146: Death by Oujia Board? Murder by Monopoly? The Dark History of Board Games
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Wish me luck. It's gonna be good. I hope to see you there. Now, let's get into today's episode of Dark History. Now, I don't know about you, but the second summer is over, I'm pulling out the pumpkins, I'm lighting my candles, and I'm ready to let Halloween just take over. Take me over! You know? When I was going through my closet looking for Halloween costumes for Joan, something fell on my head.

I was concussed. Workers comp. But no, it was my Ouija board. Well, not my Ouija board. And look, I don't know if it's because it's like spooky season or what, but it definitely spooked me. I was like, first of all, where'd you come from? Because I did not buy you. I do not buy a Ouija board. And I'm surrounded by it right now. I mean, yeah, look, it's just a board game, you know, but it is communicating with spirits, allegedly, which I think we can all agree is

is a little unusual for a game, huh? It made me wonder like, who the hell thought of this game? Who thought of this game? And why are we letting kids casually communicate with the dead? Anyone think about that? No?

So I got to searching. Turns out there is a long, wild history behind the Ouija board and some of America's most popular board games. And a lot of their stories end in murder. So I had to do an episode on it for you guys. You know, it was just too good. So welcome to the dark history of board games. You guys are so quiet. Wish you can clap. ♪♪♪

Hi friends, how are you? Are you having a good day? I hope so. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history. So before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe because I come out with that hot juicy history goss every week.

And let me know what you think down below. I love hearing from you in the comment section and at the end of the video, usually I read comments. So maybe you'll get featured, you know? Now let's get into today's story. Joan, I see you dressed up as a planchette. Is that what you're called? Yeah, you look good. Did you make that? Is that paint? You did a good job. I didn't know you can paint. And Paul's back there playing my least favorite game, Yahtzee.

It's just so loud. It's such a loud game and like it's too much. But I'm glad you're playing. That's fun. That's great. You two look great. So board games. We're here, right? You know, people have been playing board games for like thousands of years. And the oldest board game ever to be found is from Mesopotamia. And it dates back to around 2400 BC. I know. That's kind of weird. Okay, great. The game was called Urr.

Isn't that kind of funny? I sound like the Egyptian. Remember they did that voice recording of the Egyptian. They're like, here's what an Egyptian would sound like. And it was like, er. That's what I sound like. You guys give me nothing. Nothing. Okay. So the game was called Er and it was played between two people on a wooden board with 20 different squares. You would roll some dice and like move your pieces wherever you land.

Great. And apparently the game would be able to tell you your future. Like, oh, you'll be milking some sort of animal in the near future. Stuff like that. Or like if you landed on the 10th square, it might mean like you will find a friend or you will become powerful like a lion.

Positive. Motivational, it sounds like. People, I guess, took this game very seriously. Especially the royals. It became so popular in ancient palaces it was known as the Royal Game of Ur. There are apparently even carvings of it in King Tut's tomb. And scholars believe we actually still play Ur to this day. It's just changed over the years. I guess now it's backgammon.

Which is so random, huh? Turns out a ton of games we play today have weird and ancient origin stories. I mean, there are only so many ways to combine dice and a board, so games just kind of evolve. Another example is with Chutes and Ladders. I know, it's kind of like Baby's first board game. Well, when the game was originally invented, it wasn't just a game you played with toddlers. It was actually way deeper than that.

The original form of the game actually represented the spiritual journey human beings take over the course of their life. So the game had started over in ancient India. The ladders represented positive karma. Landing on the right square was like having good virtue. Climbing that ladder didn't just put you closer to winning the game. It meant you were symbolically closer to God.

The higher the game piece, the closer to God. Amen. So the squares that led to shoots meant bad virtue. So those shoots originally used to be snakes. So essentially if you slip further from the path of enlightenment, you were going to be eaten by a snake.

The game eventually made its way to England where it kept a lot of the same elements. There's also the game of life and it actually has like a deeper meaning. I know it's like, oh Bailey, it's not a game about like choosing a cool career and like making a good salary and going to college. It's cute. But no, like that game was actually all about morality and leading a good Christian life.

Oh yes, in the original version of the game, you were rewarded for things like charity, but punished for things like immodesty.

Yes. Board games weren't there for just, you know, shits and gigs. They existed to teach players something about themselves and like being a good person. But in 1886, that all went out the window with the invention of one game that seemed to take over society. Dun dun dun! It's been called one of the darkest games to ever be invented because of the power it seemed to have over people.

