The Charlie Charlie Challenge is the latest trend to sweep through the nation's high schools, and, like Ouija boards did for previous generations, the game seeks to divine answers for teens.
"The script is simple: Cross two pencils over a piece of paper decorated with 'yes' and 'no' boxes,"
wrote The Daily Beast in explaining how do participate in the so-called challenge. "Next, summon your local suburban spirits with the invocation 'Charlie, Charlie, are you here?' If Charlie is down to party, the pencils will point towards 'yes,' and you can proceed to ask him any yes/no question.
Videos of teens participating in the Charlie Charlie Challenge began appearing late last week on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Vine. Since then, the hashtag #CharlieCharlieChallenge has been used over 2 million times.
From the postings, news organizations have been able to glean some semblance of how the phenomenon came about.
Apparently, "Charlie" is supposed to be the name of a young spirit — who may or may not be a Mexican demon.
One historian at the
BBC, however, said that there is no Mexican myth pertaining to any spirit named "Charlie," much less "Carlitos."
In trying to trace the game's origin, however, some pointed to a semi-obscure YouTube video in which two Mexican children play a similar pencil game called "Charly Charlie." That could explain why many American teens have attributed the parlor trick to Mexico.
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