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The 2021 Spooktacular - The Haunted Toy History of the Ouija Board
436 Plays4 years ago
Happy Halloween! On this episode Dave and Erik are once again joined by best friend of the pod, co-host of Calling All Creeps and Daycare Dittos, Local Die Bar Toy Designer, Dave Potosnak to get some updates on Local Die Bar and delve into the dark and mystical history of the infamous Ouija board!
Follow Dave on Instagram @cr33pynj
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Adventures in Collecting'
00:00:06
Speaker
Hiya bobs and dads! Adventures in Collecting is about toys, but it might not be for your children. Especially if you don't like words like f**k, or s**t, or f**k all. Are you ready, Oils and Horns? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart.
00:00:30
Speaker
It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast!
Focus on Toy News and Personal Collecting
00:00:36
Speaker
I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting. Where we talk toy news, culture, and halls. Along with our journeys as collectors. Hello everyone and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
Halloween Special with Guest Dave Potosnack
00:00:56
Speaker
Are those bubbles out here? Yes, Dave. We are back in the lab, uh, cooking up another, another Halloween adventure, because, uh, it is, uh, it is Halloween week. So this, this is, this is the big week, boys and girls. And, and, uh, and, you know, I'm hearing that, uh, that Halloween three, the season, the season of the witch, the doot doot doot doot doot. It's, uh, it's in my brain. Yeah. It's, uh, we are seven days away from Halloween at this point. So.
00:01:27
Speaker
Happy Halloween, Dave. We are. And we have a guest with us. Yeah, we do. I mean, it's just assumed at this point. Yes, but joining us to celebrate Halloween once again, other Dave, Dave Potosnack. Dave P, welcome back to Adventures in Collecting, buddy. Bubble, bubble, and toilet trouble. What's going on, guys?
00:01:56
Speaker
Dave, not much, man. Dave, of course, is also of calling all creeps, rested peace, and local
Recent Toy Acquisitions: Pokemon and Halloween
00:02:06
Speaker
die bar. So we got another toymaker back on the show. It is truly Halloween themed. We're celebrating a departed podcast.
00:02:15
Speaker
Well, Matt and I have to meet up for a friend's wedding at the end of October. So who knows, maybe we'll throw something out there for people. So stay tuned to Calling All Creeps. But yeah, I haunt this podcast every October time. The leaves change and I slide in those DMs.
00:02:37
Speaker
The leaves turn the color of your fine auburn hair, and they call you to be beyond the show. And much like recently, they fall from the trees. And you look into keeps. Only this season they're dread messages. Just as long as you're not here to burgle anybody's turds. That's all I care about.
00:03:04
Speaker
Just looking for a good name for a frog, my friend. Dave, this is over the garden wall references that if you haven't watched over the garden wall, if anybody out there, if you're looking for some good Halloween content. Did my expression give that away?
00:03:21
Speaker
yes yes okay by far the best fall anything to get you in the mood you still have some time to watch this just get a warm glass of anything actually there's a lot of bad warm things like a mug of chili would be bad for this but you know like get yourself a fall drink sit down cuddle up with the people you love
00:03:43
Speaker
And I believe it's on Hulu. It
Fall Activity: 'Over the Garden Wall' Recommendation
00:03:45
Speaker
is. And a couple other places. It is, I think it won an Emmy. It is a beautiful, can't be more than like two hours worth of animated fall goodness. Yeah. Elijah Wood, Christopher Lloyd. I think John, is John Cleese in it? I think so. John Cleese is in it. Yeah. There's, there's a ton of really, really great voice actors that are in it. Um, and just actors in general. Uh, yeah.
00:04:11
Speaker
highly recommend, great soundtrack too, awesome music in it. Speaking of the spooky things and the things that go bump in the night. On today's episode. We're going to be diving into the history of one of the most spooky or haunted toys of all time, which is the Ouija board.
Main Topic: The Ouija Board and Its History
00:04:33
Speaker
But before we take a dive into, um, into the history of, of said talking board, let's do a quick little, little halls recap. Cause it's been, it's been a while since we've done it. So, uh, let's, let's talk about just some of the things that we've been picking up lately, you know, as we, we head into the holiday season and. You know, we deal with all of kind of the shipping crisis things that are going on. Um, if you guys, uh, one of you guys want to start, why don't we let our guests start Dave, Dave, would you Dave other Dave, would you like to go first?
The Joy of Pre-Ordered Toys
00:05:03
Speaker
I'd love to. I've compiled a list from the last time I was on. You call it a shipping crisis. I call it a shipping delight because I pre-order so many things and then tada something shows up.
00:05:19
Speaker
And I can tell my lovely fiance, oh, I paid for this forever ago. It's not free wedding planning and whatnot. It's just a great thing that my good buddy sent me months later for me to enjoy. But a lot of fun things have come in and a huge.
00:05:38
Speaker
diverse range of what they are.
Super 7 Turtles and Pokemon Collection
00:05:42
Speaker
Started reading this manga and it's truly ruined my life, but I did get the Figma Band of the Hawk Guts repaint. You know, for early berserk, if people who haven't read, so before my soul was thoroughly crushed.
00:05:58
Speaker
and ruined. I have my Super 7 Turtles Wave 3, one of my absolute favorite Turtles Waves coming out right now. I do have some of the NECA, but you kind of see there's the video games, the cartoons, the movies, but Super 7 just hits home with those playmates figures and all of the Easter eggs there. So I'm loving those so much. And any Michelangelo with a real chain, it's just, it's what you wanted as a kid.
00:06:28
Speaker
and just those generic heads. And Bebop, who's probably my figure of the year, gets a Rocksteady now, so it's good to have them up on the shelf. Pokemon Select Greninja was able to find him. Thanks to shout out to the links in the Adventures in Collecting Instagram bio.
