Case File: 100 (Ghosts & Ladders)
Classification: Paranormal Artifact (Game)
Status: Active and Dangerous
Origin: Ancient India
First Recorded Incident: 1943, Springfield, Massachusetts
Description
Ghosts & Ladders is a case based on the vintage board game Snakes and Ladders which was transformed in 1943 to Chutes & Ladders. If you play this game without children, then it becomes a Ouija Board, opening the floodgates for demons and evil to roam freely.
Known Rules
When played by adults alone, the game exhibits anomalous behavior:
When rolling to see who goes first, the die counts down with each roll. (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…)
Tokens selected by players (ring, coin, bottle top) move without touch.
Voices of unseen children whisper in the room.
The temperature drops sharply after the first player takes a turn.
There are stories that winner gains some sort of mystical insight into the world while the losers’ souls become trapped. This hasn’t been confirmed.
Documented Incidents
Incident 1: Springfield, Massachusetts (1943)
A newly married couple purchased Chutes & Ladders at Gimbel’s department store in New York on their honeymoon and brought it back to their home in Springfield, Massachusetts. They wanted the game to bring them luck with having children.
The following weekend they invited two friends over and played just “for fun.” Neighbors reported hearing a mixture of laughter and screams. Only one player was found, the newlywed wife, catatonic, repeating the phrase, “I won.” Her husband and two friends were never recovered.
Incident 2: The Dormitory Case (1999)
A growing number of college students were installing webcams in their dorm rooms to broadcast their lives on the internet, sometimes referred to as “webcasting” or early “livestreaming”. Most connections were slow, making video quality poor and pixelated.
Four college students at George Washington University attempted to livestream a “haunted game night.” The stream cut out after 9 minutes. When authorities arrived, the room was empty except for the Chutes & Ladders game. The tokens were arranged in a perfect circle around the center.
Incident 3: The Collector’s Estate (2015)
A private collector of occult artifacts displayed Chutes & Ladders in a locked glass case. Security footage later showed the board closing by itself every morning at 3:03 a.m. and reopening at 3:09 a.m.
On September 9th, the collector was found seated before the case, eyes open, mouth filled with ash.
Containment Procedures (If no children are around or playing)
Store in a sealed, lead-lined case.
Do not touch the board directly.
Never roll a die around the board.
Under no circumstances should the game be played without the presence of at least one living child.
If the game begins to move on its own, evacuate immediately and seal the area with salt and iron filings.
Notes
T.I.P.S. (Teens Investigating Paranormal Situations) theorize that Ghosts & Ladders acts as a conduit between the living and the spirits of lost children. The “ladders” may represent ascension, while the “slide” spaces serve as anchors for entities seeking entry into the physical world.
The warning remains consistent across all recovered copies:
Never, ever play children’s games without children.
Published by: Hallowfield Publishing