Oh yes, baby girl Lisa, we are talking about the Ouija board. Obviously it's in the title. I am so happy. Do you know why I'm so happy? Because it's fall and you know what that means? Flannel and Halloween. Hi! The greatest time of the year. But between the candy, the pumpkin spice lattes...

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Support everyday wellness with Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to liquidiv.com and use code darkhistory at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using promo code darkhistory at liquidiv.com. Ouija board, story number one. Here we go. Listen, Ouija board.

Yes, that demonic board game your church had banned. And though America was like very religious, the Ouija board showed up at just the right time. See, in the mid to late 1800s, a movement called spiritualism was gaining a ton of popularity. Spiritualism was the belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with the living. And it started to become a very popular movement for a few reasons. First,

Technology was advancing, electricity and the invention of the telegraph were changing the world, and people could finally talk over long distances. Instead of having to wait weeks or months for a letter, communication could happen almost instantly. At the same time, Americans were experiencing death all around them.

So the Civil War was happening and it had killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, leaving their families grieving. So people were like wishing that they could find a way to talk to their dead loved ones, their loved ones that had passed.

Or even just like get a chance to say goodbye, right? While some people were wishing that they could talk to the dead, others were like, wait, why can't you? It's like, there's a lot of reasons, Martha. One, they're dead. But listen, this is when spiritual mediums kind of enter the picture. Their whole job was to talk to the dead for you. At least that's what they were telling everyone.

In the late 1800s, there were these two famous mediums and they went by the Fox sisters. Over in New York, they were getting tons of press because they were having a bunch of seances. And you know, I don't know if you know what a seance is, but essentially like they're ceremonies where you sit around a table, you sit like with a medium, and then they communicate to the dead for you. They'd ask questions to the spirits and then get like answers back with knocks.

Like knocking noises. They'd be like, "Are you dead?"

And if it knocked, they'd be like, okay, yeah, see? Dead. The Fox sisters were so popular that they went on like a national tour performing their seances. Oh, yeah. T-shirts, balloons. People were like, woo! Spiritualism was just the hot new thing, baby. And besides the knocking, more ways of communicating with the dead started to gain popularity. This is a side note, but...

Not to rain on everyone's parade here, but it turns out that there were actually three Fox sisters. And while the two mediums were at the table communicating with the dead, the other sister was under, no, she was like in the walls or something. She was somewhere else and she would be knocking on the walls at like the right time. She was the ghost, ghost sister. They were essentially ripping people off.

Or they were putting on a show depending on how you look at it really, right? If you squint, that's kind of cool. No one else was thinking of it. Good for them. Trailblazers. So there was another method and it was called table turning. So a medium would like sit down at a table with a bunch of people and like, you know, be like, hey, I'm gonna talk to the dead. But what I need you guys to do is put your fingers on the table. So it was like,

you know, audience participation. People love that. Put your fingers on the table. So they would. And then that they would ask questions like, "Are you here, spirit?" And then the table would like move on its own. Oh shit. Sometimes the group would call out letters of the alphabet. And if the table moved after a specific letter, that letter would be part of like the spirit's message, which must have taken a long time, huh? I mean, it was a miracle.

Wow. So they were using the table to receive communication from beyond. So mediums at this time would also have spirits write the messages themselves by using the medium's hands. Wow.

I don't know how, but they were doing it. And I guess ghosts were like taking forever to spell out messages like hello over and over again. So they kept trying to find a better way to mark down what the ghosts were saying. Originally, the spirits would write using a pencil and paper like everyone else, but eventually mediums started using something called a planchette. Planchettes are basically small heart-shaped planks.

Yes. So they used to be made of wood and like have tiny sets of wheels on the bottom to help the spirits move them across the table. And these planchettes had a pencil placed in the middle of them. So when your hand was moved, you would write out a message with the pencil. Yeah, it's given like protractor and compass.

At this time, not everyone could afford to see a spiritualism show live or like have mediums come to their home. So companies, because they got to make money, were trying to find a way to like bring spiritualism straight to the consumer. Everyone should get a ghost, you know, make it for all. So they wanted some type of device that would allow people to recreate spiritual medium methods right in the comfort of their own home. And finally, that's where the Ouija board comes in.

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That's 10 free HelloFresh meals just by going to HelloFresh.com slash free dark history. We're back from break. Listen, I personally, I know, cover your ears, Joan. I've never played with a Ouija board before. I just like don't want to mess with it. Like real or not, I don't really care what you think. Me personally, I don't want to open that door because once it's open, you can't close it. And I don't tinkle in that space.

