Games: The Three Kings Ritual

Have you ever felt compelled to contact the spirit world? If you have questions you don’t wish to share in a séance, or around a Ouija board with friends, then perhaps the Three Kings Ritual is for you. But beware, it is not something to be taken lightly. Any answer received could be the truth, if the Queen chooses to answer, however the fool has taken the opposite seat, and if they choose to answer, it could be a trick. It is also possible for the fool, or even the queen, to pull you into the spirit world.

The Three Kings Ritual was first recorded by redditor FableForge, who posted about it on the r/nosleep subreddit.

“I won’t tell you that you shouldn’t be afraid of the Shadowside; chances are you’ve already seen it after all, and merely think it was just a “recurring dream”. I will tell you there is no need to be ignorantly afraid of it, though. There is a difference. Ignorance fuels fear and fear can give that place a lot of juice to run on. You have to be big on preparation if you want to try this.”

To complete this ritual, you will need the following:

• A very large empty and quiet room, preferably without windows. If windows exist, you will need to be able to cover them to ensure total darkness.
• A candle that can burn for an hour, and a lighter.
• A bucket of water and a mug.
• A fan
• Two large mirrors
• Three chairs.
• An alarm clock.
• An active cell phone (be sure it has a full battery.)
• A friend or loved one willing to follow rules and go along with all this madness.
• A small toy or dear object from your childhood.

Setup your space:

• Begin your setup at around 11 PM. Place one chair in the center of the room, facing north (this is important). This is your throne.
• Place the other two chairs exactly to the left and right, facing your throne. The distance between your throne and that of your queen and fool should be about the length of your arm to each side, more or less.
• Place the two large mirrors on the queen and fool chairs left and right of you, facing you (and each other). Try your best to have them stand at a 90 degree angle (or else you may get more or less than three kings). If you sit on your throne facing straight ahead (north), you should be able to perceive your own reflection in each of the two mirrors without actually having to turn your head nor your eyes to do so. If you see your own reflection in the corner of your eye, just barely there, then you’ve done it right.
• Place the bucket of water and the mug in front of you, just barely out of reach.
• Place the fan behind you, turn it on. Don’t set it to maximum power -medium or low is usually enough. Leave it on.
• Turn off the lights, leave the door open and go to your bedroom.
• Set the candles by the side of the bed, next to a lighter, your alarm clock and your cellphone (leave it charging).
• Set your alarm clock for 3:30 AM.
• Turn off the lights and sleep while holding your power object, get some rest.

Now it’s time to begin. When your alarm goes off at 3:30, you will immediately turn off your clock, but DO NOT turn on a light. You have exactly 3 minutes to light your candle, grab your cell phone and your power object, and make your way to the dark room. Take your seat on your throne. You should be seated by 3:33 AM.

If, for any reason, your alarm did not go off at 3:30 AM, you should abort. If when you arrive at the dark room, and the door is closed, you should abort. If you find the fan is turned off when you get to the dark room, you should abort. To abort, you must leave the house with your friend or loved one. It doesn’t matter where you go, just make sure you don’t return until after 6 AM.

As you take your seat on your throne DO NOT look directly at either of the mirrors beside you. DO NOT let your candle go out, you must protect it from the fan with your body. Stare straight ahead, into the darkness, not at your candle, the mirrors, or anything else.

Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you will have noticed that you have not been told which chair is the queen, and which is the fool. That’s because it is up to you to find out and decide. To them, you are either the fool or the queen, thus there are three kings.

You can begin. You have an hour to ask questions and wait for answers. The ritual will end at exactly 4:34 AM.

As mentioned before, it is possible for the fool, or the queen to pull you into the spirit world. To be safe, you have given yourself multiple back-ups to bring you back. First, you shouldn’t let your candle be blown out, however if anything were to happen to your body, your fan would blow it out, and the ritual would end.

Second, ask your friend or loved one to come to the dark room at exactly 4:34 AM and call your name. If that doesn’t bring you back, they should call your cell phone. If even that does not work, they can use the mug and bucket of water, but they cannot touch you, under any circumstance.

Finally, if none of the above can bring you back out of the ritual, you are left to rely on your item of power. It will show you the way.

FableForge has issued a warning to all who attempt the ritual. “You gotta be like a boy scout if you do these things. If you half-ass it, half-ass it all the way so that it won’t work. Worst you can do is take it seriously enough for it to work and not seriously enough to be prepared for the consequences.”

