4000 BCE is when the first mirrors began to be recorded throughout history. It provided a reflection of light and shows us who we are. It is thought of as something so simple, most people don’t appreciate the whole scope of it. This is fine, but those who have questions and surround themselves with the mysteries of the mirror might find themselves stumbling across an old game.
There is little to no proof that this game is real, just rumors that have floated across the internet for many years. Forums on the dark/deep web have talked about tourists of the mirror. People who have claimed to find themselves passing through it. These stories and experiences are all different. There are many consistencies with folks’ stories that are so close, it starts to become hard to not believe when you go down the rabbit hole of the mirror.
The mirror game piqued my interest when I first entered college. I went to a college in upstate New York, I studied cyber security and was a loner for the first year I was there. It was clear to me that I needed to make friends, I started giving up on myself and found that I need to try to find a group of people that were similar to me before I had no one.
I had started looking at clubs throughout the college like Video games club, board games club, computer science club, cards club, magic clubs, and all that stuff. Nothing had piqued my interest and by the time I started to give up on finding a group of people I could connect with I received a letter. I lived in a solo dorm room so I could focus on my learning and didn’t have any friends so when I heard some shuffling and a letter sliding under my door it surprised me.
I took off my headphones and made my way to the entrance, I was greeted with a black letter with a red wax stamp. It looked and felt old, I could hear the paper starting to crack as I opened it. Its appearance gave me anxiety, something about it just wasn’t right.The letter read
-———————————————————————————————————–
To Dorm
Room 234
Albany. NY
###### ####
Dear Dorm Room 234It has come to my attention that you are in search of like-minded Individuals. I am inviting you to come check out WWW.OCC I think You will find that everything you are looking for will be found.Go To ########## ##### ### Tuesday 8:30 PM
Thank you
For Your Time
-#### ######
-———————————————————————————————————–
I opened the door to my dorm room and found nobody outside, I had even checked through the blinds of my window to see if I could see anyone leaving through the exit but there was no one. This meant that whoever left it was probably a member of the same dorm as me, or was incredibly fast.I was unsettled for the rest of the night and all I could think about was that note. It was as if an abyss had opened up into my stomach. I was incredibly shy and the thought of someone watching me had put paranoia into my brain.
Who could this person be?Is it safe to actually go?
I had no clue, but I wanted to make more friends. Getting out of my comfort zone was something I was looking to do. Maybe someone doing this was doing me a favor because they could see how shy I was. They decided to make the first move for me, would it be wrong for me to say no to an offer, especially with how much effort was put into inviting me?
I eventually pondered the idea of going for a while and settled on just doing it. What was the worst that could happen? They gave me a number to a room inside the college. When the time had finally come, I had decided to go.
I was met with one of the older buildings on campus, it was rarely used. Mainly for obscure unpopular clubs. This building was fairly run down, the wallpaper was old, and a strong smell of mildew ran throughout the air. I walked through the building and entered the second story of it. I made my way down a hall of classrooms. When I found the room I was told to meet at, the door had a piece of paper with the words “WWW.OCC” written on it.
I opened the door and entered the classroom. The room was empty of people, all that could be seen was a line of desks facing a chalkboard. It was dark so I looked for the light switch and flipped it on but at last, nothing happened. I made my way to the chalkboard and was met with the same abbreviation I had been met with this whole time. “WWW.OCC” was written across it. Under it had a time written “8:30 pm”.
I was mildly infuriated and a little worried by the fact I was led into a dark room. I said out loud to myself “What a waste of time” and went to turn around when I was frozen before I could find myself facing the back of the room.
Rustling and the sound of a door creaking could be heard.Someone then began to whisper to me.”Are you here for the club?”
I turned around and was met with a heavier-set guy with glasses and black hair.I told him “Yes, where is everyone?”
“We are in the back, we keep this room secret because it’s probably one of the nicest. Plus it gets the best internet connection compared to any other part of the building.” He told me
That’s when I realized the door frame he was standing in ushering me in, was originally being blocked by a map of the world that was hung down in the back of the classroom. Making it hard to see the door frame he was standing in.
“Come in the back and meet the gang” is what he told me
I followed him into the back, and we pulled down the map blocking the door from being seen. I was met with a small computer room with four other members inside. The room smelled like cigarettes, but it was well-kept, unlike the other rooms in the building. They even had posters on the walls of their favorite anime and movies—typical nerdy stuff.
I looked around, and I was met with a group of people, outcasts like me. It was clear from the first sight I got of them—your typical nerds, sitting there playing RuneScape, browsing Reddit, and 4chan. One of them piped up and reached his hand out to me.
“Hi, newbie. My name is Liam Anderson. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”He reached out, and we shook hands. As we did, he pointed to the other members, giving me their names.
“Our short but lovable chubby friend right there on your left is Owen Donovan. He’s here studying game design, and the two fellas to your right are Jackson Bennett and Marcus Bennett, brothers studying business. If you were wondering about me, I am undecided.”
I shook their hands, introducing myself to them.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all, but what exactly kind of club is this?”My question took them aback. Immediate confusion was written all over their faces.”You mean you don’t know?” Owen piped up.
“No, I really don’t.”
“This is WWW.OCC! We study the paranormal and really anything spooky that piques our interests online,” Liam said in an excited tone of voice.
“So you guys are like virtual ghost hunters?”
“Exactly!” Liam said in an eager voice. “Just without the suits,” Marcus added with a chuckle.”Is that why one of you gave me this creepy letter under my dorm room door?”