Valley. Ah, yeah. I just can't. It like freaks me out. Shut up. Whatever. So it kind of sounds like it was like invented in some mystical, like spooky place, you know, Ouija. But Ouija only got its name in like 1890 when the inventor, he was a lawyer named Elijah J. Bond had asked his sister-in-law to ask the board to name itself. Did you connect those dots? Great. So Ouija

Just ask the board what the board wants its name to be. So the board had spelled out O-U-I-J-A. And you're like, how do you pronounce this board? What? So people were like, what does this mean? So they asked the board, like, hey, what does this mean? You know, and the board wrote back, good luck.

Sounds like a trap being set by a demon, but they ran with it. A patent was filed and Ouija was alive. Immediately when it came out, Ouija was very popular. Popular enough that there was a lot of fighting on who actually had the rights to manufacture Ouija boards. So there's like a bunch of lawsuits, copycat boards,

And there was like a family feud that lasted almost 100 years. And a man named William Fold, I think his name is, won the trademark for Ouija. So good for him. I don't know. William jumped into the Ouija lifestyle headfirst. William truly believed his product worked.

He used the board to give him advice about problems he had in life and business. And he believed he had proof that it actually worked. Apparently, after losing a large shipment, William turned to the Ouija board to ask him where this missing shipment had ended up.

and allegedly the board led him directly to the missing shipment which was in like Ohio. Now we don't know how he knew where in Ohio or what what huh huh huh

But he was very excited about it. And I guess he found it. Another message from the board told him to prepare for big business. So William built a new factory in order to handle all like the new orders that this Ouija had promised him. But little did he know that the board was setting him up for tragedy. So in 1927, William went to inspect part of his new factory. And while he was there, he was like leaning on a support railing, you know, like, yeah, well...

and I guess it didn't hold. And he went, he just fell backwards, right? He fell down three stories, landing right on the ground. He broke his arm, his leg, five ribs, and had a concussion. He was taken to the hospital, but it was clear he wasn't going to make it. Now, William, I guess, had held on long enough to say goodbye to like his kids or whatever, but before he was out,

He actually had one dying wish. Sorry, I jumped. He made his children promise to never ever sell their rights to the Ouija board. And then after he made that promise, he died. Yeah, I guess one of his like broken ribs had pierced his heart, which sounds brutal, but RIP. I guess his kids like didn't really believe in the game like he did. And in 1966, one of his sons sold the business to Parker Brothers and...

Kind of, kind of suspish, but he, like the son didn't sell it on any old day. He sold it on February 24th, which was the anniversary of his father's death. Like, ouch, was that on purpose?

Okay, you know, kind of weird. Ouija ended up in the hands of Hasbro after they bought Parker Brothers in 1991 and Hasbro still sells the boards to this day. Actually, they even recently released the AI powered Ouija board. I was curious, so I looked it up. It's so dumb. You go online and you type your question into the chat for Ouija to answer. So essentially you're just chatting with a robot

It's giving smarter child, honestly, but okay. There are actually a lot of crimes that are tied to the Ouija board in the game. The spirits or whatever.

There was one woman who claimed a Ouija board told her to murder her father. There was even this one time where a whole jury had used a Ouija board to contact the murder victims, you know, to get some answers or whatever. And this actually caused like a whole mistrial, which is kind of wild that they did that, but they did that. And then there was one case in particular that had me shooketh to the core. And that's the murder of Clotilda Marchand.

Clotilda was an artist and her husband, his name was Henry, he was also an artist. And in the late 1920s, Clotilda, Henry, and their five children moved from France to Buffalo, New York. There, Henry and three of his kids all started working for a local museum. So Henry worked for the museum doing like wax modeling and dioramas. Henry specifically worked on dioramas that showed Native American culture.

but he was from France, so you know, he had some learning to do. So to get more familiar with the local plant and animal life, he would visit local reservations. Henry would work closely with the Seneca people who helped his studies and his artwork. So Henry, Clotilda, and their children seem to have built like a happy life in Buffalo. That is until March 6, 1930.

That day, the family's youngest son came home from school and discovered his mother's dead

So Clotilda was found on the first floor landing covered in blood. Her son ran to get his father and siblings from the museum. And originally everyone assumed Clotilda just had a terrible like accident. It looked like she had like fallen down the stairs to her death. But when the medical examiner came, he knew this was no accident. There were signs of a struggle. There was bloody gashes on her body and they could smell chloroform. Oh shit.

So they turn to the most obvious suspect first, the husband. So Henry is questioned by police and it comes out that Henry was having an affair. Oh, Gasparilla.