00:06:49
Speaker
was able to get that incredible figures. These are the figures I would have killed for as a kid. Greninja didn't exist then, but so happy to add him to my collection and very excited to start hunting for that articuno.
00:07:06
Speaker
On top of that, because I do way too much Pokemon stuff, had to get the Moncel, which I believe is Tomy, Gigantamax Pikachu. It's just a big fat Pikachu. He's just got a big ass, and he's ready to party. He's got red clouds around his head. It's a lot of fun. Couldn't pass up on that. I pre-ordered some Budega stuff over at Super 7 as well. Always love that. The Ultimate Macready.
00:07:35
Speaker
because I am a huge Kurt Russell fan. NECA, I know you're listening to this. I know you're already planning your big trouble in little China figures, which you can just send directly to me. Which McCready did you get? Did you get the one with the flamethrower or the first one? Flamethrower.
00:07:54
Speaker
Okay, but actually both. But the ultimate is the one with the flamethrower. The other one's going to stay in the box because that's one of the greatest horror movie posters of all time. And it's holographic and beautiful. But also, if you're a big trouble little China fan, I don't know if you guys listen to another recommendation blank check.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yes. Have you guys ever listened? They just did a podcast. A three hour Big Trouble in Little China podcast with the guys from How Did This Get Made? Oh, no way. Okay. Yeah. And you learn stuff like how Walt Disney's final words were Kurt Russell. So more about that on that podcast. But NECA, you can call me. I'll tell you everything to do and I'll be real nice about it. Just want some Big Trouble figures. And then on top of that,
00:08:47
Speaker
I saw your reels and your stories. When the press release came out for those stunts, it seemed really cool, like the mechanism, but watching you let them rip on carpet was wild.
00:09:04
Speaker
It's just a thing, I'm a man with a passion for stunts. So when Lego comes out with something that says stunts
Lego and Pokemon: Fulfilling Childhood Dreams
00:09:11
Speaker
and there's a Z in it, you know I gotta go to Target and spend $60 to $70 on a whole bunch of them. And for the most part, they all are super durable and they can fly. Like the flywheel is that same technology you had as a kid, not like the pullback and let it go, but like the push forward and rev it up.
00:09:32
Speaker
but it's got some get up and go. Only thing I can say that I do not recommend is when you're jumping actual fire and candles, if the flywheel gets stuck into a candle that's been on for an hour, it's a little bit to get all the wax out. But once it's out, that baby's ready to jump real flames again. Awesome. Yeah, those videos you posted were excellent. I was getting a little FOMO.
00:10:01
Speaker
About them. I was on the fence of whether or not I I needed them because I don't really dabble too much in Lego But uh, I can I can easily buy them for my daughter And we could play with them together. I'll buy her candles and lighter so we can play it the right way No, I'm very excited. You're gonna see way more Lego stunts. I got a werewolf now that's riding my bike. He just he is no He's a he's a devil make care attitude. He's ready to fly
00:10:32
Speaker
Those are my pick-ups. That's awesome. Dave, do you want to go last, or would you like me to go last? It doesn't matter if you want to go first. All right. So I, of course, have just been continuing the Marvel Legends collection I have. I'm currently staring at six, seven, eight boxes of Eternals figures that I need to open. The whole wave plus the Build a Figure plus the Deluxe Figure Crow.
00:11:02
Speaker
Um, I have Selma Hayek's AJAC, uh, pre-ordered, but she is starting to hit Walmart's now, uh, as of the recording of this podcast, which is, uh, the end of October, right? Um, yeah, they're, they're hitting in like an end cap and an eternal end cap. Of course she's a Walmart exclusive. So, um, I will be hunting her so that way I don't have to wait for the inevitable delayed shipment.
00:11:27
Speaker
Walmart's been really good about not canceling items like they were a little ways ago. They just keep delaying things. So if I can get her in person and avoid waiting until 2022 to have her, that would be amazing. So definitely keeping an eye out for her. I've been picking up way more wrestling figures than I thought I was going to be picking up, like a lot more.
00:11:54
Speaker
AW, WWE, I've been watching so much wrestling on TV, man. It's just, I blame both my brother and how good the toys have been. Yeah, there's so much wrestling. I've been going back on Macari and buying some older wrestlers that I wanted. I just picked up the Matt Hardy.
00:12:20
Speaker
Because I picked up the Jeff Hardy and Triple H 2-pack the the Elite 2-pack, which is awesome With it that I was at the intercontinental title they come with but it's awesome because Jeff comes with the tank top the lake Purple and green party boys tank top the basketball jersey. Yeah, the basketball jersey that Matt Hardy is actually wearing When he like accompanies him to the ring, so I'm currently looking at my my jazz wares and
00:12:50
Speaker
Like current Matt Hardy rocking the basketball jersey standing next to Jeff Hardy. And like my brain is just thinking like, Oh, wouldn't it be awesome if like they got one more chance to, to like tag together. Brotherly love. Brotherly love. But, uh, yeah, I, I, speaking of Mercari, I grabbed the, um, the bootyos, uh, new day three pack from a couple of years ago. I got a really good deal on it. I think I actually paid under what it was retailing. Um,
00:13:20
Speaker
And it was new in box. So it was, uh, it was happy to have, uh, add the three of those, uh, real quick. Anybody watch the undertaker new day Netflix special? I have not yet. I haven't yet. I want to, I want to, cause it's like a choose your own adventure. It's like, uh, it's like Bandersnatch was. Yeah. Bandersnatch got them ready. And I think that was just a throwaway so that they could truly do new day goes to undertaker's house.
