Kids are trying to summon demons with ‘Charlie, Charlie Challenge’

Kids are organizing pencils as a makeshift, yes-no oujia board to summon a “Mexican demon” where questions are asked and “he” replies by moving the pencils.

The game/Internet legend, the “Charlie, Charlie Challenge,” requires that players make a 2x2 grid with pencils and label each corner “yes” or “no.” They then have to chant “Charlie, Charlie, can we play?” to start the game and end it with chanting “can we stop?”

In between chants, if the players aren’t freaking out too much after the pencil moves, they can ask something like “will I go to prom with John?” or “will one of my friends die this year?”

If the players don’t chant “can we stop?” they’re supposedly doomed to be haunted by Charlie himself.

Last week, a teenage girl in Alabama posted a video “summoning Charlie” on Instagram with the hashtag #CharlieCharlieChallenge which has since been used almost 2 million times.

The earliest version of the game online seems to be a YouTube video called “Jugando Charly Charlie.” The Washington Post tracked down the origin to at least seven years ago, as a game in the Spanish-speaking world.

In the legend, many say “Charlie” is a suicide victim, others say he was killed in a car crash or was some sort of Mexican demon.

“There’s no demon called ‘Charlie’ in Mexico,” said Maria Elena Navez of BBC Mundo.

So, are the pencils really moving? Short answer: no. Long answer: gravity. If you don’t believe that, try the game without the chants, and you’ll find pencils have awkward shapes that make them hard to stack.

Or, maybe it’s Charlie.

At least kids aren’t semi-permanently bruising their face anymore.

Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva