Alexander Grelier 12/12/18 Material Culture: Ouija Boards Psychology Today: The Ouija Board Explained University of Texas: Spiritualism APPI Ghost Hunts & Tours: Origins of Ouija One of the two main factors that allowed the Ouija Board to be marketed successfully is the Modern Spiritualism craze in the 19th century. Spiritualism has been around for centuries, but a huge modern spiritualism wave began after Civil War, when people had lost loved ones to the war, and desperately yearned to contact them. According to an article written by the Victorian Web, the idea of modern spiritualism truly began in the 1860's after two sisters claimed that they had spoken with a man that had died in their house years before. Families that heard this news would hire mediums to come and conduct seances to have a hope of contacting their dead friend and family. The idea of "talking boards" to contact the dead had been around for a long ti...