00:13:47
Speaker
What's the saying? Bandersnatch walked so the Undertaker and New Day could run. So they could booty dance. So they could twerk. But yeah, I'm really excited to watch that. Maddie's actually excited to watch it too, because the Undertaker is like her favorite. She calls him the Underwear Taker. I don't know where it came from. Very funny. But he's the Underwear Taker. And then the other thing that I got was
00:14:17
Speaker
I was able to get the NECA Casey Jones, the new one, the new Ultimate with the unmasked head. And I picked up two of the new Hasbro Fortnite figures. So I have Shadow Meowsles with the bench press gear. And I have Ripley, which is a figure I was really hoping to get.
00:14:43
Speaker
I don't know what I'm going to do with the six-inch Fortnite figures going forward. I grabbed these two Hasbro ones because they were ones that I really, really wanted. I was hoping to get from the Jazzwares legendary series run. I have not opened them yet. I'm sure they're great. Hasbro always does a really great job. I just don't know if I'm going to continue with the line going forward, especially with the knowledge that they're working on that micro mask
00:15:13
Speaker
Inspired line that we've we've mentioned several times on the show. So I I don't know. I don't know Maybe I'm gonna open these and you know I'll kind of fall back in love with the figures again and you know They'll scale really well with the other stuff that jazz versus put out in the past. Well, we'll see what happens But those are my my main pickups Trying to think of what I got I've got a lot lately. I got the latest wave of the Marvel Legends 375s nice
00:15:44
Speaker
Picked up that whole wave. Got a couple of them unpunched, actually, too, which is pretty fun. Especially considering I'm gonna be opening them. Yeah, it was funny when I found some of them unpunched at Target that one day. I was like, man, it's a shame that I'm picking these up for Dave because
Marvel Legends and Exclusive Hunts
00:16:05
Speaker
he's 100% opening them and the cards are, like, beautiful. Just makes it hurt more when you do it.
00:16:11
Speaker
I'm going to try to find a way to at least preserve the art on the card. You could easily razor them off, razor the bubbles off. I've done that with a couple of the reaction figures of the art that I like. And they're fun open. They're super cool to have and the hand feel on them, it's just so nice. Yeah.
00:16:34
Speaker
A friend of the podcast Khalil from Caster's Corner received a box from him today. He found for me a couple of the Heroes Unite Spin Masters, but a couple of the harder to find ones and found them at retail, which is... Under retail? Under retail, which is pretty wild. It was the Chase Gold Superman, Wonder Woman, Gorilla Grodd, and the Chase Reverse Flash.
00:17:04
Speaker
Wow. Thank you, Khalil. I'm trying to think, oh, here's a good one that I got. I have the Super 7 Ultimate's Ghost Papa Emeritus 1. That finally arrived. Very much looking forward to opening that. Yeah, I'm suffering some FOMO on that one. I didn't order it from Super 7, so I have a notification set up for Sure Thing Toys for when they get it in stock because they have it for
00:17:33
Speaker
It was what 50 50 55 or something like that They have it for like retail price with free shipping So I have a I have a notification set up for when they get it in stock and I might pull the trigger on that one I don't listen to goes but it's awesome. That's such a nice that was an immediate, you know right away order for me You know, I got a couple pops a couple of the new Grogoos the
00:18:01
Speaker
Target exclusive gizmo with the 3D glasses. And isn't that one flocked? I believe it is flocked. I think the GameStop exclusive Triple H arrived. So a couple of fun pops. But mostly that's it. Last thing I'll say, got it from Ringside.
Exciting AEW and Rare Finds
00:18:24
Speaker
Ringside collectibles use discount code AIC to save 10%.
00:18:30
Speaker
the series seven AEW unrivaled figures. That was kind of the last thing that came, last big thing that came. Yeah. Oh, I feel like the other thing that we need to mention, you know, just while we're talking about halls, we, speaking of AEW, um, we, we found the, uh, the, the chase Cody. Oh yeah. That is, that is here too.
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah, so that was wild. I could imagine. To kind of just give a really quick rundown. And again, I don't know if this is how it works at Walmarts all over the country, but here in New Jersey, there aren't many 24-hour Walmarts in our area, if there are at all. I think there's only one. But the Walmart that is closest to me, they close at 11 every night.
00:19:24
Speaker
from about 930 on, they start rolling out the pallets to kind of restock while the store is closed. And a couple of us local collectors have called it a pallet diving recently. But basically, if you show up at 930, 930 on, the pallets are out. And there's stuff in there that never sees shelves. Because if you're not getting to it, whoever is
00:19:54
Speaker
Stocking the shelves is getting to it or whoever is getting there first thing in the morning is getting to it but but either way it goes it is it it does not really get to live on the pegs and I found unopened cases of Unrivaled figures and I opened them just you know I knew Dave was caught up and they didn't have any of the you know It wasn't any of the waves that I was looking for at the time But I popped open one of the cases and sure enough Chase Cody Rhodes
00:20:23
Speaker
And I, it's the first time I've, you know, either of us have seen a chase in person. And, uh, I have to say like, I talk about adrenaline. My heart was racing. Cause I mean, it's, it's what one of the, it's the one of 1000, right? Yeah. I think it was the last one of 1000 series. And, um, you know, there are of course, rarer, uh, jazz workers, AW figures, you know, the, those, those series of hundreds. Yeah. The, the, the.
00:20:51
Speaker
Uh, yeah, the five hundreds and then, you know, just the series one, um, figures are obviously, you know, no longer in production. So those are extremely rare, but it was just, if it was surreal to be holding something that was one of a thousand, like knowing that like, okay, there's, you know, less than 999 of these out there at this point, because.
00:21:11
Speaker
You've seen a couple online. Other people have gotten them. You've seen ones that are open. This was coming straight out of the case. It was crisp. The card was perfect.