Are we shocked? No. I mean, it turns out like this perfect little marriage that everyone thought they had, it wasn't perfect at all. Henry had been using any alone time on the reservation to pursue a Seneca woman. Her name was Lila Jimerson. Lila and Henry, they met when he asked her to be one of his models, I guess for like the wax modeling he did for the museum. So people were like bombarding Henry with questions about this affair. Like, how could you do this? What were you thinking? What?

Why Lila, you know? And Henry had an explanation for all of it. He's like, look, I slept with Lila because it was the only way I could get her to pose nude. He tried to make it seem like he only did this because he cared about his job. He's like, no, you know?

"To make an accurate diorama, I had to have sex with her. Do you want good art? Then shut your mouths." That was his reason, like, okay. So soon police started questioning other Seneca women and they found their main suspect, a woman named Nancy Bowen. Turns out Nancy was a friend of Lila's. So Nancy had recently been going through some difficult times herself because her husband had died. She was grieving, you know?

And Lila, she took, I guess, advantage of that grief. She told Nancy that Clotilda was a white witch. And not only that, but Lila told Nancy that Clotilda may have used her witchy powers to kill her husband. So in a vulnerable position, Nancy listened to her friend's theories on what happened.

Nancy decided to get to the bottom of it by talking to her dead husband directly. And so they had to turn to the old reliable Ouija board.

So Lila and Nancy used their Ouija board to speak with Nancy's husband. So Lila was there translating the answers for Nancy. So, you know, through the board, Nancy's husband said Clotilda had killed him with her witchcraft. And he also gave them her address. He's like, write it down.

According to Lila, Nancy's husband was stuck in purgatory until his death was properly avenged. So, you know, once they fixed the situation or whatever, he would be able to move on to the afterlife. So once they finished with the Ouija, Nancy was ready to get revenge on the witch who murdered her husband.

So Lila, being the helpful friend that she is, she took Nancy off of the reservation. So while Lila went and distracted Henry at the museum, Nancy headed to Clotilda. And Lila even gave Nancy chloroform to help with the murder. So when Nancy arrived, she confronted Clotilda. She's like, oh my God, you're a witch, you know? And she's like, mm. And she hit her.

on the head with a hammer and then choked her. It's a little much. And she choked her until Clotilda was dead. Now, according to a New York Times article from the 1930s called "Murder Incited by Jealous Model," even with all this evidence, the murder was technically difficult to prove. Both Lila and Nancy ended up being charged. The prosecution had no evidence that Lila had convinced Nancy to murder Clotilda. So,

On top of that, they also like, they never found the murder weapon. So in the end, Lila was freed. Nancy was later found guilty, but was sentenced to time served. Henry, meanwhile, he didn't give a shit. He had already gotten remarried by the time like the second trial had happened. And his new wife was the 18 year old niece of his dead wife.

So he's keeping it in the family. So a Ouija board and mistress made a grieving widow commit murder. And a Ouija board also told its owner to build a factory where he would fall to his death. Maybe it's demonic after all, I don't know. Now listen, if you are like a medium or you use like a Ouija board all the time and stuff like that, I'm not trying to discredit you at all. Do your thing.

As long as you're not hurting anybody, you know? I don't want people in the comment section like, "You're such a bitch! This is real work!" I never said it wasn't, you know? Okay, great. Glad we got that settled. I was thinking about it, and I was like, "If any board game was gonna be linked to murder, I mean, Ouija, it makes the most sense." But then I was surprised to learn that it's definitely not the only one.

Having good and helpful people in your life is absolutely necessary as an adult. That's what they say, you know? You know, having friends or someone who can help put air in your tires, hang a picture, help you move, just talk to. But one thing that you shouldn't depend on your friends for, healthcare. Sorry, Paul. It isn't personal. You look great in that little nurse outfit, but like...

You know, yeah. Luckily, I don't need to rely on Paul's questionable medical advice because I have ZocDoc. Ah, I love ZocDoc. I love ZocDoc. I've been using it for years. If you don't know, ZocDoc is like a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in-network doctors, choose the right one for your needs, 'cause they got every doctor you can think of, and click to instantly book an appointment. So you don't have to pick up the phone and call anyone, you do it through the app.

It's great. I mean, we all know there are a million different factors to consider when you're trying to find a new doctor. It's like, do they take my healthcare? Are they available? Are they close to me?

Whatever else I'm looking for, you know? And with ZocDoc, they have filters for all of that so you can find the doctor who is right for you. And also who's like reviewed by actual patients. So you can see like, is this doctor good? Or am I going to like a sketchy person, you know? I'm talking about in-network appointments with more than...

