May 17, 2012
EPISODE 11 : The Ouija Board, from the seance to the toy store
And we’re back with the fascinating Mitch Horowitz (See Occult NYC Parts 1 and 2) and the incredible history of The Ouija Board. Learn about its early roots as a sort of ‘telegraph’ to the other side – to its evolution into the board game to outsell Monopoly. Get a haunting glimpse into some of the celbrities who used the board and learn about its ominous warning to poet Syliva Plath. Its more than just a toy and a Morrissey song (On le met en relation avec le Museum of Talking Boards: An Online Museum of Ouija Boards).
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‘The Midnight Archive is a new web series which aims to document the exotic, the strange, the eccentric and the truly unique. Often dark and always on the fringe, the series puts an honest look into some of the most fascinating people, places and artifacts that many people are wildly unfamiliar with. From a woman who mummifies pets to the largest collection of automata, the idea is for the subject matter to tell its own story and give the viewer just a taste of something ‘unusual’. No dramatic stings, no editorial drama – just the facts.
The series’ creator was inspired by an institution in his hometown called The Brooklyn Observatory. In 2010 he was asked to lecture there on his collection of mid-19th century 3D Demonic Stereo-Tissues and was amazed at both the variety and the number of people that came to the event. Talking to Joanna Ebenstein – one of the proprietors of the space and creator of the Morbid Anatomy Library, it seemed that there was a growing interest in the esoteric. So after much back and forth – they decide to undertake filming short pieces using the Observatory as their home-base …