00:21:25
Speaker
And again, huge shouts to Ringside who sells the awesome figure defenders, the case defenders for the line. So we were able to secure him up pretty quickly. Beautiful figure. Honestly, it's a damn shame that it's so rare because it is a gorgeous figure. It's got a great soft goods design shirt in there.
00:21:48
Speaker
The orange deco on his pants is fantastic and technically it's the first appearance of the neck tattoo, right? That's before the Ringside exclusive TNT one. And what a neck tattoo it is. Boy, is it. It is there.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, but super cool figure and it was an awesome experience. And, uh, you know, I've, I've met some really, uh, other really cool collectors, you know, uh, some of the nights going in there, lots of, uh, Hot Wheels collectors had a lot of conversations about Hot Wheels, which is something that's just like, you know, beyond
Interactions in the Toy Hunting Community
00:22:21
Speaker
me. Um, but, uh, met some really cool collectors who, you know, do similar, you know, have kind of a similar tactic in the area.
00:22:28
Speaker
as well as a couple of the late night Walmart employees that seem to, at least again in this area, they're much more willing to help. They see you poking and looking around in the pallets, and they walk over and they're like, hey, you're looking for anything in particular. And they actually pull out the device, and they'll scan barcodes for you. And they'll be like, nah, it's not in the pallets tonight. But we have a couple coming, come back in two nights. Or they'll tell you, why don't you check this store? This store usually gets stuff a day before we do, that kind of stuff.
00:22:58
Speaker
It's been overall, it's been a very, very positive experience and has had some really nice yields. I was also able to get the entire wave of the Spider-Man No Way Home figures. I was able to hook Craig up with the ones that he was looking for, Dr. Johnny with the Build a Figure pieces. I've had some good yields doing those palette dives. Yeah, I can imagine how much
00:23:26
Speaker
Thinking about my adrenaline spike when I saw that standee for AEW and UFC over a year ago when that series one came out and I just saw that getting wheeled out and like basically like, here you go, you can grab what you want. And I was like, whoa. So I can imagine what you were feeling when you saw that. Yeah, that's that's that's something bananas.
00:23:56
Speaker
Um, so we, we mentioned at the top that, uh, that Dave outside of being a, uh, a fellow podcaster, um, Oh, we didn't mention daycare Ditto's Dave.
Dave's Toy Line and Podcast Ventures
00:24:07
Speaker
Uh, also, also have daycare Ditto's for you Pokemon fans out there. Um, daycare Ditto's dives into a, a, a Pokemon every week. So we're an evolutionary, right? Like you do the whole, every Pokemon from one on. So. Yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker
We just didn't grime. Yes. Grimer and muck. We just did. Yes. I don't know when this is coming out. Last week. Last week. We did it last week. Next week. Don't know. Haven't done the research yet, but it sure is a Pokemon. But outside of doing your your awesome Pokemon podcast, Daycare Dettos, which you should totally check out if if you are into Pokemon, you are also a toy maker and you have a little you have a little indie line called the local die bar.
00:24:56
Speaker
I do. So do you have any, I'm staring at my four local die bar figures right now. Do you have any new ones planned? Any new ones in the works? So there's been a couple of different things. A lot's been on hold with different events, the world being the way it is and kind of a restructuring in a way of like what I want to do going forward.
00:25:23
Speaker
So there's been a few, we did a bootleg toy show in Somerville, with thanks to Lou Morrig of Critical Hit Tattoos.
00:25:32
Speaker
uh, playful gorilla, a couple other people were there. It was, it was a lot of fun. Um, and just kind of like seeing the bootleg toy world is like a one-off kind of like art piece thing was what I originally got started in when I was collecting. So it's something I'm looking forward to. Um, so there's a couple of new things on the horizon and new projects, bigger things planned, but because it's the spooky season for Halloween, um,
00:26:00
Speaker
Spooky season feels like the non-denominational Halloween. It's just like, oh, you don't celebrate Halloween. We'll say spooky season. Uh, yeah. Happy holidays of, of Halloween. It's, it's the one year of when I, you know, starting all of this. Um, so I, I did do kind of like a repaint. What I've learned now, fresh look at Gilly Idol, who's really,
00:26:28
Speaker
the mascot of the line, the monster who tends bar at the local die bar, the creature from the black lagoon as kind of a grizzled old punk. So new paint, carded on an openable basically like bubble. But for
00:26:51
Speaker
Halloween, I always, one thing that always bums me out, and this is something I saw a lot growing up as a 90s kid, it takes forever for there to be substantial female characters in toy lines. I feel like if it wasn't based on a cartoon that had the one female character, you never got it. So this is a character that I made. It was supposed to be one of the original releases, but I just didn't know how to sculpt it. And funny enough,
00:27:20
Speaker
it's all thanks to Bernie Sanders for this character. Bernie Sanders sat hilariously and changed the internet for a couple months. And I was like, I must sculpt him in the same way that Leonardo DiCaprio needed to draw boobs. So I sculpted a couple versions of what I called chili socialist, which
00:27:48
Speaker
People have been saying put online. I don't know what I'm gonna do yet. I have a bunch of those figures ready to go, but I've been doing those for live events and they've been pretty popular. It's basically just my little Bernie Sanders. But that taught me how to sculpt for a sitting character and I wanted something more than just like, you know, I haven't tackled articulation. So if it's a mini-fig, it's fun to have them in a pose. So I have a witch, the Fleetwood Witch,
00:28:18
Speaker
who is able to sit on your shelf, legs crossed, staring forward, for hopefully if you have like, I'm making a little bar for them. So you need patrons to sit in the stools. So the whole character is the Fleetwood Witch, which is, is this somebody who practices witchcraft? Is this someone to be feared? Is this the local witch in the bar full of monsters? Or is this just the Fleetwood Mac fan
00:28:48
Speaker
finding a bar where she won't be bothered for her tattoos or doing something on her own. So this character, and because of that, they're all going to be painted a little bit different, different skin tones, greens, purples, different hair, they'll all be a little different. And, uh, that they find solace at the local dye bar where the monsters keep to themselves and you're safe from the
New Toy Inspirations and Bernie Sanders Influence
00:29:10
Speaker
monsters outside. So, um, I have that and I have a handful. I'm going to, I did a RL slime.