100,000 healthcare providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health, eye care to skincare, and so much more. Also, the nice thing about ZocDoc is that appointments happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking, and you can even score same day appointments. That's because you can see the actual appointment times that are open and book based on your schedule. I

I've been using ZocDoc for years and just recently last week I used it to find a new therapist. I need a new therapist. I've been dealing with so much anxiety and stress lately and I was like, dude, what am I doing?

see a therapist again. So I went on to ZocDoc, I found a new therapist and luckily they have like, you know, the in-person appointments and you could do online if you want to. So you don't have to like go anywhere, which is nice. Person who takes my insurance, schedule it, beep bop boop. I literally saw them the next day. Yeah, I'm seeing him again on tomorrow.

Yeah. But like, it really takes all of the frustration out of healthcare and it makes it really easy. I love that. You gotta take care of yourself because no one else is going to do it for you. So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to ZocDoc.com slash Dark History to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. Now let's talk about one of the best doctors.

Selling board games of all time. Everyone's got one collecting dust in their cabinet somewhere. Talking about Monopoly. I don't get that game. I don't know how to play it. I know, I'm dumb. Call me what you will. But every time I try to play Monopoly, like I don't know what I'm doing. I don't get it. I lose every time. You don't want to play with me. I suck.

You know, I don't get it. I want to get like fucked over. I'll just keep living life You know, I don't need a game board to like fuck me over. I don't know. Anyways, it's not that deep Bailey I take it personally cuz I don't get that game anywho So listen monopoly monopoly was first created by a woman named Elizabeth Meiji She went by the name Lizzie. So we're gonna call her that and

She was born in like 1866. She was the daughter of a newspaper publisher, an abolitionist who traveled with Abe Lincoln. I know, very wow background. So Lizzie, she was like political. She was outspoken. She was a feminist. She was way ahead of her time.

Another thing Lizzie was very vocal about was her political beliefs. Essentially, she was the kind of person who asked questions about how the government taxed land, which was like, as a woman, you don't do that. Lizzie worked as a stenographer, a poet, an actor, a writer. She did lots of things and she worked full time. But, you know, she still struggled to support herself, especially because she wasn't married. So she didn't have like the help of a husband.

And, you know, she's like, I know complaining is not going to get me anywhere. So she made it a point to try and earn money any way she could. In 1903, Lizzie entered the world of board games. And she ended up creating something called the Landlord's Game. So this game was all about buying and selling property and collecting tax. So the game was actually meant to teach its players a valuable lesson. It was all about showing how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Lizzie hoped that this would highlight the fact that all these millionaires taking over American businesses were robbing from the poor and ruining the country. So Lizzie did the smart thing and tried to get a patent for her landlord game so people wouldn't steal the idea, you know? In 1903, she marched into the patent office to protect her board game. But, you know, that wouldn't be easy. Apparently it was kind of a nightmare to try and get a patent because she's a woman and can't do that.

You got ideas? No. Bad woman. Bad. According to Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolis, quote, at the time, less than 1% of all patents issued in the United States went to women. Lizzie managed to get hers approved, eventually. I guess she had used her initials to sneak the application through. And they just assumed, oh, that's a man's initials.

That's funny. She's like, yeah, whatever. You know, despite this, Lizzie still struggled to get by. So the landlord game is making its way around. Okay. People, it's like, if you know, you know, you,

And it starts to pop off at like Ivy League schools like Harvard and Columbia. And at this time it was known as the Landlord's Game and then it evolved into the Monopoly game. So the game was like, it was growing slowly, but it was getting popular. And then once the Great Depression rolled around, it definitely like exploded. Unfortunately, Lizzie wouldn't see a dime of this success. I know, Great Depression. How does that make sense? Like why, what?

But like people, they weren't working, they were home. So they were playing Monopoly. Makes sense. Edward Parker once said, quote, "During the Depression, people did not have enough money to go out to the shows, so they stayed home and played Monopoly. It also gave them a feeling of wealth."

And this was exactly the case for a man named Charles Darrow. In the 1930s, Charles came across the game and, you know, he at the time was unemployed. He had kids and a wife to support. He's like, fuck. Plus one of his sons was sick and in need of like some very expensive medical treatments. So Charles is playing Monopoly and he's like, wow, this is so much fun. Yay. And he sees an opportunity to like,

elevate this, you know? So he, Charles, he hires a cartoonist and it's like a friend of his, and he has them add illustrations to the game board. He's like,

cool, this is cool. So then he has a few of them manufactured and he ends up selling the game to a local department store in Philadelphia. Now, Charles, he skipped all the nonsense. He didn't bother getting the game patented. He's like, F it. You know, I'm almost going to check. So he just prints his name on the game.

