Mysterious Planchette

I managed to paint myself into an asymmetrical corner, so I gotta post a rare selfie to offset my V-Day post with Elliot and even my profile page symmetry out! So here’s an introduction for the new folks! My name is Brandon Hodge, and I’m a small business owner, horror author, séance collector, and occult historian based out of Austin, Texas. And I really do all that—I own Monkey See, Monkey Do! toy store and Big Top Candy Shop and have worked on lots of books in the tabletop RPG biz, mostly in the occult horror genre for Paizo Publishing. My username comes from my website, MysteriousPlanchette.com, which features my collection of automatic writing planchettes and my historical research on them and other spirit communication apparatus. And I’m a preservationist and director for the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist & Occult Periodicals (IAPSOP.com), a massive online archive of digital occult documents. I spend a significant chunk of my year assisting other researchers and lecturing for academic institutions. My main feed mostly features items from my collection, which is heavy on historical séance artifacts, with planchettes and oddball spirit apparatus being my true love and specialty, but also features Ouija, talking boards, spirit trumpets, holy relics, spookshow paraphernalia, occult artifacts, and radiesthesia, as well as related images from my paper archive or digital clippings from IAPSOP discoveries. If you want to get to know the guy behind the history, my Stories are great for that. There you’ll discover I’m a devoted single dad of two amazing kids with a funky day job who travels to a lot of interesting places and knows a lot of interesting folks. My Stories show more of that personal side alongside IAPSOP discoveries that didn’t make the cut, friends’ work and art, music, and other flotsam and jetsam from my life. So! That’s what I do here and how I do it. Thanks for having me and enjoy, saints and sinners! #planchette #ouija #pastpresentfuture #talkingboard #occult #radiesthesie #seance #history #dapperdanman #historian https://www.instagram.com/p/CLuRTvNFDaZ/?igshid=4z6c3j4hfa4c

Well, y’all. It’s 8° here in Austin and we had a legit blizzard last night. 2021 is gonna be our year—amIright?? No excuse to not post, I guess. So, here’s Northwestern Toy Co.’s “Volo” talking board: Charles Kennard’s first attempt to return to the market after parting ways with the company that bore his name—the Kennard Novelty Co—which first produced the Ouija. Kennard erroneously claimed to have invented the Ouija despite a years-long history of Spiritualists using talking boards that bore a suspiciously striking resemblance to the device. And though he gets big points for commercializing the idea, you might say he laid too strong a claim on the concept by pursuing a patent with Elijah Bond, because it would thwart his early efforts to recreate his early success since he no longer held the production rights to make talking boards, which never should have been patentable anyway. Ain’t life funny like that? Like snow in Central Texas. #ouija #volo #talkingboard #planchette #spiritualism #seance #occult #paranormal #haunt #mystifyingoracle #planchette https://www.instagram.com/p/CLUGAakln53/?igshid=d2m4sfwvzlfh

Today’s the day for this goofy little Valentine’s Day tradition of ours, as my amazing and ever-sprouting daughter and I wish everyone a happy V-Day with our reliable Chad Valley planchette from the 1930s! Jack just couldn’t get into it, but maybe next year? And yes—still on social media hiatus for the most part here, folks, but I’ll be back around before you know it. Until then—enjoy your day, lovers, saints, and sinners! ❤️ #planchette #ouija #valentines #valentinesday #heart #red #love #talkingboard #spiritscribbles #automaticwriting #ghostwriter #daughter https://www.instagram.com/p/CLR4nmRFhnN/?igshid=kgnrcxz4iqnm

Well. Here we are. The last day of one helluva crappy year. As promised, here’s the other Wilder “Mitche Manitou” talking board to accompany Wednesday’s post. Note how this one has everything arching over the logo, rather than around it. What other differences do you see? Well, here’s to a safe and happy New Year’s Eve, folks! Can’t say I’m sorry to put 2020 in hindsight. Stay safe. Stay home. Be nice. #ouija #talkingboard #planchette #ouijaboard #spiritualism #occult #mitchemanitou #ghost #spirit #haunt https://www.instagram.com/p/CJdpbRtFtjc/?igshid=1jyz0a1r9q9q1