00:29:19
Speaker
Which was, of course you did. The gelatinous Arl Stein character. And there may just be some Arl Steins that I'm putting out. Oh, okay. I was always fighting a cease and desist, but as you know with calling all creeps, Arl Stein refuses to acknowledge us. So I'm thinking if this gets his attention, it'd just be nice to talk to him. And I'm thinking I might just mail him one as well. It'd be nice to talk to him through his attorneys.
00:29:46
Speaker
Tim Jacobus, the artist, recently spotlighted. He's a feature in the weird New Jersey that just came out. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. You posted about that. So fun fact, when we posted that, we said our boy, Tim Jacobus, we call him Jacobus, it's actually Jacobus, but we've just fallen into it. It said our boy is featured in this and he messaged us back and he said, thank you so much, much love from the boy.
00:30:14
Speaker
And we said, and what a boy he is and super appreciated fellow Jersey guy. Check out his art. We've gotten a few commissions from him. Good guy, but that's awesome. But yeah, so, uh, it's just creepy.com just links to an Etsy. We'll have a limited release of a few fun things for Halloween or those who sell don't celebrate spooky season. And of course, you know, we'll, we'll have it, uh, we'll have it posted, uh, on our feed.
00:30:43
Speaker
Uh, when they, when they're announced, when they go live, all that, all that good stuff, you know, we'll definitely share and get the word out there. Cause we love, we love us some, some local dive bar. This is fun. I mean, I'm just trying to, I always wanted to make toys all through college. I remember doing like a hardcore.
00:31:00
Speaker
google session of like how to make vinyl figures like i just gotten home from the city i spent a whole day in toy tokyo and the kid robot store back when it was there on print street and just wanted to figure out how do i make vinyl figures um and the internet is basically like here's what you can do to try and make them at home but
00:31:25
Speaker
You will kill everyone. Everyone will die. Like it is the most toxic process. And then even making resin figures at that time was was tough to do. You basically needed to go to a blick or an art specialty to get your smooth on. So, I mean, that's when the suck lords of the world were up and coming and making things. And I think just being able to make figures and my dumb ideas and get them out to people
00:31:53
Speaker
I was able to actually give a ghillie idol one of the first waves to suck Lord and talk to him at one of the local toy shows. It was just super, just like, you know, I've dreamt about doing this and following you and hanging out at comic cons and just basement shows when toy Tokyo had those later at their new location, but meeting toy farce, finding a way to mail a RL slime to Finland.
00:32:20
Speaker
It's just about being part of the toy community, wanting to make stuff and just being inspired to make something instead of just sitting and watching Netflix. Today I sat and watched Netflix and primed figures.
00:32:38
Speaker
You know, it's one step more to make me not feel like crap. And, you know, previous guest on this show, uh, you know, Peter, Peter Goral of, uh, of killer bootlegs fame. I mean, that's, you know, that's how it started for him, you know, kit, kit bashing and, and, uh, you know, making, making molds out of, you know, his kit bashed figures and then, you know, making resin versions, you know, it's just.
00:33:03
Speaker
It's awesome to watch you and see these new figures come out, and each one is better than the last one. Shout out to him, too. That episode was huge. Shout out to you guys and him. That episode, I remember driving to my last job, which was not great. Hearing that, a lot of people told me, just make the same thing, paint them different.
00:33:26
Speaker
spray paint, make a mold, do whatever, and then people will buy them for this much and you can just put them on a card and just keep putting the same thing out. You'll make a good amount of money. And I was like, I don't really, that's the, I don't want to do that. And it was one of those things where it's just like, how do you keep
00:33:42
Speaker
inspired and keep going. And that after listening to that episode, I think it texted you. I'm like, I'm ready to run through a wall. Like, um, that was like the inspiration I needed. Do I ever want a comic featured or anything like that? Or it's not about like how far it'll go or the money. It's just like he had a vision and a love of what he did. And it just, you know, it's inspirational. And I think now more than ever is the easiest time to be able to make toys. And if you're inspired,
00:34:12
Speaker
reach out to people. I hope, speaking of reaching out, I hope you reached out to Peter and I hope you let him know because he will hear you and he will answer. I will. But anybody, you can buy resin casting kits at Michaels now.
00:34:29
Speaker
3D printers are not as expensive as you think. I learned 3D sculpting to teach kids at my past job with free software and went up from there. There's always resources at your fingertips now to make just cool stuff. Even if you're making one for yourself or a friend, it's a cool process and I say go for it.
Chubsy Wubsy Toys Promotion
00:34:53
Speaker
This segment is brought to you by our friends at Chubsy Wubsy Toys. A traditional mom and pop toy store in Little Falls, New Jersey, Chubsy Wubsy Toys brings you the best new toys from the brands you love without the hassle of pounding the pavement searching for them at larger retail stores.
00:35:09
Speaker
Visit them in person at 106 Main Street in Little Falls, New Jersey, or online at ChubsyWubsy.com. That's C-H-U-B-Z-Z-Y-W-U-B-Z-Z-Y.com. And tell them Adventures in Collecting sent you.
00:35:26
Speaker
So speaking of toys and kind of evolution and seeing things kind of blossom into something that was maybe not what it was intended to be, maybe something a little bit bigger and better than intended, I feel like now is a good time to transition into our main topic, which is the Ouija board.
