The Telephone Game

The Midnight Article "Playing Telephone" was written by u/pumpkin_mocha_ and posted to r/MidnightPaper.

The text of the Article was as follows:

PLAYING TELEPHONE

"Repeat after me..." For those of you unfamiliar with the rules, Telephone is a game where one person whispers something to another player. This player then repeats the action, and the game continues until there are no players left—at which point the last player will tell the others what they heard.

The idea of the game "Telephone" is to showcase how words can change as they pass from mouth to mouth. It's a gossip game—and it's supposed to be an indicative of human behaviour.

Recently, however, the trend has taken a darker turn—or perhaps merely a strange one.

Gaining attention on the internet is a single post that states: If you hear the words, "Repeat after me," ''you're playing the game now. Follow the rules. Don't lie or try to change the words—you'll be cursed.''

Naturally, people were skeptical. This post was originally buried under a pile of mockery and derision. Another urban legend, poorly crafted and with no proof to its words.

Things changed when more people started to claim that strangers spoke these very same words: "Repeat after me." Shortly after, strange things began to happen.

"It happened to me over the phone," a woman, S—, tells us. "The number was a contact I knew, a friend. But a voice I didn't recognize said, 'Repeat after me...' and some other things. And then they hung up."

When pressed, the woman admits that she can't remember exactly what the words were. "I redialed," she recalls, "and [spoke] with [my friend]. I told her the words, and she laughed and told me that it was probably a prank. Except later, when I asked her what I'd said, she said that she forgot."

The woman insists that the words were memorable, shocking even. However, she cannot recall any of the words that she had passed on, and neither can her friend—who, after some questioning, also appears to have passed them on to someone else.

Another witness, K—, claims that he received his words from a stranger in the store. "[They] walked right up to me," he says. "None of their [features] stood out... Thinking back, I dunno if they were male or female. But they told me to repeat after them. They said a sentence, a short one, and then just walked off. I didn't follow them. It didn't feel right to."

K— tells us that the game of Telephone isn't malicious. "I needed those words," he says. He also claims that he still remembers what was said to him; he also refused to tell us, saying that he couldn't pass them on yet.

However, K—'s experience seems to be unique—or at the very least, there are several ongoing games of Telephone, each with vastly different words.

"I lied," A—, a player in the game, confesses. "Mine was a voice message. I heard it, but didn't know to stop listening. And I remember what it said. Maybe because I didn't follow the rules, and now I won't ever forget it."

She also claims that she wouldn't want anyone else to hear the phrase.

"I'd tell somebody," she admits, "if I thought they could handle hearing it. Just to get it off my chest. But what if they tell someone else? I can't risk it."

A— tells us that when she lied, her lie was forgotten by herself, and by the person who passed it on. "It was something good... I hope. But now I won't know unless it comes back to me. And it might've changed by then."

The mystery here is—what is the purpose of this game? And who is instigating it? In addition, what causes these words to warrant any interest?

H. M— speculates, "It's the forgetting. One or two people might forget, but every single player losing their memory? It's more than strange—it's supernatural."

H. M— is also a current player in this seemingly worldwide game, and he admits to having memory of his words—because he hasn't passed them on.

It might be a mistake," H. M— tells us. "But if I forgot, I'd be plagued by curiosity for the rest of my life. And here's what I can tell you: these words, they come true. Whether the phrases are prophetic or a curse, I can't tell—and it's rather frightening that people are passing them on without knowing what they're doing. Imagine if I told you that you were going to die tomorrow. If I forgot that, and you told someone else and forgot that—that's three of us cursed by the same words, and two of us don't even remember what we did."

When pressed, H. M— steadfastly refused to reveal how he discovered this information. "They told me," is all he would say.

Although local law enforcement dismisses these rumors as nothing more than a passing trend, they do urge caution.

And, dear readers, we counsel this: if you ever find yourself playing this game, simply find another player and tell them, "repeat after me..."

Description:

"The Telephone Game," also known as "The Echo Game," is a Trend-Type Oddity. It's a variation of the "Telephone" game that is often used as an exercise to explain the breakdown of information when it passes from person to person. This exercise is a mainstay of education, workplace icebreakers, and psychology lectures the world over.

This Telephone Game (or Echo Game) is much more sinister. It can be played anywhere, either on a phone or in person, and can simply be started by saying the words "repeat after me" out loud. At this point, the rules of the game go into effect. The person who said "repeat after me" to you will say a series of words to you (a phrase or sentence) and you must repeat the words verbatim. If you try to change the words or "lie" by stating something else entirely, then you will face dire consequences.

Aftermath:

After you play the game, whatever was said to you and whatever you said back will be forgotten by both people playing the game at that moment. However, if you fail to follow the rules, you will remember what the person said to you.

The exact consequences of lying or failing to repeat the words said to you by the instigator of the game is not known. However, the participant labeled as "A" stated that what was said to her was horrifying in some way, as she "I'd tell somebody if I thought they could handle hearing it."

The participant labeled as H.M revealed to the writer of the Midnight Article that the words the instigator of the game wants the unwilling participant to repeat "come true." How or why this happens, however, is not known.

Origins:

The origins of the Telephone (or Echo) Game are completely unknown, as is who (or what) is behind it. It's possible that there is an unknown, unseen, unmentioned Oddity behind the game. This Oddity could be the one choosing what words are being repeated by the participants in the game, and could even be the reason why everyone who plays it forgets those same words. If there is indeed an Oddity behind the game, it may prove to be one of the most dangerous Oddities ever mentioned in the paper. Its far-reaching powers of manipulating reality (through the words being said in the game that must come true) and its ability to erase part of the memories everyone who plays the game, are staggering to say the least.