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Is that Creepy ‘Charlie Charlie’ Game Just a Viral Marketing Stunt?

Is that Creepy ‘Charlie Charlie’ Game Just a Viral Marketing Stunt?

That creepy “Charlie Charlie” meme might just be one big viral marketing stunt. Maybe. A few weeks ago, teenagers across the Internet started to post videos of themselves asking a demon/ghost/supernatural meme monster named “Charlie” to answer yes or no questions by spinning a pencil on a homemade, DIY Ouija-like board. The entity-summoning game, which resulted in thousands of Vine and YouTube uploads, even caused a Vatican-back exorcist to warn unsuspecting players of the dangers of possession. He said, “Some spirits who are at the root of that practice will harass some of those who play the game.”

The roots of the seemingly sinister viral game have been unclear (though some claimed it was some sort of Mexican urban legend), but now, there’s evidence the whole thing could have been a marketing stunt. The makers of an upcoming horror movie called The Gallows—which features a demon named “Charlie”—released a brief teaser showing a character in the film playing the game. Though some outlets are suggesting that the entire craze was actually a successful promotional effort, the Gallows team may have just seen an opportunity and quickly created the video …

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