“Charlie Charlie”
All that power in such an inconsequential object.
A new Internet sensation has been sweeping the nation- but this time, there’s no cute baby animals or strangers with amazing musical talents involved. No, we’ve all seen that already. This time the fame goes to the otherworldly. Charlie Charlie is the 21st Century version of Bloody Mary. The game has spiraled slightly out of control. It’s hugely popular on Twitter and other social media platforms, and it has garnered enough national attention to inspire religious members, school principals, and soccer moms to speak out against the evils that be. It has even sent people to the hospital in a few cases, mostly due to shock and a sort of mass hysteria.
You and a group of scared friends place two pencils atop each other, balance them carefully on a piece of paper with a yes/no grid drawn onto it, and start asking questions. From there, the pencils will spin to answer and you will freak out. That’s the way the game is played. Charlie Charlie is believed by some to be the spirit of a young boy from Mexico – there’s little reason for this other than some of the early, original videos of the game being played seem to be set in Mexico. Others believe Charlie Charlie is a demon. But some stick with the more scientific identity of gravity.
The theory of Charlie Charlie’s freakish reliability is based on the idea of how the pencils are balanced in regards to gravity. It’s safe to say that two pencils resting atop each other are quite delicately balanced. Even the slightest breeze or vibration could cause them to move, or so is claimed. However, the behavior in some videos doesn’t always match this. Pencils will swing violently around in 360 degree circles, begin to travel one way before switching and returning the opposite direction, or even roll off and away from each other completely. In addition, the movements always occur directly after asking a question, adding to the seeming validity. Chatting to someone else in the room will not make the pencils move. Putting on loud music also fails to cause a change usually. Heck, even getting right up close and screaming at the board will cause almost no movement. But ask it a question and the pencils move. Why is this? Is there another scientific explanation, or is it actually a bored demon that feels like branching out and meeting new people?
It is certainly unusual. What is known, however, is that this whole thing was marketed with a specific purpose. Yes, the Charlie Charlie game was widely promoted to its viral status as a part of an advertisement campaign for the upcoming movie The Gallows. In the movie, it features a more frightening version of the game everyone has been playing into already. We’ve all been tricked by Hollywood. But this still doesn’t explain any of the spooky movements in regards to the real life game. You’ll all just have to decide for yourselves in this case. Is Charlie Charlie a spirit? Or is it just science you’re playing with? Either way, you better say “goodbye” at the end of each game and break the pencils, unless you want to risk being haunted for all of eternity by this lonely Mexican demon.
Works Cited:
http://www.livescience.com/51069-charlie-charlie-challenge-explained.html
Charlie Charlie Challenge sends 4 hysteric teens to hospital in central Colombia