Ouija Board in Pop Culture
00:35:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:52
Speaker
in thinking about, you know, we had gone back and forth and, you know, we're kind of thinking about how we wanted to approach Halloween this year, you know, looking at our past topics and things that we've done. I figured
00:36:06
Speaker
This story is kind of interesting, because I actually didn't know a lot about the Ouija board. And it's just one of those things that's so present in pop culture, especially we all enjoyed horror films. It's played roles in, it's been the starring role in horror films. And it's played pretty big supporting roles in some big horror films. So you even had its own movie. Yeah. Two of them, I think.
00:36:34
Speaker
And it's found its way onto flash sheets across tattoo parlors as well. It's iconic. Yeah, the whole thing is iconic. I mean, I think people only know what a planchette is because of weed. Not for that, like where the hell else would you use a planchette? I can't even think of...
00:36:55
Speaker
of another use of it, frankly. It's like opera glasses for books. Yeah. But it has a super interesting story. So in thinking of this topic and kind of diving into the history of the Ouija board, I pulled up a little fun
Origins and Spiritualism of the Ouija Board
00:37:15
Speaker
history. So let's open the figurative
00:37:18
Speaker
tome of the internet, um, big, big shouts to time magazine for putting together a wonderful piece about the Ouija board, uh, in which I was able to pull some really interesting facts from. So, um, can we start off with a joke? I promise it's not the joke I texted you about. Yeah. Please don't do that too soon. That one. We'll just leave that one out. That one I found on the internet. Um, all right. So.
00:37:46
Speaker
A group of friends decide to use a Ouija board. So they start off by asking in a few questions. First they say, is anyone there? Slowly the planchette moves to yes. They ask, how did you die? And then the planchette spells out a sentence. Some duck killed me. The friends look at each other confused and they say, you were killed by a duck?
00:38:14
Speaker
The planchette moves slowly and says, sorry, autocorrect. It must be a recent death. Very, very recent death. So Dave, that's actually that joke was a perfect segue to the true origin of the Ouija board.
00:38:36
Speaker
not that the Ouija board was not originally invented to be a uh... a game so uh... a product of its times the the Ouija board uh... was actually something that was invented to kind of capitalize on at the time uh... the united states grown fascination with with the spiritualism uh... movement uh... and and that's not necessarily kind of a
00:39:02
Speaker
When I say spiritualism, it's with a capital S. So it's not like, you know, just kind of the exploration of faith or anything like that. It's actually this movement that was connected to séances and kind of mysticism, right? So in upstate New York, which is not far from a Sierra New Jersey, the famous, the world famous Fox sisters had recently risen to stardom.
00:39:31
Speaker
Because they were conducting seances in their their home and they were inviting people in and then eventually went on tour And they appeared to communicate with dead by asking them kind of simple questions and having them kind of wrap answers on the wall And while this eventually turned out to be a complete farce It really kind of kindled this this feeling in a lot of people and
00:39:59
Speaker
who you've got to remember, this is the late 1800s. We're talking about the 1880s, 1890s. And science is still a long way away from where it is now. So there was not a lot of explanation in terms of when somebody died, there wasn't the preventative medicine that we have today for science to explain things. No podcasts. No podcasts. No stuff you should know.
00:40:28
Speaker
So sometimes people would just drop dead and there was no explanation. So people didn't have an opportunity to have closure or anything. So these experiences, these seances, while they were definitely a little opportunistic and took people for a ride and took a ton of their money,
00:40:47
Speaker
Uh, at the end of the day, they were kind of providing a service to people where they were, right? Like kind of funny though, that it's, it's like, it's just like, well, grandma died. And then they're like, well, here's monopoly. Well, so here's the crazy thing, right? So like prior to that, it was, well, grandma died. I'm going to go.
00:41:08
Speaker
I'm going to get on like a train and like go halfway across the country to see these two sisters so that way I could tell grandma, buy, you know, like it's ultimately what it is. What a good business though. Tell grandma, buy, yell, get to it. Yeah, right. I'll text her. So what's what's really interesting is the Ouija board, the people that created the Ouija board was like, wait a second, wait a second.
00:41:36
Speaker
don't get on a train. We're going to sell you a thing so you could talk to grandma at home. Um, cause people were looking for a way to have kind of these similar experiences. Um, and, and like I mentioned, you know, science was, was not in, in a great place at the time, you know, medicine.
00:41:54
Speaker
Um, the average lifespan of a person at the time we're talking about here was only 50. Uh, so again, like, you know, people, people were looking for ways to kind of reach this level of closure. Short and sweet. Make the most of your time, right?
00:42:12
Speaker
So I guess like a midlife crisis would be, I'd be past my midlife crisis. We'd all would be like way past our midlife crisis. I definitely had one around then. So I don't know what that, get out your Ouija boards. Meanwhile, Dave, you're knocking on death's door over there. Just sitting there going like, wow, 10 years. All right, let's figure this out. It's okay. We don't have any medical or scientific issues at this point in our world. What do you got for me?
00:42:42
Speaker
So, the first makers of the Ouija board, this brings us, you know, officially into the end of the 1800s, is called the Kennard Novelty Company. So, originally marketed as the Talking Board, was first made in 1890. So, I'm going to ask you guys a trivia question here. Where do you think the name Ouija came from, or Ouija, as some people say it?
00:43:07
Speaker
It's how Mario pronounces Luigi's name. He goes, oh, oh, yes. All the way back in 1890 was Shigeru Miyamoto was was time traveling. Any any any other guesses? I mean, Dave, I think you got this. Come on. You got this. So I would say it's
00:43:34
Speaker
It's the board named itself. Um, that is a hell of a guess, Dave. I would say it's not a portmanteau. Yes. So most people think that, uh, that, that Ouija is a combination of, I think it's, I, I should have written this part down actually in my notes here, but, uh, a combination of, of yes, like we.