He's like, "I invented this," you know, and sold it. Now Charles's monopoly is getting major attention and was being carried in really big department stores. And this catches the attention of a woman named Sally Barton. So Sally was married to this guy named Robert Barton and Robert ran Parker Brothers.

Yep. Robert personally thought Monopoly was like complicated. It was lame. He's like, boo, this sucks. But his wife really liked it. And she's like, this is the shit. I love it. And he's like, okay, okay. You know, I'll buy this game or whatever and sell it. And he does.

And thank God he did, because at the time, Parker Brothers was struggling financially. So once they started selling Monopoly, the sales essentially like saved the company. By 1936, the game has sold over 1.7 million units and brought in millions of dollars for the company. I mean, they could barely keep up with the demand. And this is where those little game tokens come in.

You know, the little, the thimble, the dog, the race car. Is there a knife or is that clue? That's a dagger, I think. And I think that's clue. I like clue. That's a fun one. Boy, this is Monopoly. Okay. But listen, you know those little things. The hat, the hat. I like the hat. Yeah. Scotty Dog. Did I say that? Okay. Because of the Great Depression...

There weren't a lot of factories open, right? So the ones that were open didn't really have the resources to create like special board game pieces. They're like, we're not doing that. I'm like, no, we make socks. So the manufacturing plant Monopoly went to was actually making the prizes in the boxes of Cracker Jacks. Many of you don't probably don't even know what the, okay, so Cracker Jacks and there would be a prize in the box.

You get it. Show a picture.

Great. So they gave Monopoly whatever extra pieces they could make quickly. So the pieces originally were a thimble, a top hat, an iron. That's right. A battleship. I don't remember a battleship. Okay. And a boot. A boot? I don't remember a boot. There was a boot. But like this is why the game pieces are kind of like random because they were like little prizes. Does that make sense? Like they were little prizes in the booths

the cracker boxes and they were like, oh, we could just like make these quickly for you. I don't really think it's that great of an origin story because in my mind I was like, oh, it's probably like people were just pulling random things around their house and they were using that as game pieces. And I was like, that makes a way better story, but that's not the real story. So it's kind of disappointing. So that's why the pieces are random. The Parker brothers ended up buying the copyright for Charles's Monopoly game from him.

the creator for $7,000. Now in today's money, it'd be like $161,000. And Charles would also get residuals for future sales of the game. So every time someone bought a board game, he'd get a small cut. That was the shit. He was set for life pretty much. So as the years go on, I guess the Parker brothers, they start to worry about the origins of the game.

So there's a lot of letters back and forth between Charles and the head of Parker Brothers. So eventually it comes out that Charles was actually not the person who created Monopoly. So Parker Brothers is like, oh no, this is going to ruin the tour. So the company was like, shit, we got to like avoid a PR nightmare here. And duh.

we gotta do something about it. So they decided to send George Parker, which was like one of the founders of the Parker brothers, down to meet Lizzie. They somehow got Lizzie, they found her, whatever. So they meet her face-to-face. George wanted to buy the patent to her landlord game just to cover the company's bases.

So Lizzie thought she was going to get an apology over the whole like Monopoly mix up and maybe even like, I don't know, get money or something, right? But the Parker brothers seem to have a plan of their own. So the company offers Lizzie $500 for the patent to Monopoly and makes her a verbal promise to develop two other board game ideas that she had. Now Lizzie's like, wow, awesome. I believe you. So she had no idea that

you know, she really just got ripped off. Oh man, man, you just want to trust people and then they screw you over. And then you're like, this is why contracts were invented. Shit, learn every time. So the Parker brothers, like they never developed Lizzie's other board games. Meanwhile, Charles went on to collect millions of dollars.

Lizzie unfortunately never got the recognition she deserved. She's the one who created this game that we all literally have. And then when she died in 1948, even her obituary didn't credit her for her invention. Boo.

Nobody really knew Lizzie's name until a man named Ralph Ansbach uncovered her story in the 1970s. This guy Ralph, he dedicated his life to getting Lizzie her monopoly justice. I mean, people don't really know. You know, it's all thanks to Ralph and people like our monopoly expert, Mary Pilon, that Lizzie's name didn't get erased from history, really.

So next time you are on hour three of a Monopoly session and you don't have enough money to land on Park Place, go ahead and flip that for Lizzie. Do you guys ever stop and think about the world's pre-internet?

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Okay, so according to this article from Tulsa World in 1992, these two friends, Michael and Mark, they were hanging out and they were getting drunk. They were living in Pennsylvania and they had a weekly tradition, game night. So this week they decided to play Monopoly. And look, I don't know if it was the booze or if Monopoly was bringing out just the worst in them, but they started to bicker. Apparently both of them wanted to play with the little race car game piece.

