October After Dark begins now.

The lights are low. The candles are lit. And there’s a Ouija board sitting on the table.

But when everyone places their fingertips on the planchette and it begins to move… who—or what—is actually moving it?

In the first episode of The Stephanie Frequency: October After Dark, we step into the strange history of the Ouija board—from the rise of Spiritualism and the first commercial talking boards to Elijah Bond, Helen Peters, William Fuld, séances, Pearl Curran and the mysterious force known as the ideomotor effect.

We’ll also explore the stories that transformed the Ouija board from a Victorian-era curiosity into one of the most recognizable—and feared—objects in paranormal culture.

Is the planchette being moved by unconscious movements of our own hands? Is something else answering? Or does the mystery live somewhere between belief, psychology and the unexplained?

For Crystal of the Week, we're going dark with Black Onyx—a stone traditionally associated in crystal practices with grounding, protection and boundaries. Geologically, material sold as black onyx is generally black chalcedony, a variety of quartz.

Turn down the lights and come with me.

October After Dark has officially begun.

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Sources:

Smithsonian Magazine — The Ouija Board Can't Connect Us to Paranormal Forces—but It Can Tell Us a Lot About Psychology, Grief and Uncertainty

HISTORY — What Are the Origins of the Ouija Board?

Talking Board Historical Society — historical research on talking boards and Ouija

SFO Museum — The Mysterious Talking Board: Ouija and Beyond

Gemological Institute of America (GIA) — research on black onyx/black chalcedony and quartz materials