00:43:57
Speaker
And I think like the German word for yes or something like that. It was people, people thought it was a combination and, you know, a portmanteau of those words, but, but yes, Dave, you're correct. Are you guys saying when it's maker sat down to play the board spelled out Ouija following the question, what should we call you? Yes. Yes, Dave.
00:44:18
Speaker
Um, yeah, so the, the, the, uh, you're, you're absolutely right. The, the creators, uh, sat down and they said, what should we call you? And, uh, and that's, that's what they said the board spelled out and, uh, and Ouija. Then, uh, they asked, what does it mean? And they said, good luck, or the board said, good luck as much as a board can talk. Um, that's a cool ghost. Hey, Eric, I have a question. Yeah.
00:44:45
Speaker
Would you say that the Ouija board was the original influencer? You know, Dave, I think you're...
00:44:57
Speaker
I think you're on to something there. It absolutely, it absolutely was a huge influencer at the time. Because again, going back to the lack of kind of science, it's weird to think that in the 1890s and early 1900s, this was still like an issue. But, you know, over the past, you know, it was like 100 something years, right?
00:45:21
Speaker
Um, the, the board, uh, has been considered to be, uh, one of, one of the first influencers. Uh, people have claimed that it was the reason they joined the military, the reason they took job interviews. And there was even some famous poetry that was created. Um, and again, this is one person. So I think a lot of people, when they think about Ouija, or at least I do, I don't know, correct me if I'm, if I'm wrong, if you guys think otherwise, but like, I always think of like a group of people with like, they all kind of have their hands on it and it starts moving around the board.
00:45:51
Speaker
But a lot of these instances, like back in the day, people were using this by themselves. Just one person with their hand on the planchette asking questions and letting the thing move around.
00:46:03
Speaker
I know the signature term coined by Time Magazine for that is a bunch of liars. It always reminds me of the commercial. I'm not moving it. Well, who's moving? Yeah. Yeah. But to be fair, if I was going to join the armed forces, I would rather the Ouija board tell me to do it than like the three doors down song at before the movie plays.
00:46:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's true. It's pretty cool. And now a word from our sponsors. And now back to the show. So just about, you know, so the board kind of had this this kind of existence where it was kind of this parlor trick, right? It was a it was a thing that just kind of existed. It was innocuous. It was kind of innocent.
Cultural Shift: The Exorcist's Impact on Ouija
00:46:59
Speaker
It was just a way for people to kind of
00:47:01
Speaker
deal with things, and then it kind of became gamified a little bit. But later on in the 60s, Parker Brothers acquired Ouija, and just about a decade after they acquired it,
00:47:18
Speaker
The harmlessness of the Ouija disappeared for forever, literally. When in 1973, it was used as a pathway to possession in the movie The Exorcist. It let Captain Howdy in. Azuzu. Never heard of it. Never heard of The Exorcist?
00:47:41
Speaker
No, get out. Before I saw The Exorcist, I actually saw the dinosaurs episode that is based on The Exorcist when the baby gets sick. Yes. That was weirdly my first exposure to that movie. You could watch that right now on Disney Plus if you so desired. I don't, but thank you. I tried watching the first episode of that show. It is weirder than I remember it being as a kid.
00:48:09
Speaker
Very, very strange show. So following The Exorcist, and of course, that film was like a global phenomenon. People were storming out of theaters. People were losing their minds over it. Overnight, the board game suddenly became associated with demonic possession. And here we are 50 years later.
00:48:35
Speaker
the board is still banned in many places. People have ceremonial birdings of the board along with copies of demonic or satanic texts. That very, very fictional, not real film really changed the trajectory of that board for the rest of its existence. I wanted to say that
00:49:03
Speaker
That stopped. People aren't burning them as much now, but the trajectory has changed. By any chance, have you checked the Ouija Board's Amazon reviews?
Amusing Amazon Reviews of the Ouija Board
00:49:14
Speaker
Oh no, I haven't. Have you? Oh my. So, Ouija Boards, no matter what website you can buy them on, have a very skewed review.
00:49:28
Speaker
usually dipping towards the one star. And sometimes you'll get one star reviews that say things like, the Bible says not to seek out wizards, soothsayers, sorcerers, spiritists, nor to mess with any form of witchcraft or divination.
00:49:44
Speaker
and whole long things about what Jesus blah, blah, blah. Again, it's nothing religious. This for us. Then you get other ones where one star help my son won't stop puking. And there's a whole bunch of stuff there where it's like I recently bought this for my eight year old son as a gag gift worst mistake of my life. I've never believed
00:50:06
Speaker
in this paranormal activity so I've decided to be a wholesome gift never again. So there's a ton of these and then every now and then you get some real gems of people that are kind of trying to help out Hasbro, give a five star review, put something fun in there so you get a Mike who wrote a fun game, get it, great game, conjured a few farts, five stars.
00:50:33
Speaker
Uh, or this one's only two stars from LB Taylor who said, did not give correct lotto numbers. Bumped. Um, Sarah Crow gave five stars and said, uh, bought this for my daughter and she loves it. Has used it to summon so many demons. Well worth the money. And then my favorite, which, um, I don't know how to pronounce her name. So I'll just say, uh, it's five stars. Title is makes jerks disappear.
00:51:02
Speaker
Got this as a gag gift for my jerk family member. They didn't want to take it home. I hid it inside their house. Now they hate me and blocked me. So I guess this product works great. Perfect. Bravo. If you ever want to go through a crazy chain, Amazon Ouija board comment section. You know, it's a
00:51:25
Speaker
I didn't even think to look at that. That's such an amazing move. Thank you for bringing up that part of it because, as you mentioned, it is now Hasbro's product. Hasbro bought Parker Brothers in the 90s and they continue to produce the Ouija board and they continue to produce it to this day. As you just read on Amazon, you could go and buy one. It's like 20 bucks.
