Satanic Hello Charlie Game?

‘Charlie, Charlie’ = Hello Satan, Come In

Barbara Maczek 

A game Charlie, Charlie, are you there? went viral on the internet from 2015 on. The game is simple, one pencil is balanced over another on a piece of paper, dividing the paper into four squares. Two are marked 'yes,' two are marked 'no.'

 The players, usually youth curious about supernatural phenomena, gather around the paper and summon the devil called Charlie to ask him various Yes-No Questions. "Does John like me?" "Will I get married?" etc. The "game" always starts with the question, "Charlie, Charlie, are you there?"

If the pencil point moves to a "yes" square, the questions begin. Usually one member of the group is there recording the session to post on YouTube or Facebook to share the thrills on the worldwide web.

Thrills become a nightmare

A group of girls – between 12 and 15 years of age – had gathered in a room at their school in the Choco region of Colombia to play the game. They had done it before and Charlie had come. It was exciting, fun, harmless, they thought.

Participants invoke a devil that can cause infestations or even possession

This time was different. School authorities found the girls screaming, writhing, with some even foaming at the mouth in a mass demonic possession after the game was played. One of the girls later stated that she could see "Charlie” – a man dressed in black.

The teens were taken from the school to a local medical clinic, where the screaming and writhing continued. Some of them had to be held down until they eventually returned to normal. The doctors conducted medical tests to rule out disease, intoxication or use of hallucinogenic substances that could have caused the seizures, but no signs of these were found.

One of the girls affected had no difficulty realizing that the possession came from the Devil. "You can end up dead playing this game because it is the work of the Devil," she said.

Something similar happened last year with seven girls from the same area who had been playing Charlie Charlie, the principal of the school said. The game is now banned from the school, and the parish priest has warned the parents that it is a dangerous thing to invoke a spirit and should never be done, even in so-called play.

'Is Charlie a demonic spirit?'

Because of the growing popularity of occult practices among Catholic youth, priests and exorcists are speaking out to warn youth not to take the Charlie Charlie Challenge, as it is called.

Fr. Fernando Cerero Ugarte from the Diocese of Coatzacalcos, Mexico, made a public warning on his Facebook page against such practices. To the question "Is Charlie, Charlie a dangerous game? " he gave this response:

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"I can warn that these seemingly innocent games are really not. Curiosity about the spiritual world by invoking beings always involves a high risk. They say that 'curiosity killed the cat!' and many persons moved by curiosity can often fall into a situation of demonic influence. …

"I consider that this is a game of high risk for adults or children. Anything that pretends to establish communication with the dead, besides being a sin (invoking spirits), one runs the risk of ending up under an evil influence. Children and even adolescents fall under this rule and can receive a greater or lesser degree of evil influence by playing these kinds of esoteric games.

"Therefore, I advise every Catholics of any age to resist entering into these games, which can appear innocent, out of spiritual curiosity, for the Devil does not sleep. He is always looking for open doors to cause spiritual damage to curious people. Remember that here the problem is not in the object itself (two pencils) but rather in the intention of the invocation.

"Parents, you need to teach your children that Charlie, Charlie or any kind of game of this type – which exists today or can appear tomorrow – that tries to invoke spirits is a sin and presents a very real danger of harm to those who engage in them. Today you can start with Charlie, tomorrow you continue with the Ouija board, afterwards come worse things. To play with things of the Devil is never just a fun game."

What are the risks?

Mexican exorcist Fr. Ernesto Maria Caro commented on the risks of divining practices:

"We know that God has decided not to reveal the future. He wants man to live by faith and confide in Him. However, since time immemorial, men have been curious about the future and have invoked the dark forces to know what is to come. The results are always disastrous.

"When we participate in a divining practice, what we are doing is to establish a connection with the demonic world.

"With these practices, the Devil has the possibility to enter our physical environment. From there he can cause sicknesses, destroy relationships, affect the sexual life of a person, incite depression, etc. He can affect our physical world, causing one to hear voices, see shadows or moving objects, etc.

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"Anyone who participates, either consciously or unconsciously, in a divining practice, whether he believes in it or not, leaves himself opened to establish a relationship with the Devil. If this actually occurs, you will need a prayer of liberation and, in some cases, have need of an exorcism.

"Therefore, I want to warn the youth and their parents – everyone – of the terrible danger that they run by ‘naively’ participating in these practices. Charlie Charlie is not a game, it is a door that opens the possibility for the Devil to damage our lives and those of everyone around us.

"Stay away from all such practices: tarot cards, consulting soothsayers, coffee ground readings, the Ouija board and that terrible threat called Charlie Charlie. If you do not want the Devil to ruin your life, your health, your family and your happiness, stay away from this."

If you have already participated in this type of game, what should you do? Fr. Caro warns that if there have been responses – the pencils or Ouija board has moved – then you can be sure that the Devil entered through the door and it is very possible that he established a relationship with you.

Look for a priest, he advises, confess the sin and, if possible, ask him to make a minor exorcism. Make a solemn profession of faith and renouncement of the Devil and all his works and promise to never take part in such games again.

'You are invoking demonic spirits'

When the Charlie Charlie game began to gain in popularity in 2015, the Spanish exorcist José Antonio Fortea warned that those who take the Charlie Charlie Challenge are in fact “invoking demonic spirits.”

“Spirits at the root of the practice will harass some of those who play the game,” he said. And even though the players won't necessarily be possessed, the spirit that was invoked “will stay around for a while.”

He also warned that playing this game "will lead to other spirits entering into even more frequent communication, which can cause the person to suffer much worse consequences from the Devil."

The Devil exists… whether you believe it or not

In the United States, where the rationalist spirit prevails, many persons simply laugh off such games and any notion of the Devil's existence.

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If you go to Wikipedia to read about the Charlie Charlie Challenge, it cites articles by religious authorities, psychologists and media experts who all try to justify the strange behavior of the pencils with natural explanations.

It is psychological suggestion that causes the pencils to move, the "ideomotor phenomenon," or simply the heavy breathing of players that moves the pencil, but never a demonic spirit.

In his book, Memoirs of an Exorcist: My Life Fighting Satan, Fr. Gabriele Amorth warns that one of most ignorant positions a Catholic can take is to doubt the existence of the Devil. Demonic spirits exist and, indeed, are always prowling the earth seeking the destruction of souls.

"All this magic, occultism and spiritualism open the doors," he asserts, based on his long experience as the exorcist of Rome. "And once the doors are open, the Devil’s hands are free. It’s not that he’s stronger, it’s that he is free to use his strength."