intersection of pop culture, strange history, urban legends, and the paranormal.

From haunted arcade games and mysterious artifacts to superhero mythology and the darker corners of geek culture, each episode pulls something unusual from the shelf and examines the stories hiding beneath its surface.

Hosted by Seth Poiley, Geek & Grimm is a journey between the panels and the paranormal, where curiosity leads, legends linger, and the familiar becomes something unexpected.

Geek by day. Grimm by night.

Where superheroes meet spirits, and legends refuse to die quietly.

Follow Geek & Grimm and discover what's hiding on the shelf.