‘Tique of the Week is an Austin-wide search for unique and interesting antiques. With dozens of antique shops around Austin, one-of-a-kind items from the past are not in short supply. Each week we’ll find a new favorite item and feature it as our “Tique of the Week.”

Halloween is coming up quickly, so this week we thought we’d try and find the spookiest ‘tique we could. It’s pretty safe to say we succeeded.

This week’s search took us to Hog Wild Vintage on E. North Loop Blvd. Hog Wild sells vintage furniture, home décor, clothing and kitschy items from the 1940s through the 1970s. Their prices aren’t bad either (we found an awesome recliner chair for $45).

Among the velvet posters, TV trays and 70s paisley shirts, we noticed a pile of old board games on a bench. There was one of the first editions of Twister, but below that we hit the Halloween jackpot.

We found a 1966 edition of the Ouija board, arguably the creepiest board game ever. The box was a little torn and crushed, most likely from someone hiding it under a bed after its owners became too scared to play anymore.

If figuring out how to work this ‘tique gets difficult, there are an abundance of visual aides that can be found in some of the most popular television shows and films in today’s media.

Well-known series from the 1990s such as “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” and “So Weird” provided chilling tales of angst-ridden teenagers who consult their Ouija boards for advising on matters of “the other realm.”

The Ouija board also played a prominent role in the notorious 2007 film “Paranormal Activity” as one of the links between the demon and its victims.

The game has a rich history that dates back to the late 1800s, over half a century before the Parker Brothers bought the patent and marketed it as a children’s game in 1966. The boards were sold as novelty items with writing based on planchette writing, used by the Chinese in 1100 B.C. to talk to the dead.

The same concept is used today. Each Ouija board contains the alphabet, numbers 1-9 and the words “yes” and “no,” allowing spirits, or whoever is really responsible for moving the magnifying glass, to reach out from beyond the grave.

Though it may be old, the legacy of the Ouija board is alive and well, continuing to amuse and terrify people at slumber parties around the world.