August 18, 2025 • 8 mins
Would you dare play a game that invites a demon into your home? Or balance two pencils to summon a spirit that never leaves? In this episode of Make You Scream, Nicki Baber takes you deep into the terrifying world of The Midnight Man ritual and the viral Charlie Charlie Challenge.
We’ll explore:
The chilling step-by-step rules of The Midnight Man game
The psychology of why candlelight, salt, and 3:33 AM feel so dangerous
The real reason pencils move during Charlie Charlie
Viral stories, urban legends, and why these games spread like wildfire on TikTok and YouTube
If you’ve ever whispered “Charlie Charlie, are you here?” or thought about summoning the Midnight Man, this episode will make you think twice.
👻 New episodes every Monday at 1PM EST.
Submit your story at makeyouscreampodcast.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Make You
Scream. On today's episode of Don't Play
Scary Games, we are talking about two specific scary games
that you guys have requested that are absolutely terrifying.
And I've actually played one of these games.
The first game is the CC challenge, and the second game
is the Midnight Man. You've probably seen them on
(00:20):
TikTok. Maybe you've heard them
whispered about by your friends,or if you're a daredevil, you
might have even tried them yourself.
First, let's talk about the CC challenge.
This exploded in Internet viralness around 2015, and it
was all over Vine. I remember as a kid being like,
Oh my God, I have to play this. And it's such an easy and simple
(00:41):
ritual to do. So really, it's something that's
available to everyone. But before the Internet, there's
really no record of this game ever even existing.
Some people said that it was Mexican Catholic folklore, but
most people argue that it just didn't exist at all before the
Internet. Basically you draw a cross on a
piece of paper and you write yes, yes, no, no, and then you
take 2 pencils and you put them across the cross like you
(01:04):
balance one on top of the other.Then you chant CC are you here?
CC are you here? If the pencils start moving
together toward yes, then something's there.
Now when you use two pencils crossed over each other, the
pencils, they have a flat edge, so it works to like balance
them. But then it's so light that even
(01:25):
just like you could blow on it and they'll cross.
A slight breeze will cross the pencils.
Some people argue that this ritual doesn't actually work and
it's the ideal motor effect, which is basically what people
say happens with Ouija boards where it's your subconscious
making you move the item, the planchet, or in this case, the
pencils to get the answers that you want.
(01:47):
But it was being played all overin classrooms, at sleepovers,
everywhere, and everyone has pencils.
Viral video started appearing everywhere of pencils
aggressively spinning, teens screaming and running out of the
rooms. Like really crazy stuff that
could easily be faked, but it was still viral sensation.
(02:07):
And then there were major schoolissues with it because there
were even classes in the Dominican Republic where the
students refused to come back tothe class after summoning
Charlie because they were too scared.
And of course, there's rumors with every scary game, scary
ritual. And the rumors about this one
was that Charlie never leaves. Even if you get rid of the
pencils or tear up the paper, he's always there and he's
(02:28):
always with you and he's always watching.
It was part game, part mass hysteria, and it was the perfect
recipe for a viral horror game. Now, the Midnight Man is a lot
deeper, darker, and scarier because of course you have to
play it at midnight. This one actually has some
roots. People say that it's based off
an old Pagan religion and you were forced to do this ritual.
(02:51):
You were being punished because you broke the rules.
Basically the idea was you couldtest your luck or you could test
your faith by summoning the midnight man into your home.
Here's the thing, there's no actual solid evidence that this
is a Pagan ritual at all. So pagans, Sorry if I'm
spreading misinformation. The most real accounts I could
find is. I traced it back to some
(03:11):
creepypastas from 2010. But the ritual still feels
ancient. Let's talk about how you do it.
To play, you need a candle, matches, piece of paper, a pen,
a drop of your own blood, a door, and salt.
Lots and lots of salt. At exactly midnight, you write
your name down on the piece of paper.
Exactly midnight. Then you prick your finger and
(03:34):
let a drip of blood drop on the paper.
It has to fall into your name. So I guess it's like you miss
your name. You have to wait till the next
day to start over because it hasto be at exactly midnight or
something. Then you place that piece of
paper in front of your door that's closed and you light the
candle and then you knock 22 times.
