1st Edition

Ouija Conjuring American Popular Culture

Edited By Katherine Schmidt Copyright 2026
88 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

88 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Tapping into a growing interest in American culture with the occult and new spiritualism, this book is the first scholarly work devoted entirely to the unique place of Ouija in American culture. On the one hand, Ouija has at different moments in history pointed to a deep fascination and openness with the supernatural in the American psyche. On the other hand, Ouija resides squarely outside of... Read more

1.Introduction, Katherine G. Schmidt 2. A History of Ouija: Myths and Misconceptions, Brandon Hodge 3. Ouija Rhetoricity, Joshua Gunn 4. Spirited Play: Analyzing the Ouija Board’s Gamification, Sarah Evans 5. Examining the Ouija Heebie-Jeebies: A Material Culture Analysis of Ouija Board Goods, Rhonda Brock-Servais 6. Teens and Fear/Fearing Teens: Images of Ouija in Young Adult Literature, Jennifer M. Miskec 7. I Hope You Got This on Camera: Ouija Boards in Film, Chris McGee 8. Secrets, Satan, and Slaughter: Protestant Responses to Ouija Boards During the Satanic Panic, Skylar Berlin 9. US Catholicism and Ouija, Katherine G. Schmidt 10. Epilogue: “I Do Not Claim Any Negative Energy”, Katherine G. Schmidt

Biography

Katherine G. Schmidt is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Molloy University, USA. She is the author of Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020).