00:51:53
Speaker
And of course, most recently, the board can be seen as the focal point of the horror film series, Ouija, and Ouija, Origin of Evil. Have you guys seen either of those? I have not seen the Ouija films. I heard Origin of Evil is actually pretty good. I have not seen it. I have not seen them, though. That might have been a good idea to watch that before doing this podcast. Yeah.
00:52:22
Speaker
But yeah, I know I've heard similar things about Origin of Evil. Yeah, I saw it. It was pretty awesome, man. It was just as good as Battleship. Oh, instant classic. I can't wait for the Monopoly movie. I was just gonna say looking forward to Sorry.
00:52:43
Speaker
That one's coming out after trouble, I think. I think so. Did you see that meme that's been going around? It's an actual sign at a Starbucks that is banning Ouija boards from the cafe. No. Yeah. Yeah. That's something that was going around online where somebody put up like it's like a definitely made on word on the back computer. Like no Ouija boards allowed in the cafe. That's funny. And people are just like, what happened here? So so lastly, before we kind of wrap up here,
00:53:12
Speaker
I, how does it work? So how does the Ouija board work? Um, so of course you have people that believe that it's conjuring spirits and the spirits are controlling the board and they're talking to you. So if that's the route you choose to go then.
00:53:28
Speaker
and that's that's your answer. Science, however, says otherwise. It's something called the ideometer effect, which basically asserts that the planchette requires so little physical interaction to move like very, very, very minor muscle movements that if you are focusing on one thing, oftentimes like just kind of the
00:53:52
Speaker
your general existence will be slightly shuttering this thing around. That when you have your hands on it by yourself, or if a group of people all have their hands on it, no one believes that one single person or a group of people are actually moving it, that it is some kind of other force. From what I read in the research is if you are playing this with a group of people,
00:54:22
Speaker
one person tends to be the kind of like alpha mover without realizing that they are that person. So, you know, one person will kind of subliminally be moving this thing around or if they're just a straight up jerk, just kind of moving it on their own, right and taking control, but
00:54:40
Speaker
But yeah, so there you have it. There is the history of the Ouija board. And like I said, if you just Google history of Ouija, there's a really, really good Time Magazine article that goes into so much more detail. But that's kind of it. That's where the board comes from. So made up spooky origins on a thing that was not intended to be spooky. Just as a little follow up here,
00:55:11
Speaker
The original Ouija film, just known as Ouija, a solid 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. Six, like six out of 100. Like one, two, three, four, five, six. Wow, okay. Origin of Evil, 82%. No way. Directed and co-written by Mike Flanagan. Oh, okay. Of Dr. Sleep and The Haunting Shows and
00:55:38
Speaker
Well, it's like a bold move to make like a super crappy movie just so your second one looks so much better. You set the bar real low. Yeah. So Dave, we obviously we don't have a final question this week because of just kind of the topic of the show. But you said that you had an idea in lieu of said final question.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, so I'll still do the voice. So yes, let's do an experiment if everyone's okay with that. So everyone, everyone here should have received a classic Ouija board via snail mail. We ordered three via Amazon and I have mine right here. We're all going to open up our Ouija boards and try out a little virtual seance to pull this
00:56:35
Speaker
to put this all to rest. So does everyone have their Ouija board? Yep, I got mine here. You ordered this on Amazon? Now I know why people are complaining. It should be the, yeah, this should be the newest Hasbro version. But not like a used one? Did you do like from a seller? No, I did brand new. This looks old. Amazon you never know.
00:57:03
Speaker
But wait, like, is it maybe some kind of like special edition or something like this? Like Bezos from home, special edition, I guess it might be a special edition. I know they made a Stranger Things one, but I don't see an 11 on it. What about a hopper? Is there a hopper? No hopper. But it's a Ouija board, right? Like it has everything that's supposed to be there. The board, the planchette. Planchette board. It's a Ouija board. Yeah.
00:57:32
Speaker
All right. Well, good. We have it. I got mine open here. Let's just ask. Let's just ask some questions. All right. This is OK. Which version? How you how does this one work? Are you guys controlling it? Well, I put the thing down and it's moving. Like it's I don't see batteries. Because jokes on you, because this is definitely way more money than views you'll get on this episode.
00:58:02
Speaker
But I'll play along. Play along with what, dude? We're not doing anything. Yeah, there's no batteries. It's magnets. How do they work? But it's hold on. It's spelled repeat. All right, it's moving. It just it's saying the same thing over and over again. Repeat. Are you repeat? I.
00:58:33
Speaker
am here to stay. I don't know this is this is this is pretty weird. I am here to stay. Must be a big corn fan.
00:59:10
Speaker
Dave? You there? Why, good day, gentlemen! David here? Dave? What happened? I prefer David. But what happened? Why, that's a very long story for another day. More importantly, I must thank you two gentlemen for finally granting me a corporeal home. I've always wanted red hair.
00:59:40
Speaker
Though these pets here are questionable. I've always fancied myself more of a dog man. So much to do. So much to do. Uh, yeah. Hilarious. Alright, you got us, Dave. Listen, this makes for Tower Bowl Radio. Can we just play with our Ouija boards now? Oh, sir! One does not play with a Ouija board.
01:00:07
Speaker
Such a powerful tool need not to be trifled with. And got you, you say. Choice words. Choice words. I think I'll be paying you a visit to discuss this further. In the meantime, here, kitty, kitty. Here, kitty!
01:00:39
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
01:00:55
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
01:01:19
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer Frank Kablaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.