It's kind of a lot of knocking. Then you open the door and close
(03:59):
the door again. You've officially let in the
midnight man. Then your next task from and
then on till 3:33 AM is simple. Just survive.
You have to keep your candle lit.
If it goes out, you have 10 seconds to relight it.
If you fail, you have to put a circle of salt around you and
stay inside that salt circle till 3:33 AM or else you cannot
(04:20):
leave your house, you cannot fall asleep and you cannot stop
moving. That's so scary.
You can't stop moving. So it's like he's like it
Follows. Like if you've seen that movie,
it Follows is this man that likeslowly follows you.
And if you sleep with someone, it slowly follows them.
So it's kind of like an STD. I don't know how that movie got
the second version of that movie's coming out and I don't
(04:41):
really know how that got greenlit.
That's just crazy to me. I thought that movie was
ridiculous. Anyways, The Midnight Man kind
of reminds me of this and actually it would be a better
movie version of this. The Midnight Man showed up and
he's just slowly walking towardsyou and you have to just like
hide from him and you can't stopmoving and you have to keep this
flame lit. Trying to keep a flame lit while
moving is a challenge in itself,honestly.
(05:02):
Now if you lose, you supposedly will hallucinate your worst
fears, and the extreme version of this says that you can even
be taken, like you'll disappear without a trace.
That's basically the midnight man.
But this game really seems to scare people, and I think one of
the reasons it scares so many people is the candle effect.
(05:25):
Because humans are hardwired to feel unsafe in the dark, and
only having the light of a single candle turns every corner
into the deep dark unknown. When the candle goes out on
accident because you're moving around, that's going to give you
an adrenaline spike and cause you to be in fear, in panic, and
you're going to feel like someones near you.
(05:46):
Then you have the witching hour.3:33 AM ties directly into that
especially, you know, no good things happen after midnight
that all our parents tell us this.
Well, this has to happen after midnight because it's the
midnight man. So that creates a feeling of
like supernatural danger. Then you have symbolism of
blood, salt, the knocking, all ancient ritual tools.
(06:08):
So even if you don't believe it,your subconscious does.
You're basically scaring yourself.
That's what all these stories are, is you're scaring yourself.
But we love to do it. Then also sleep deprivation.
So that might be why people hallucinate, because sleep
deprivation can actually cause you to hallucinate.
And there's tons of real accounts of these, but most
people experience like shadows darting across the walls,
(06:29):
scratching on the bedroom door. And there's a viral YouTube
video of this person whose candle keeps getting blown out
over and over and over, no matter how many times they
relight it. That would terrify me.
And in that video, viewers swearthey see a shadow standing in
the corner. And then for those who finished
the game, their stories just kind of stop.
They don't really give us much more information besides that,
(06:50):
which I think is odd. These games aren't random.
They're designed for teens. And while some of us as adults
might play them too, to get a little adrenaline rush, they're
free to play. They're forbidden.
And you're sure that you'll get scared.
And when the rules say don't, don't, don't, then it makes you
want to. And then when you play it, you
get scared. And if you're with friends, they
(07:11):
get scared. And psychologists call this
phenomena emotional contagion, where one people, one person
feels fear and the others start to feel fear.
And these games have just gone so viral.
Oh, I didn't tell you about the time I played the CC game.
So when I played the CC game, itworked like it moved, but it was
moving on its own. But I did live in a haunted
house, so granted that could be why it could have been any
(07:32):
spirit. I don't necessarily think it was
Charlie. But if Charlie is not a spirit
or a demon or some entity that did exist, he probably exists
now. And we've talked about this
before about tulpas and how people's fear and attention and
energy can actually create an entity like Slender Man.
So Charlie probably does exist somewhere somehow.
(07:53):
He probably is talking to some kids through pencils.
I don't know. What do you think?
Are these just scary psychological tricks or are
these true rituals that are summoning something?
Would you play the Midnight Man or CC?
Which one would you rather play?If you had to play one?
