Robert Murch is the world’s foremost expert on Ouija Boards—also called spirit boards, talking boards, and witchboards—and holds the world’s largest collection of antique boards, featuring countless variations on this classic American parlor game used to communicate with the other side. Robert hosts The Haunted Crypt of Spirit Boards as part of Salem's Festival of the Dead!

Seduced by the mystery of Ouija at the age of eighteen, Robert has been collecting boards and investigating their history for over thirteen years. Searching through countless antique stores and flea markets in his search of the next piece of the puzzle, he feels that the boards actually call to him, guiding him where to look. Its messages are never wrong. In fact, the power of the Ouija board resonates so strongly with Robert, it reached across space and time to put him in contact with those who know the story of the Ouija best—the family of William Fuld, who introduced the board in 1891 and whose descendents continued to produce it for over 74 years.

While many spirit board collectors display their boards only in private, Robert Murch prides himself on teaching others about the infamous legacy of the Ouija co-hosts The Haunted Crypt of Spirit Boards as part of Salem’s annual Festival of the Dead.  He shares over a century of Ouija history, use, and superstitions with the audience and invites them to use antique boards to make contact with the spirit world. 

Robert is more than simply a custodian of Ouija history, having become part of that history in 1997 when Kathy, the granddaughter of William Fuld—father of the Ouija board, contacted Robert to share the inside story on the first family of Ouija.  At the very same time, Stuart, grandson of William’s brother Isaac Fuld called on Robert as well. William and Isaac were brothers whose 1901 feud over the Ouija board lasted for decades after each of them had died, passing the dispute on to their descendents and fracturing the two sides of the family for ninety-six years. As a result, Kathy and Stuart had never spoken. Robert saw this as a fantastic opportunity to bring reconciliation to a family long-sundered, and helped bring Kathy and Stuart together as both friends and family, finally ending almost a century of silence. It was the Ouija board that began this family feud and it was the Ouija Board that ended it. 

Both Kathy and Stuart have shared many of the Fuld family Ouija treasures with Robert, including family portraits, never before seen Ouija boards, letters—dating back as far as the 1890’s—from both fans and foes of the game whose experiences range from the transcendental to the terrifying, and even the gold cufflinks worn by William himself and engraved with the Ouija logo. By entrusting Robert with these heirlooms from the first family of Ouija, they have bestowed upon him the unique role of family historian and archivist. Only one day each year in October, he opens his collection to curious seekers from around the globe who hope to explore their own fascination with Ouija!

Calling Salem, Massachusetts his home is one of Robert’s finest accomplishments.  Robert has been asked to consult by the scholastic and entertainment world alike to give guidance on the Ouija.  Among those are DreamWorks SKG, Lion’s Gate Films, ShowTime, MTV, VH-1, BBC, National Public Radio, The Travel Channel, Chronicle, Jeff Belanger’s Communicating With The Dead, and Nancy Kilpatrick’s The Goth Bible.  He has also appeared in articles for the Associated Press, CNN.com, ABCNews.com, USAToday.com, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The North Shore Sunday, and the Salem News.  He is currently working on a book that will detail the Ouija boards complete history.

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