Yeah, they're very passionate about their race car game piece. Like two little children, they just kept bickering over the game piece. Mark clearly wanted a fight and Michael wouldn't back down. This sounds fake, but it's so real. And when Michael refused to give up that Monopoly race car, that was the final straw. So Mark stood up.

stormed out of the room. Mark went straight for his hunting gear and grabbed a bow and arrow that he used for like deer hunting. He came back into the room and without missing a beat, he shot Michael.

straight through the heart. I guess Michael had like quickly, you know, adrenaline pumping. So he like quickly like pulls the arrow out of his chest and like runs for his car. But sadly, like he ends up passing away before he was able to get help. Mark was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Now this last game we're going to be talking about has nothing to do with summoning demons or fighting monopolies. It's all about the elite, the rich. When you think of a game for the elite, what comes to mind? I think a lot of people will say like chess, right? With like the fancy boards. What do rich people play? Usually they play cards in my mind. I don't know. Well, it turns out for years, the game of the rich and the elite

was Yahtzee. I know, I was not expecting that. I was like, "Yahtzee? What? It's so loud! Again, I can't, I can't! Like, rich people, what?" You guys are weird. So Yahtzee was actually invented by a Canadian couple in 1954.

Now this couple who they wanted to remain anonymous, they invented the game to play on their yacht with their yacht friends. They're like, we need something to do. So they actually called the game the Yacht Game and they loved it so much that they, you know, they reached out to another rich guy who had worked in the board games industry. And they're like, look, we don't care about like turning this into a big game.

worth money or anything we just want sets made for like our friends and to have on our yacht now the board game guy saw what the canadian couple had and he proposed a deal he's like hey i'll make you a thousand gift sets of this game yahtzee well not yahtzee yet in exchange for the rights to produce and sell it now these people already rich they're like we don't care sure

So they agreed and the game was renamed Yahtzee and it became a huge commercial success. Now Yahtzee became a game that the everyman could play, not just rich people on yachts, but even Yahtzee.

has some dark stories attached to it. It's not funny, it's just awkward because like, what? Yeah. In 2011, 49 year old Tamara Lee Mason, her body was found buried in her own backyard. When detectives discovered her body, they were left with so many questions like who would do this and you know, bury her in her own backyard, what? On December 25th, 2010, Tamara and her three sons were on their way home after having Christmas dinner at a friend's house.

Tamara wanted to play Yahtzee,

with her kids. It's not funny. It's not funny, but they refuse. It's so simple. You know, it's so like, it's, she just wanted to play Yahtzee with their kids, but they didn't want to. So now the details are a little fuzzy, but I guess Tamara kept asking the boys, like, please play Yahtzee with me. I don't know what she was saying, but like they kept saying no. So she asked again, and this seemed to like make her youngest son, his name's Jacob. He like snapped. He was like, you fucking ask about Yahtzee one more fucking time, you know?

So Jacob attacked her in the living room by putting a plastic bag over his mom's head and he fastened like a belt around her neck. Now apparently her other two sons, they just kind of stood around watching and didn't do anything. So they ended up leaving her body in the house for the night. I mean, it was Christmas.

What else were they going to do? And in the morning, the brothers first tried to drive the body to a friend's house where they had planned to burn it. But they changed their minds and brought the body back home. They then put their mother's body in the shed outside. And they were living in Minnesota. So they knew like, well, I don't know if they knew. They don't seem that bright. But like...

Because it's cold in Minnesota, it prevented the body from decomposing and smelling. And, you know, they couldn't bury her in the ground because it was frozen solid. So they just like put her in a shed.

On December 27th, they decided to report her missing to cover, you know, their ass. So weirdly, in their cover story, they actually mentioned Yahtzee. They said that she wanted to play, and when they refused, that she stormed out on Christmas night, and they hadn't seen her since. So months later, when temperatures finally warmed up, the boys could finally dig a hole in the backyard to bury her body in. So I guess they ended up bragging about this whole thing to a friend.

Not great, but great because this friend went to the police, told them everything. Now Jacob was convicted of murder while the other two were convicted as accessories. All because a dice game invented on a yacht went wrong. I mean, the game didn't go wrong. She said, I want to play. I mean, no one wanted to play. No one wants to play Yahtzee.