Participating in social media trends isn’t exactly my style—I do run an account featuring items popular way back in the era of the American Civil War, after all—but Top Nine is nice. It’s a good retrospective and it’s neat to see what y’all responded to, because with rare exceptions these are rarely the posts I would’ve pegged as blockbusters when I posted them. A couple of account classics here, though, including “planchette girl” from a 1910 article on séance exposures that everyone loves, the Elijah Bond Ouija tombstone that’s always a hit (and always better when paired with one of @jessihardesty’s amazing woodcut planchettes), the Alexander planchette made its debut this year and nearly appeared twice here, and there’s several instances of spirit photography, which y’all can never get enough of. So, there’s your 2020 favorites, saints and sinners. Can we put this year to bed now? #ouija #planchette #seance #spiritualism #ghost #haunt #talkingboard #spiritphotography #spirit #graveyard #cemetery #topnine #2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/CJbIkx9lQZs/?igshid=toxfaa50vl4w

I know I haven’t closed out this shitshow of a year with much activity. For those who know I own a couple of retail shops here in Austin so we had to buckle down and make the most of this crucial holiday season. But rest assured I’m alive and well and here’s looking forward to the New Year. I know my inbox is stacked up here so apologies if it haven’t gotten back with you. I’m on it! Gonna post a couple of variations of a perennial favorite over the next few days—the Wilder “Mitche Manitou” Talking board—to flank this year’s Top 9, which I’ll post tomorrow. Hang in there, saints and sinners—it’s almost behind us. #ouija #talkingboard #planchette #ouijaboard #spiritualism #occult #mitchemanitou #ghost #spirit #haunt https://www.instagram.com/p/CJYihv8F_Pf/?igshid=1dty00vqb0dyw

Happy Halloween!!! I posted my daughter’s “happy” pumpkin yesterday, but here is my son Jack’s slightly-more-sinister jack o’lantern. Stay safe tonight, everyone, and may the light of your own jack o’lanterns ward you from malicious and harmful spirits! #halloween #pumpkin #jackolantern #greatpumpkin #thisishalloween #spooky #scary #samhain #harvest #trickortreat #🎃 https://www.instagram.com/p/CHAibsSl9nt/?igshid=yllp10q7urjh

Well, Halloween will be here in a few hours, and I know for many of us it feels like such a wasted opportunity: it falls so ideally on a Saturday, daylight savings would have bought us an extra party hour, and it’s the first full (blue!) moon on Halloween since 1944 (I wouldn’t have to hide my lycanthropy, as I have the perfect natural werewolf costume!). But, alas, health and safety come first, and I encourage you to make the absolute best of it. Dress up anyway. Carve a pumpkin. Eat too much candy. Dance to Monster Mash in your kitchen. Bob for an apple in your sink. Peel grapes and pretend they’re eyeballs. Listen to Danzig and Samhain and pronounce it "Sam-hane" like you always did. Cackle like a witch. Make a hand of glory. Hide a corpse. Wait—what? Most of all, be safe, saints & sinners, and don’t wind up like this guy... #halloween #trickortreat #skull #skeleton #talkingskull #rappinghand #magic #magician #dead #bone #samhain https://www.instagram.com/p/CG_b3dmlasA/?igshid=o1ewis3ooogj

Here at the Hodge House, we’re traditionalists when it comes to pumpkin carving—just give as some triangle eyes and a zig-zag mouth and nothing much else or fancy on our jack o’lanterns and we’re pretty much set. Here’s my daughter Elliot’s jack o’lantern this year: the “Happy Pumpkin,” she called him after erasing his furrowed eyebrows during her prep work. How are your Halloween preparations going?? #halloween #pumpkin #jackolantern #greatpumpkin #thisishalloween #spooky #scary #samhain #harvest #trickortreat #🎃 https://www.instagram.com/p/CG95yPDFwHZ/?igshid=gmc6ay1kulpn

