Transcript
Advertiser (0:02)
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Narrator (0:45)
You stand in complete darkness. The house is empty, silent. You check your watch. It's almost time. Blood from your finger falls onto the paper where you've written your name. You light a candle and place everything by the door. At exactly 11:59, you begin knocking 22 times. The final knock lands at exactly midnight. You open the door, blow out the candle, close the door, and relight the flame. The room changes. The air turns cold. Something moves at the edge of your vision. You hear a whisper. You're not alone. The midnight game has begun. There's no turning back now. You have until 3:33 to survive. But the shadow in the corner has other plans. Humans have always been attracted to rituals that summon the darkness. Bloody Mary appears in your bathroom mirror after saying her name three times. Candyman works the same way. Light as a feather, as stiff as a board, requires chanting to unlock levitation. In the elevator game, you press the buttons in a certain order. The last button is the fifth floor. When the door is open, a woman will enter. It's crucial that you don't look at her, speak to her, or even acknowledge her in any way. She is not human. Then you press the button for the first floor. If you did everything right, the elevator will actually go up, not down, and you'll enter a dimension called the Otherworld. All these rituals have tasks that have to be performed in a specific way, in a specific order. The midnight game works the same way. It began centuries ago as an ancient pagan ritual. It wasn't a game then. It was punishment or judgment. The person was placed in a dark room or cave with a single candle for light. The room was then sealed. The elders started knocking. They would knock exactly 22 times. Why 22? Many cultures associate 22 with mystical properties. 2 times 11. A master number in numerology. The Hebrew Alphabet has 22 letters. The major arcana in Tarot contains 22 cards. All symbolize a bridge between worlds. The living and the dead. Light and Shadow. After the 22nd knock, the accused was left alone with whatever they'd summoned across that bridge. In the morning, the elders unsealed the chamber. Some people were dead, eyes still open in fear. Survivors were in shock, unable to speak. Some people descended into madness, but all reported the same thing. A shadowy figure, not quite human, tortured them with fear and violence. This shadow entity became known as the Midnight Man. The ritual vanished from history until 2010. A post appeared on a paranormal message board with instructions on how to summon the Midnight Man. The user found it in his grandfather's journal. Written in faded ink, pages stained with dried blood. The post quickly spread across websites and message boards. The instructions are simple, but you have to be precise. Total darkness. Total silence. Blood on paper. 22 knocks, ending exactly at midnight. And then darkness. You'll know if you followed the steps properly. The air turns cold. The darkness shifts in front of your eyes. The Midnight man arrives and he's ready to play. Once you've performed the necessary steps in the right order, at exactly the right time, you've summoned the Midnight Man. You've challenged the Shadow entity to play the midnight game. And he gladly accepts. To win the game, all you have to do is avoid the Midnight man until 3:33am and keep your candle lit. That won't be as easy as it sounds. The Midnight man is going to do everything he can to leave you in complete darkness. Then you're in his world, the shadow world, where all your fears become real. Pay close attention to the temperature. If you feel cold or hear breathing, move and keep moving. The Midnight man has found you. But no matter what, keep that candle burning. If it goes out, you have 10 seconds to relight it. If you don't relight your candle in time, you have only one salt. Surround yourself with a circle of salt. Sit and wait until 3:33. If you leave the circle, you lose. If you turn on a light, you lose. Leave the house, fall asleep. Use someone else's blood, you lose. The hallucinations come next. Now this is where the Midnight man shows his true power. He can read your thoughts. He could bring your most terrifying fears to the surface. Fear spiders. You'll be swarmed with stinging tarantul. Fear. Drowning. The Midnight man will hold you underwater, drowning you again and again and again. At sunrise, the Midnight man retreats to the shadows. If you're able to avoid him, you're safe. But if you didn't, the game continues. The hallucinations follow you into your dreams, turning every fear you have against you. All you can do is go back to sleep and hope the Midnight man has been satisfied or found another victim. That's where the Internet helped the ritual spread from forums to message boards to social media.