The wisdom of the Ouija

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The wisdom of the Ouija by W. C. Tuttle is a humorous Western short story written in the early 20th century. Set in the rough-and-tumble town of Piperock, it pokes fun at frontier gullibility when a Ouija-board craze sweeps the locals. The likely topic is a comic unraveling of superstition after a dead rustler’s “spirit” starts spilling inconvenient truths.

Narrated by Ike Harper, the tale follows how sheriff “Scenery” Sims, storekeeper Wick Smith, and a cast of colorful cowhands and town notables—Magpie Simpkins, Buck Masterson, Judge Steele, Hassayampa Harris, and Tombstone Todd—get swept up in messages from the supposed ghost of notorious rustler Hard-Pan Hawkins. Accusations of calf-stealing and infidelity fly, Dirty Shirt Jones shoots one of the boards, and a grand “Revelation Night” devolves into farcical chaos, brawls, and smashed instruments as townsfolk demand answers about thefts and brands. The punch line arrives when the very-much-alive Hard-Pan Hawkins walks in, exposing the whole spirit spectacle as bunk—capped by Magpie breaking the Ouija board over his head. Chastened, the town swears off communing with the “dear departed.”