Those who have performed the Three Kings ritual successfully have reported spending their hour in the presence of two, usually evil, spirits. They have reported seeing the spirits manifest in the mirrors in their peripheral vision, and they can hear them speak.

Here are some testimonials from those who have tried, and survived.

“Suddenly the candle I had started flickering. I’m not talking about a little bit either; I was legitimately getting scared it was going to go out. It looked like it was dancing around, and was casting strange shadows all around me. Immediately after I felt two distinct mental presences crash into me. From the left side I felt an overwhelming sense of anger, depression, hate, and what generally felt like evil incarnate. From the right came these feelings of happiness, joy, and kindness, and was the complete opposite of the opposing force. It felt like I was no longer one person, but was instead three entities fighting it out inside of my body. I remember feeling squished inside my own body, and I was starting to shake. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I at one point was sure I was going to be pushed out of my own body, and could feel what can only be described as ego death.” –DP4man

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“After a few minutes of nothing happening, I hear something from the darkness towards the door. It’s faint singing in a language I can’t understand, and the blackness turns into a mass of shadows that look like people. They’re all marching from the right to the left, like they’re on parade; and as they pass I can’t help but feel elated. After a couple of minutes of this going on, I noticed a second noise.

From the chair to my right, was the sound of someone writing something down. It was a scratchy sound too, like someone using one of those old quill pens (god I love those things). I wanted to ask what it was writing down, but I was too afraid of the answer to go through with it. Especially when the room was full of moving shadows (even if they did look like they were rejoicing). The scribbling on my right ceased, and then a voice from the chair on my left spoke up.

It said my name, and then started listing off every good deed I’d done in my life. Big, small, valiant, accidental, all of them. Even ones I’d done when I was a little boy and forgotten about. And as the voice listed these things off, the writing on my right resumed… When my girlfriend called for me, both voices said goodbye, the shadows and music faded away, and I heard the chairs scrape against the wood floor. ” –mjkoenig

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“Out of the corner of my eye, the mirror to my right looked like there were water droplets falling down it, like the windshield of a car during a downpour. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, I’m not sure if it was because I was terrified or because of the sheer sadness that filled the room. … From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the mirror on the left looked lighter somehow. The only way I know how to explain it is when you turn the brightness up too high on your computer screen. Terrified, I made sure to keep looking forward at the wall.

The next thing I remember is getting splashed with an entire bucket of cold water. My safety person had called my name without a response, then called my cell phone several times with no answer, then eventually came into the room and brought me back to reality with the bucket of water. According to them I was sitting straight ahead with the candle clutched in my left hand and my right hand in front of me at face level, like I was holding it against someone else’s.” – throwawaykings

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“I woke up at 3:30 on-the-dot to he blast of power metal. I lit my candle and went into the studio, my sister well aware of my situation. The chairs had been set up in the space between too large type shelves. I sat down and assumed the position. Make note that facing north was facing the exit of the two shelves and that I have a phobia of the dark. So I was pretty good with the little light from the candle there making it hard to see, but not impossible. After a while I herd crying coming from my right side. It was mock-crying like when you’re insulting someone for whining. I herd, from the left, someone telling them to cut it out. Then in the most fucked up voice I herd “Come over here and make me stop screaming”.

That nightmare is actually a guilt thing. One of my friends got pregnant about a year ago. She was 16 and I was 13 at the time. No I wasn’t the dad or anything, I’m still a virgin (by choice). She want’ed to get an abortion and I tried to stay out of it. Since I have had nightmares from time to time that end with that little back and fourth because I feel bad for not urging her against it. So hearing that freaked me right the fuck out. But I’m a bold type so I responded with something to the extent of “I don’t hear crying, just a little bitch.”

There was silence for about twenty minutes. Now everything felt like it was floating the moment I had sat down, but I didn’t really notice until now. And then I noticed just how dark it was. I closed my eyes and waited till I herd my sister call my name, all the while enduring the endless silence and the black engulfing me.” – razna

We can explain away these experiences by claiming the person was tired, possibly hallucinating due to the interrupted sleep. Perhaps they’re seeing things because of the flickering light and reflections in the glass. Perhaps their mind is letting them hear things that aren’t there, since the room is so quiet. The power of persuasion could also be at play here, with the user expecting something, and so something happens, or at least their mind thinks it does. Regardless, you may never know the truth, unless you give the game a try for yourself.

Looking for another game to try? Look no further, check out The Midnight Game.