“Teens Everywhere” Conjuring Demons By Playing Charlie, Charlie

“Satan, I command you to open the gates of hell and bring forth…Charlie.”

I’m sorry, what?

Yup, the Interwebs and anti-social media are all a-flutter with this new viral (god, I hate that term) craze that’s sweeping the nation. Apparently, “teens everywhere” are dividing pieces of paper into 4 quadrants, balancing pencils in the middle, and commanding a demon to come and answer their burning questions in a game that’s become known as Charlie, Charlie.

And they’re not just summoning any demon, mind you. In this case, they are said to be calling upon “the Mexican demon, Charlie.”

That’s right: Of all the denizens of Hell, Charlie is the one you need to reach out to if you need your questions answered. And make sure you specifically ask for “Charlie, the Mexican demon.” God forbid you get stuck with “Charlie, the American demon” or even “Charlie the Norwegian demon” because you’ll be lucky to get anything useful out of those guys.

So what exactly are “teens everywhere” doing? Well, not that I’m condoning this type of behavior, but the whole thing’s really simple. You just need a piece of paper and two pencils.  Take the piece of paper and draw a giant plus sign on it so as to divide the page into 4 sections. Then, write down 4 “answers” with one in each box: “Yes” and “No” are the popular favorites, but feel free to mix in a “Maybe” or an “Ask Again Later” just to give ol’ Charlie some variety.

For the final step, place one of the pencils on the vertical axis (i.e., the line going up and down) and then balance the second pencil across the first one (i.e., so it is laying horizontally). Then, ask away! So far, the popular way to ask seems to be by saying “Charlie, Charlie, can we talk?” It is said that if Charlie’s around, the top pencil will spin to “Yes” (so you better make sure you have a “yes” on your paper or you’re screwed from the get-go). Once Charlie answers, you’re off and running.

Now, aside from the fact that balancing a pencil on top of another one makes it quite easy to get it to move, let’s talk for a moment about the utter silliness of this activity being blamed on Charlie, the Mexican Demon.

All of the other paranormal imports from Mexico have at least retained their Spanish names–Chupacabra, La Llorona, etc. So why not this demon? And when did we stop giving demons really spooky (and usually unpronounceable) names?

Online demonologists (who scare me for totally different reasons) are claiming that the demon only calls himself Charlie because it’s an “unassuming name” that allows him (it?) to lure teens over to the dark side. I guess that could be it. Of course, it doesn’t explain why, up until a few days ago, Charlie the demon and even this “game” simply did not exist. In fact, until it went viral (there’s that damn word again), it doesn’t appear that anyone had even played this particular game before. There does appear to be a game known as “The Pencil Game” that involves making a rectangle by sticking 6 pencils together and holding it in the air while chanting “Charlie, Charlie, can we play” (see a video of kids playing that version here). But this whole “hey, demon, can you spin this pencil for me” is something new.

Of course, there’s no denying that this sort of “conjuring” is nothing new, either. Of course, people are pointing to this becoming “the new Ouija”, but for me, it seems closer to those paper Cootie Catchers kids used to make to try and figure out who liked them or who they were going to marry. Indeed, an online search for “Charlie, Charlie” pulls up a bunch of suspect YouTube videos and several images where the spookiest questions being asked are along the lines of “which member of One Direction will I marry.”

So come now, people, don’t we have better things to do than engage in this silliness? Even if this were true, think of poor Charlie the Mexican demon: having to be ready to race around the world at a moment’s notice, usually on the whim of some random teenagers who is just dying to know when 5 Seconds Of Summer is going to “release the next album” (and yes, I’m old, so I had to Google “5SoS”).

If you ask me, I think Charlie got the short end of the stick. But then again, he is in hell, so I guess he deserves it.

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Click here to check out the BBC’s article concerning where Charlie, Charlie might have originated.

Here’s what the NY Daily News is saying about Charlie, Charlie.

Read about Doubtful News‘ take on Charlie, Charlie by clicking here.

PIX11 has more on the story, including several videos showing people attempting to contact Charlie. Check it out here.

Vine compilation of people playing (and parodying) Charlie, Charlie (NSFW–Language).