You know, like board games have an interesting legacy. Human beings have invented and played them for thousands of years. And at the same time, Google almost any board game that you love and then the word murder and you're likely to get a result. Says a lot about us, huh? If you think about it, games really bring out the best and worst sides of us. I mean, they're fun, strategic, but people are so competitive and take it so seriously and you're like, chill, it's a game.

Jeez, I can't stand those types. Sorry. Because I know one of you out there is like, rude. I mean, all we can really say here is think twice before you take advice from your Ouija board. Give up that Monopoly piece. Sharing is caring. And if someone wants to play Yahtzee, just say yes. What a wild story, huh? Yeah. Well, next week, we're switching gears.

That's because it's Halloween time, if you haven't noticed. So we're getting spooky next week with one of my favorite topics, vampires. Oh yeah. Now I know what you're thinking. Didn't you do vampires already, Bailey? No, we didn't actually. I think they were lightly mentioned last year, but like this year we're actually like doing an episode on like vampires, like where they come from, like the origin story of the vampire.

Yeah, you know? It's gonna be a good time. You're gonna love it. It's so fun. Paul's got a great costume, I think. You ordered it, right, Paul? Anywho, but we're like, we're gonna find out like the real story behind the legend of the vampire. Are they real? Ooh, I hope. Bite me. Yay.

Some of us have that vampire fetish. By some of us, I mean me. And so, yeah. So next week we're going to be talking about vampires, about real life zombies. It's nuts. Male Order Brides from France. A hot, steamy lesbian vampire novel that really inspired the birth of Bram Stoker's Dracula. I must say, you should definitely join us next week for our Dark History episode.

Yes, that'll be great. I can't wait to see you there. Well, thank you for hanging out with me today. Did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can actually watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs? And if you're watching me now,

And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery makeup. And don't forget to subscribe because I'm here for you each week with new content. Well, I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on today's story. So make sure to leave a comment down below. Let me know what's your favorite game piece with Monopoly. On Monopoly? With Monopoly.

What's your favorite game piece? I like the dagger. Yeah, there is no dagger, but I like to play Clue is what I'm saying. Anyways, let me read some of you guys' comments that you've left me in the past, huh? Well, on previous episodes. OhNora619 left us a comment on our Disney Part 2 episode saying, If the Grimm Brothers were alive today, I'd say someone check their internet history because their imaginations are pretty dark.

Yeah, you know, they were pretty damn dark, especially for their time, right? Like super dark. Do you watch my murder mystery makeup? Did you watch the cannibal cop episode? Anyways, on the cannibal cop episode, I mentioned these like really dark fetish websites, you know, where people kind of tell stories just like the Brothers Grimm, Grimm Brothers, whatever their name is. So I feel like they would be on those sites is what I'm getting at.

Yeah, I could see that. They were unique, huh? JH-UM1DU, that's quite the username, left me a comment saying, "Oh no, Caps, why are you yelling?" Yes, Bailey! P.S. I named my miniature sausage dog after you. Loving the origin story vibe. Can't wait for a bath to listen to it when I get home from London.

Oh, you're so fancy. She's in London. She's busy. I can't. Oh, she's like, when I get home and I'm going to take my bubble bath from London, my miniature sausage dog. Wow, you are living the life. I am jealous. Where'd you go? London? What'd you do? And what is this in response to? I'm confused. I actually want to know what's the usernames.

I don't know, there's a lot going on here. I do love dogs, so I love that. I know a lot of people who named their dogs Bailey. I don't know why that's like such a popular name for dogs, but growing up, growing up, people always wanted to tell me that their dog's names were Bailey. And it was like so embarrassing as a kid. I was like, please don't say that, you know?

Now that I'm older, I'm like, okay, cute. I love dogs. But go ahead, take your bath. Since you just got home from London, I'll let you be. Thank you for your comment.

Peyton Cutting, 51, 41, left us an episode suggestion saying, you should do an arc history on Bonnie and Clyde. I always thought it was wild how the townspeople tore the possessions closed off of them when they were brought into town after the shooting. Peyton, I like where your head is at. I don't know why I didn't think about this. Everyone knows at least the name Bonnie and Clyde, but do we really know the story? At least I really don't. Do I? I don't know.

I kind of know it. I only know the story because of Faye Dunaway. Iconic, right? So good. I'll look into it though. That's a good recommendation. Thank you.

Well, thank you guys so much for watching. I appreciate you for engaging. Keep on commenting because maybe I'll butcher your name or on here you'll be featured. I don't know. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolis of

obsession, fury, and the scandal behind the world's favorite board game. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices. Be safe out there. Don't get mad. Just kick their ass at the board game. Okay. I'll be talking to you later. Next week, actually. Vampires. Okay? Bye!