Sending out *another* shout-out to my amazing BFF and fortune-telling collector extraordinaire @brandieknight1980 for hooking me up with this rare set of J.H. Singer “Cards of Fate” from the 1890s. Singer is on my radar thanks to the positively beautiful “Mystic Wanderer” tabletop séance game that’s always a hit here (similar to the Vishnu, posted Tuesday), and I featured these cards on my website years ago but never had the opportunity to add a set to my collection until Brandie ran across a spare set and sent them my way. THANK YOU! #tarot #tarotcards #fortuneteller #fortunetelling #satan #occult #lucifer #divination #cardsoffate #fate #fortune https://www.instagram.com/p/CG7U-yBlrqL/?igshid=m7sao3o6jvb

This late 90s Hasbro glow-in-the-dark Ouija was out after a recent event and just sitting there all luminous when I hit the lights last night, so I figured it was asking for it’s own photo-op. So here ya go! #ouija #planchette #talkingboard #spiritualism #occult #psychic #glowinthedark #ouijaboard #seance https://www.instagram.com/p/CG4whPolCX2/?igshid=1ju8f6a2s6fc2

This is a big one, folks. Before I say a word about it, gotta send out digital hugs and kisses to my amazing BFF and fortune-telling collector extraordinaire @brandieknight1980 for discovering this long-sought beauty in a pile of collectibles and sending it my way. You see, the Ouija didn’t land as great in the UK as it did here in the States, but the automatic writing planchette kept its traction and the parlor game of “Ask the Glass” became popular. Ask the Glass used homemade alphabet cards and a simple tumbler on a tabletop to achieve the same effects as a talking board, and that’s exactly what Hamley Bros. sought to market in 1905 with “Vishnu: The Occult Fortune Telling Game.” Inside it’s large, well-illustrated box buyers discovered a set of mini alphabet cards, so they didn’t have to make their own, and a specially-made glass tumbler etched with mystical and alchemical symbols. It’s gorgeous, and thank you so much to Brandie for her thoughtfulness, friendship, and kindness! #ouija #talkingboard #fortuneteller #fortunetelling #alchemy #occult #boardgame #asktheglass #seance #spiritualism https://www.instagram.com/p/CG2MCn7FcPF/?igshid=u43rl4vihrj2

Another favorite occult book cover: Cook’s “Practical Lessons in Hypnotism.” How’s your weekend out there? #hypnotizing_arts #hypnotism #hypnotist #mesmerism #mesmerist #bookporn #illustration #magic #magician https://www.instagram.com/p/CGutWz9lK9T/?igshid=1njejlz1iqd0u

A lovely spirit trumpet I documented in the holdings of the Beelmaterial Spiritische Museum, a 1930s-era seance museum in the Netherlands. #seance #spirittrumpet #spookshow #ghost #luminous #spiritualism #spiritualist #spirit #seancetrumpet #ectoplasm https://www.instagram.com/p/CGr4c3sl2jt/?igshid=15tpsjifetyyx

More explorations of favorite illustrations from my collection—this one being the cover of “Mother Shipton’s Fortune Teller, or Future Fate Foretold by the Planets.” It’s just...just...well *look* at that gorgeous thing! #fortunetelling #mothershipton #fortuneteller #divination #astrology #fate #fortune #dreambook #occult #witchcraft #astrologers #witchesofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CGpT8EvlBUX/?igshid=1wxr5tkc5rwx3

The "bearskin rug" automatic writing planchette from the College of Psychic Studies holdings, the sister planchette to the heart-shaped planchette I posted Monday. Incredible hardware and craftsmanship, though mysteriously incomplete in a way that still leave me questioning how users attached the pencil, which may have protruded on a thin bar from the nose of the planchette to keep the writing from being concealed by the planchette’s body. Period illustrations hint this may have been a companion piece to a French “Oui-ja” table produced around the turn of the century, or was possibly inspired by that product’s unique shape. Happy Wednesday, saints & sinners—hows your Halloween prep coming along? 🎃 👻 #planchette #automaticwriter #spiritscribbles #ghostwriter #seance #spiritcommunication #spiritualism #occult #ouija #talkingboard #psychograph #automaticwriting #psychic https://www.instagram.com/p/CGmuYxulTxP/?igshid=ds9eufu40mv6