They looked at the letter and told me that none of them gave it to me. They explained that some other clubs like to make fun of them, and it was probably someone making fun of me, trying to put me in the loser club. They were clearly not the most popular club on the campus.
I took a chance with them all, though, and decided to stay. They set me up on one of the computers, and we all played RuneScape for hours while they showed me the ropes. We’d spend most of our days meeting up, discovering weird stuff online, trying to play internet detectives figuring out what was real and what was fake—just goofy stuff.
Honestly, everything was fine until we started trying to find some really hardcore stuff. Marcus’s brother Jackson started pressuring us to use the dark web more often. He explained how it was more interesting than the web we use now. We all used the dark web for chat forums before, but he explained that he found one that was just too interesting to pass up.
He got onto Tor and guided us to the website. It was called #################. It was a forum of people claiming to be tourists from other worlds. Long posts consisting of thousands of words detailing that they have been traveling to other realities, explaining how they set the website up to let them communicate with each other throughout any reality they were in.
The posts were weird, and the website had certain sections depending on which reality the people claimed to be from—things like “Alternate timeline realities where JFK never got shot,” “World War 2 Never Happened.” Things like that.
We all agreed it was crazy, and Jackson kept telling us to trust him. He clicked on a link on the bottom of the page labeled “Unknown Tourist Guide To Space-Time.”
It led us to a forum post created by a user named “Mark.” It was a small post giving details on how to be like most of the users on the website—a “tourist,” and the guide said this:
================================================================================== “Post by Markdate ###Time ####
If you are sick of the boring mundane reality that you are living in and wish to experience something more but at a risk, I welcome you to play the game we all enjoy and love on this website. I will warn you, though, even though plenty of us make posts talking about the exciting different realities we come across, it is still dangerous. Make the wrong move, and you could be in a reality where the Nazis have taken over and the world is thrown into hellfire chaos.
We have nicknamed this form of travel we all use ‘The Mirror Game’ because at the end of the day, yes, you can have fun and enjoy yourselves in these other realities, but it is always a gamble to where you may end up. Reread the last paragraph if you still don’t understand. Know that because I am sharing this guide to you on how to do it, know I am not responsible for your well-being, and you are doing this all on your own. You are responsible for your own person, and if you decide to do this with others, do not pressure them; this is a road of infinite possibilities. One cannot take this decision lightly.
If you’ve decided to keep reading after all of my warnings, congrats, you are as crazy as the rest of us on this forum. There are many things you will need to start the mirror game.First step, which is pretty clear, a mirror. Do not pick something small; it will not work. Find one that you can easily walk through, like a full-body mirror.
A backpack full of food and a life straw.
A tent and sleeping bag; you do not want to end up in the woods of some other reality freezing in the rain.
Once you have all that together, get your mirror and place it against a flat wall.
Write on the mirror in your blood your name, date of birth, and the current time * if you are doing this with others, you all have to*
Once that step is completed, you have to flip the mirror around and write these special words @(#@()#@)(#@)(*#@)
Once that is complete, turn the mirror around; you will notice it does not reflect you anymore but is clear like some kind of doorway. Once you take your first step through, you have become one of us. Congratulations; you are now a full-time member of this forum. A ‘Tourist’ and a new member. Thanks for joining us in the ‘Mirror Game.’
================================================================================”That’s nuts!” Owen said while laughing.
“You think that is all possible?” said Owen.
Liam replied, “Who is to say? That’s the fun mystery of the whole thing. If it is, we all get to have a fun little break from our world. Who would pass up on that offer?” His eagerness had convinced us, and we all settled on a time. Summer break is when we would do this. It would give us time off and the ability to buy all the stuff necessary for the trip.
We studied hard for the rest of the semester, battling our way through school work, with this fun, stupid goal on our minds. Even though none of us believed it to be true, the idea of going to another world was fun to think about. It gave us some form of stupid hope to get done our work as if it was some reward at the end of the semester.
When the time fully came, we all gathered our stuff together and went back to our club spot. This was to be our last meeting before we all were forced to leave campus and go home for the break. Jackson brought a huge mirror, and we all followed the steps, writing everything in our blood and flipping it over, writing the #!@$@$@$ on the back of it. We all stepped back as Liam prepared to flip the mirror around, and when he did, we were met with nothing. Liam put it flat against the wall.We were all quietly disappointed. Even though we all knew it wasn’t going to be real, we all hoped in our hearts a little bit that something would actually happen. It was fun hanging out with everyone through this semester, but at last, all things end eventually, and it was time for us to all go home for the break.
When we all left the room and began walking out of the building, we heard Jackson’s screams coming from down the halls. He was yelling for us all to come back, and we did. What we were met with was the mirror flipped back around, and it appeared as if we were staring into an alternate version of the room we were in, reflecting back at us.
“Is that real?” I said with fear entering my throat. We were all stunned. Owen broke the silence by laughing and telling Jackson he was a really funny guy and that the joke was over. We watched as Owen marched his way over to the mirror and joked that it’s just a screen until he actually went through it.
We saw his face turn into pure horror when he made his way to the other side. I ran in after him, and soon everyone else followed suit. We were met with a broken-down, water-damaged room, and smashed computers. It was like the place was completely abandoned and unkempt. Everyone started freaking out when we looked out the windows and were met with a world like our own but run down. Everything had a weird tint of gray to everything, as if the saturation on life was turned down.
We turned around to leave because Liam started to have a panic attack. But that’s when we discovered something… the mirror was cracked, leaving us with no way to return. That was how we found ourselves “Tourists” with no home to go back to for a long time. Now that I’m finally back I am here to share our story.