I would definitely pick CC. The Midnight Man just seems too
scary for me. And if you've ever tried these
(08:13):
games, I want to hear your story.
So you can submit your story on make youscreampodcast.com.
And if you do, you might just hear it on a future podcast or
TikTok video. We post every Monday at 1:00 PM.
So we'll see you on the next episode of Scary Stories that
will make you scream. Until next time, sleep tight and
remember some entities that you summon will never let you go.
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Make You
Scream. On today's episode of Don't Play
Scary Games, we are talking about two specific scary games
that you guys have requested that are absolutely terrifying.
And I've actually played one of these games.
The first game is the CC challenge, and the second game
is the Midnight Man. You've probably seen them on
(00:20):
TikTok. Maybe you've heard them
whispered about by your friends,or if you're a daredevil, you
might have even tried them yourself.
First, let's talk about the CC challenge.
This exploded in Internet viralness around 2015, and it
was all over Vine. I remember as a kid being like,
Oh my God, I have to play this. And it's such an easy and simple
(00:41):
ritual to do. So really, it's something that's
available to everyone. But before the Internet, there's
really no record of this game ever even existing.
Some people said that it was Mexican Catholic folklore, but
most people argue that it just didn't exist at all before the
Internet. Basically you draw a cross on a
piece of paper and you write yes, yes, no, no, and then you
take 2 pencils and you put them across the cross like you
(01:04):
balance one on top of the other.Then you chant CC are you here?
CC are you here? If the pencils start moving
together toward yes, then something's there.
Now when you use two pencils crossed over each other, the
pencils, they have a flat edge, so it works to like balance
them. But then it's so light that even
(01:25):
just like you could blow on it and they'll cross.
A slight breeze will cross the pencils.
Some people argue that this ritual doesn't actually work and
it's the ideal motor effect, which is basically what people
say happens with Ouija boards where it's your subconscious
making you move the item, the planchet, or in this case, the
pencils to get the answers that you want.
(01:47):
But it was being played all overin classrooms, at sleepovers,
everywhere, and everyone has pencils.
Viral video started appearing everywhere of pencils
aggressively spinning, teens screaming and running out of the
rooms. Like really crazy stuff that
could easily be faked, but it was still viral sensation.
(02:07):
And then there were major schoolissues with it because there
were even classes in the Dominican Republic where the
students refused to come back tothe class after summoning
Charlie because they were too scared.
And of course, there's rumors with every scary game, scary
ritual. And the rumors about this one
was that Charlie never leaves. Even if you get rid of the
pencils or tear up the paper, he's always there and he's
(02:28):
always with you and he's always watching.
It was part game, part mass hysteria, and it was the perfect
recipe for a viral horror game. Now, the Midnight Man is a lot
deeper, darker, and scarier because of course you have to
play it at midnight. This one actually has some
roots. People say that it's based off
an old Pagan religion and you were forced to do this ritual.
(02:51):
You were being punished because you broke the rules.
Basically the idea was you couldtest your luck or you could test
your faith by summoning the midnight man into your home.
Here's the thing, there's no actual solid evidence that this
is a Pagan ritual at all. So pagans, Sorry if I'm
spreading misinformation. The most real accounts I could
find is. I traced it back to some
(03:11):
creepypastas from 2010. But the ritual still feels
ancient. Let's talk about how you do it.
To play, you need a candle, matches, piece of paper, a pen,
a drop of your own blood, a door, and salt.
Lots and lots of salt. At exactly midnight, you write
your name down on the piece of paper.
Exactly midnight. Then you prick your finger and
(03:34):
let a drip of blood drop on the paper.
It has to fall into your name. So I guess it's like you miss
your name. You have to wait till the next
day to start over because it hasto be at exactly midnight or
something. Then you place that piece of
paper in front of your door that's closed and you light the
candle and then you knock 22 times.
It's kind of a lot of knocking. Then you open the door and close
(03:59):
the door again. You've officially let in the
midnight man. Then your next task from and
then on till 3:33 AM is simple. Just survive.
You have to keep your candle lit.
If it goes out, you have 10 seconds to relight it.
