BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday May 29, 2015 – Children have been hospitalized, pastors called in to schools, and at least one Ministry of Education in the Caribbean has launched an investigation into reports of strange behaviour by students who played the popular Charlie Charlie Challenge.
The game, which has been described as a rudimentary form of the Ouija board, has been trending on social media where players have posted pictures and videos of themselves performing the challenge. It involves balancing pencils in a cross on a piece of paper with the words “yes” and “no” written on the paper, and summoning a visit from a demon by the name of Charlie, who then answers the players’ questions by moving the pencils in the direction of the words.
The Barbados Today online newspaper quoted acting chief eduction officer Karen Best as saying an investigation would be carried out “to find out what is really going on” after police and several pastors from the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies (PAWI) group were summoned to several schools where children were acting strangely.
PAWI head Bishop Gerry Seale said “demonic activity has been manifested” at schools in Barbados as a result of children playing the game, as well as in other Caribbean countries.
“I spoke to a youth pastor in Guyana who has had to deal with 16 students so far needing deliverance from demonic activity as a result of this game,” Barbados Today quoted him as saying.
St Lucia News Online reported that the Ministry of Education there had banned the game.
It said there had been strange occurrences in schools in that Caribbean island. In one instances, students reported seeing desks floating.
According to media reports in Antigua and Barbuda, students at one secondary school where the game was being played were rushed to hospital after fainting.
In recent days, religious leaders across the region and in other parts of the world have warned people against playing the game, saying it opens players to demonic possession.