Step back to a time when Portland’s drawing rooms hummed with questions for the beyond. Whispers in the Parlor, the latest episode of Antiques Mysteries, revisits the Portland’s brief but fevered bout of “Ouijamania,” when talking boards promised messages from lost loved ones and the newspapers fanned a craze of séances, spirit photographs, and midnight experiments.

Our host unfolds true stories from old Oregonian clippings—widows tracing the letters of a soldier’s fate, parlors scorched by mysterious candle flares, and the handsome early boards now prized by collectors. Along the way, listeners will learn how to spot authentic Kennard and Fuld boards from the 1910s and ’20s, their smooth edges still carrying the touch of restless hands.

Part history, part haunting, Whispers in the Parlor invites you to hear the echoes of a city searching for comfort after war and pandemic. Tune in, and let Portland’s forgotten season of spirits speak again.

Cover: An original Ouija board created c. 1890 via Wikipedia