The Viral 'Charlie Charlie' Phenomenon: Decoding the Supernatural Sensation

A new internet challenge recently led to four high school students in Colombia being hospitalized in a state of hysteria: they became victims of the viral demon-summoning challenge.

The game known as 'Charlie Charlie' instructs participants on how to 'summon a Mexican demon.' Participants are asked to balance two pencils on top of each other (in a cross) over a sheet of paper divided into four quadrants, with 'Yes' written on two of them and 'No' on the other two. The next step is to ask: 'Charlie Charlie, are you here?'

Teens from all over the world have filmed themselves accepting the challenge, capturing the top pencil starting to move in response to the questions, and their hysterical reaction to the 'Mexican demon.' In the United States and the United Kingdom, Sweden and Singapore, the Dominican Republic and Colombia – the challenge has been attempted by youths, recorded, and uploaded to YouTube. In many cases, the experiment resulted in mere amusement, but sometimes, as in Colombia, the teens experienced genuine hysteria. In another instance, in the Dominican Republic, the parents of children who played the game claimed that 'the devil possessed them' as a result.

Charlie Charlie Summoning

How do scientists explain the phenomenon? A combination of simple gravity and behavior known as 'ideomotor response.' One pencil balanced atop another creates an unstable system—enough that even nearby people’s breaths can cause the top pencil to move. Additionally, the fact that players expected the pencil to move could subconsciously cause them to lightly move their bodies or breathe in a way that leads to the pencil's motion. There is no connection between the pencil's movement over 'Yes' and 'No' squares and supernatural messages: the same movement would have been achieved if the paper read 'Strawberry, Melon, Pear, Apple,' or any other random set of words.

The link between participants' expectations in the game and its outcome can be seen from the fact that the most severe reports regarding 'Charlie Charlie' come from the Dominican Republic, a region where there is widespread belief in supernatural phenomena and black magic. While most Western youths react with giggles and squeals to the pencil’s movement, doctors in the Dominican Republic reported much more alarming reactions, including children going into deep trauma because 'Charlie Charlie' 'refused' to release them and let them finish the game.