If you fail, you have to put a circle of salt around you and
stay inside that salt circle till 3:33 AM or else you cannot
(04:20):
leave your house, you cannot fall asleep and you cannot stop
moving. That's so scary.
You can't stop moving. So it's like he's like it
Follows. Like if you've seen that movie,
it Follows is this man that likeslowly follows you.
And if you sleep with someone, it slowly follows them.
So it's kind of like an STD. I don't know how that movie got
the second version of that movie's coming out and I don't
(04:41):
really know how that got greenlit.
That's just crazy to me. I thought that movie was
ridiculous. Anyways, The Midnight Man kind
of reminds me of this and actually it would be a better
movie version of this. The Midnight Man showed up and
he's just slowly walking towardsyou and you have to just like
hide from him and you can't stopmoving and you have to keep this
flame lit. Trying to keep a flame lit while
moving is a challenge in itself,honestly.
(05:02):
Now if you lose, you supposedly will hallucinate your worst
fears, and the extreme version of this says that you can even
be taken, like you'll disappear without a trace.
That's basically the midnight man.
But this game really seems to scare people, and I think one of
the reasons it scares so many people is the candle effect.
(05:25):
Because humans are hardwired to feel unsafe in the dark, and
only having the light of a single candle turns every corner
into the deep dark unknown. When the candle goes out on
accident because you're moving around, that's going to give you
an adrenaline spike and cause you to be in fear, in panic, and
you're going to feel like someones near you.
(05:46):
Then you have the witching hour.3:33 AM ties directly into that
especially, you know, no good things happen after midnight
that all our parents tell us this.
Well, this has to happen after midnight because it's the
midnight man. So that creates a feeling of
like supernatural danger. Then you have symbolism of
blood, salt, the knocking, all ancient ritual tools.
(06:08):
So even if you don't believe it,your subconscious does.
You're basically scaring yourself.
That's what all these stories are, is you're scaring yourself.
But we love to do it. Then also sleep deprivation.
So that might be why people hallucinate, because sleep
deprivation can actually cause you to hallucinate.
And there's tons of real accounts of these, but most
people experience like shadows darting across the walls,
(06:29):
scratching on the bedroom door. And there's a viral YouTube
video of this person whose candle keeps getting blown out
over and over and over, no matter how many times they
relight it. That would terrify me.
And in that video, viewers swearthey see a shadow standing in
the corner. And then for those who finished
the game, their stories just kind of stop.
They don't really give us much more information besides that,
(06:50):
which I think is odd. These games aren't random.
They're designed for teens. And while some of us as adults
might play them too, to get a little adrenaline rush, they're
free to play. They're forbidden.
And you're sure that you'll get scared.
And when the rules say don't, don't, don't, then it makes you
want to. And then when you play it, you
get scared. And if you're with friends, they
(07:11):
get scared. And psychologists call this
phenomena emotional contagion, where one people, one person
feels fear and the others start to feel fear.
And these games have just gone so viral.
Oh, I didn't tell you about the time I played the CC game.
So when I played the CC game, itworked like it moved, but it was
moving on its own. But I did live in a haunted
house, so granted that could be why it could have been any
(07:32):
spirit. I don't necessarily think it was
Charlie. But if Charlie is not a spirit
or a demon or some entity that did exist, he probably exists
now. And we've talked about this
before about tulpas and how people's fear and attention and
energy can actually create an entity like Slender Man.
So Charlie probably does exist somewhere somehow.
(07:53):
He probably is talking to some kids through pencils.
I don't know. What do you think?
Are these just scary psychological tricks or are
these true rituals that are summoning something?
Would you play the Midnight Man or CC?
Which one would you rather play?If you had to play one?
I would definitely pick CC. The Midnight Man just seems too
scary for me. And if you've ever tried these
(08:13):
games, I want to hear your story.
So you can submit your story on make youscreampodcast.com.
And if you do, you might just hear it on a future podcast or
TikTok video. We post every Monday at 1:00 PM.
So we'll see you on the next episode of Scary Stories that
will make you scream. Until next time, sleep tight and
remember some entities that you summon will never let you go.
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