The talking board didn’t begin in Baltimore. It began centuries earlier — in Chinese spirit-writing traditions, in medieval European divination, in the letter-grids of Elizabethan occultists. This week we trace that ancient impulse through the grief of post-Civil War America, across the Pacific to Japan’s Kokkuri-san, and into the hands of the men who bottled it, patented it, and sold it as a parlour game. We’ll get into the real stories behind the legends, the accounts that won’t stay buried, and a haunted house in Oregon where five people got an answer nobody in the room agreed to give. And somewhere in all of it — a man on a roof, and what the board told him to build.

• Smithsonian Magazine, “Patience Worth: Author From the Great Beyond”

• The Strong National Museum of Play — Ouija board collection and archival research

• Skeptical Inquirer, “Demoniac: Who Is Roland Doe?”

• Yokai.com Encyclopedia, “Kokkuri-san” (citing Inoue Enry■’s Meiji-era research)

• Zeitlin, Judith T. “Zhang Dai’s Planchette Writing.” T’oung Pao, vol. 84 (1998) Baltimore Magazine, “The Dark and Fascinating History of the Ouija Board”

• Atlas Obscura, “How the Ouija Board Got Its Name”

• Jefferson Public Radio, “As It Was: Ouija Board Chases Ghost Sleuths from ‘Haunted’ House”

• UK Intellectual Property Office Blog, “The Ouija Board: The Invention That Named Itself”

• Uncanny Japan Podcast, “Kokkuri Spirit Boards”

• The Ghost in My Machine, “Kokkuri-san: How to Play the Spirit of the Coin”

• American Hauntings, “The Mystery of Patience Worth”

• All That’s Interesting — Roland Doe coverageTier 4 — Aggregated community accounts

Used only for the real experiences segment. Presented as oral-tradition-style accounts, not verified fact.

• Reader’s Digest, reader-submitted Ouija stories

• Reddit r/Paranormal — cross-corroborated Ouija accounts

• BuzzFeed Community, reader-submitted Ouija stories

This episode contains discussion of death, grief, and alleged demonic possession, including a contested historical exorcism case. One brief, non-graphic historical mention of a suicide attempt appears in the closing segment. No method or detail is discussed. Listener discretion advised.

Website: letstalkspooky.com

Email: letstalkspookypodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @letstalkspookypodcast

TikTok: @letstalkspookypod

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For Canada Day, we’re taking a six-province ghost story road trip — from an abandoned BC sanatorium to a 275-year-old Halifax church still bearing a scar from 1917.

Content Warning: This episode discusses tuberculosis and institutional death, the historical mistreatment of Indigenous patients within Canada’s healthcare system (including forced hospitalization and non-consensual medical procedures), suicide, the death of a child, and a mass-casualty disaster (the 1917 Halifax Explosion, approximately 2,000 deaths). Nothing is depicted graphically, but listener discretion is advised.

Stay curious, stay spooky.

Sources Tier 1 — Primary & Institutional Kamloops Museum & Archives, Tranquille Sanatorium collection · Parks Canada, Fort George National Historic Site · St. Paul’s Anglican Church official history page · CBC News, “Canada’s oldest Anglicanchurch marks 275 years” · APTN News, “Former Edmonton hospital still haunts families” · Ghosts of Camsell research project & “Camsell” documentary (Edmonton Heritage Council / Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail)

CTV News, “Ghostly tales endure at War of 1812 site FortGeorge” · The Globe and Mail, MP Brenda

Chamberlain account · Atlas Obscura, “Face in the Windowat St. Paul’s Church” · Canadian History Ehx

(Craig Baird), Halifax Explosion & Charles CamsellHospital coverage · NUVO Magazine, “Who Haunts the Halls of Canada’s GrandHotels?”

Ghost Walks of Niagara-on-the-Lake · Tourism Winnipeg,“Stories of the Macabre” · Discover Halifax, haunted Halifax guide · The Wren, Tranquille history & timeline · Friends of Fort George ghost tour materials · Squarepeg Tours, Fort Garry Room 202

Assorted ghost-tour operator anecdotes and guesttestimonials cited within tourism and paranormal interest sites; used only for the “people claim to see…” texture, not as historical fact.

Regional Journalism & Established OutletsResearched Tourism & Local History SitesFolklore & Tourism-Operator Accounts (legend texture only)

Website: letstalkspooky.com | Email: letstalkspookypodcast@gmail.com | Instagram: @letstalkspookypodcast | TikTok: @letstalkspookypod

Have footage, photos, or a story of your own from any of these six locations? Send it our way — we’d love to feature it. And if this one had you in a road-trip mood, a quick rating or review helps other curious souls find the show.

On the brightest night of the year, a woman walks into a hill that everyone else avoids — and finds a feast, a fairy King and Queen, and a workbench where small hands shape weaponsmeant for the unsuspecting. It's a story she really told, in 1662, in the Scottish parish of Auldearn — one of the most detailed witch trial confessions ever recorded, given, as far as we know, without torture. This episode follows Isobel Gowdie's testimony from the Fairy Hill to her unexplained disappearance from the historical record, travels north into the bonfires, flower crowns, and pole-dances of Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Danish Midsummer tradition,makes a brief stop in Gaelic Cape Breton, and closes with the real rituals — protective herbs, threshold blessings, and a few you can still try tonight — tied to the longest day of the year.

Content note: this episode discusses historical witch trial testimony and execution. Light touch on detail — see the standalone content warning card for full wording and placement.

SOURCES (tiered)Peer-reviewed / academic

• Wilby, Emma. The Visions of Isobel Gowdie: Magic, Witchcraft and Dark Shamanism in Seventeenth-Century Scotland (2010) — and her related work, Cunningfolk andFamiliar Spirits.

• Hall, Alaric. “Getting Shot of Elves: Healing, Witchcraft and Fairies in the Scottish Witchcraft Trials.” Folklore 116 (2005): 19–36.

• Davidson, Thomas. “Elf-Shot Cattle.” Antiquity 30 (1956): 149–155.

• Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database, University of Edinburgh.

• National Records of Scotland — Privy Council registers, July 1662.

• Scottish Parliament, Petition PE1855 — pardon and memorial for those convicted under theWitchcraft Act 1563.

• National Museum of Denmark — Sankt Hans Aften and bonfire tradition history.

• SmithsonianMagazine, Atlas Obscura — coverage of the Witches of Scotland campaign and the2022 formal apology.

• The Copenhagen Post, The Local Denmark — reporting on Sankt Hans Aften witch-effigy tradition and its origins.

• Spookyscotland.net,Willow Winsham's research blog, Hoydens & Firebrands — secondary folklore writing on Isobel Gowdie, cross-checked against academic sources above.

• The Old Farmer's Almanac, The Pagan Grimoire — general Midsummer/Litha customs acrossSweden, Norway, Finland; used for cultural texture, not as primary historical authority.

Website: letstalkspooky.com

Email:letstalkspookypodcast@gmail.com

Instagram:@letstalkspookypodcast

TikTok: @letstalkspookypod

Got a personal paranormalencounter, a piece of local folklore, or a Midsummer tradition from your ownfamily? Send it our way — real listener submissions may be featured in a futureepisode.

Archival / institutionalRegional journalismResearched folklore resources (flagged, used forcolor/cultural detail)CONNECT