“The Talking Board,” or as it is more commonly known “Ouija Board,” is actually a fairly recent invention. American businessmen Elijah Jefferson Bond and Charles Kennard patented the first board with letters on it to be sold with a planchette (the pointing device you put on the board) in 1890. A keen inventor, Bond also trademarked the word ‘Nirvana’ and invented a steam boiler. In fact, he would have made an excellent addition to “Dragon’s Den.”

In 1901, an employee of Kennard, William Fuld took over production of the talking boards and marketed them under the name “ouija” from the French and German words for yes, oui-ja. The board grew in popularity from the 1920s-1960s and many similar boards were marketed by Fuld’s competitors. He filed several lawsuits at other companies who were using the term ‘ouija’ in their marketing. Fuld reinvented the history of the board and anounced that he alone devised it.

The true origin of the board, however, is claimed by Fuld’s rivals to date back much further in history. Fuji is a form of automatic writing from China first appearing on record in 1100 BC. With Fuji, no board is used, instead a large planchette with a pencil attached is placed onto paper and when the planchette moves it creates letters, pictures or symbols. This apparently was the inspiration for Bond’s invention.

Years of ghost stories, horror movies and tales of people opening doorways to the other side through improper use of the board has led many to believe that the board should not be sold as a toy. Despite this, Parker Brothers, who bought the rights to the Ouija Board in the 1960s, market many variations of the original design, including a lovely pink edition designed for teenage girls who want to find out if the spirits can give them a date for the night.

For us, as sceptical magician types, we know that the shape is just a glint of light against the camera lens. It only lasted for a second and in any of the other 24 frames in that second this is the only one in which it took a form which was vaguely human. But it is interesting how the brain wants to take random patterns of light like this and make something meaningful from them. Here is the image.

To see the full interview click here.

The Essential Magic Conference is going live on the internet in a minute. If you are a magician, or have any interest in magic, it is the most important thing you can do with 50 of your hard earned pounds this year. Registration is open here

The legendary and mighty Penn and Teller are in London for five nights only with what is, in our shared opinion the greatest magic show in the world ever.  Actually that is not just our opinion, it is a cold and objective fact. It’s been years since they have performed in the UK and who knows if they will ever return, either way you will regret it fully and thoroughly if you don’t attend.

They are at the Hammersmith Apollo from the 14th – 18th July and tickets can be purchased here.

At the beginning of August this year we will be starting a journey from London to Edinburgh for the worlds largest arts festival. After sell-out shows in 2008 and 2009 we are returning for our third year with a very different kind of show for us; a late-night séance.

The show is called “98% Séance” and is about making live contact with ghosts, spirits and demons. As anyone who has ever held a home-made séance will know there’s always the chance of nothing happening when you talk to the dead but they don’t talk back.  Also, because we are pretty much totally convinced that all those things are horse-shit anyway, the remaining 2% of our Séance will employ some underhanded trickery in order to guarantee some spine-chilling scares.

This years show is a very different thing to what we have staged before. It really exciting for us and might well be the most complex thing we have ever created. It pulls lots of fragmented elements together that have been floating around in both our heads since we were kids. As magicians, we are always looking for the real secrets behind any unexplained phenomena, but even as sceptics our aim is to inject some questions and fear into the heart of the Fringe.

Among the almost 2,500 shows it looks like there’s lots of  good things at Edinburgh this August.  Away from the painfully mainstream shows trying to make-it up there we are most excited to see Sammy J,  anarchic poet John Cooper Clarke, the gloriously awkward Edward Aczel, good friend and 3rd best magician up there Pete Firman, the sharp and brilliant Nick Mohammed and the mighty evil comic force Andrew O’Neill. For a comprehensive on-line listing of all of this years shows take a look at the brand new website of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe here.

There will be also be a load of great things happening at the Forest Fringe throughout the month so check their website for their list of events.

Edinburgh City itself conceals many hidden gems that are often overlooked during the festival period. If you are there any time of year be sure to visit the Camera Obscura and the spooky hidden network of streets beneath the royal mile, Mary King’s Close.

Tickets for our show “Barry and Stuart: 98% Séance” that will run every night at 22:20 from the 5th to 29th August are on sale now here.

Ever wondered how magic works? Have a look at the video above where we manage to correctly predict what playing card someone is just thinking of.

Impossible right? Not so.

How does it work? keep watching and we’ll show you.

Was it worth the effort? probably not.

Enjoy!

With this latest trick you will be able to convince your friends that you can read their mind by looking in their eyes. In reality of course this isn’t science, it’s magic and the secret is right here for you to exploit.

So you can see what this looks like in action here’s some hidden camera footage of this trick in action, followed by detailed explanation of how you can perform this for yourself:

And here’s this tricky video for you to have a practice with. You can embed it anywhere you like, including your own site or blog, or you can perform it right on our BBC three trick page.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnlYWlCD23M

You could use this feature to write your very own abstract poetry. The opening of “This is a tale unlike all the rest about a young boy whose tongue was demonically possessed” becomes “this isn’t a lot like a little less about a young boy whose tongue was still on a clean cassettes.”

As for “OJ Simpson slapping away”… I wish we did put that in the poem now.

In Google’s defence, maybe the bots don’t like the Scottish accent?

To access the captions you currently need to view the video on YouTube and turn on the BETA function from the bottom right of the player.

The entire event will be broadcast via the internet. It features lectures and demonstrations by some of the most important thinkers in magic. You can watch the lectures live from your computer, or you can view them on-demand immediately following their broadcast.

Register to attend this truly unique conference at essentialmagicconference.com