Light as a feather, stiff as a board

All versions of the game end with the phrase "light as a feather, stiff as a board" chanted by those standing around the "dead" player as they attempt to lift their companion's body using only their fingertips.

The volunteers will then perform some small ritual, usually involving rubbing their hands together or circling the chair in various direction (counter-clockwise, walking backwards, etc.)

Also, it can be that the lifters lift the person sitting in the chair; doing the rest of the ritual as so, but holding at the four main points of the body (under the knees on each side and under the shoulders).

Pepys’s account of Mr. Brisband’s experience reads: He saw four little girls, very young ones, all kneeling, each of them, upon one knee; and one begun the first line, whispering in the ear of the next, and the second to the third, and the third to the fourth, and she to the first.

In this account, the heaviest man at a party in Venice, Italy, sits in a chair, and is unable to be lifted by six other persons, initially.

[5] The phenomenon has been observed into modern times, often being described as a form of spiritualism or seance and considered anathema by some religious groups.

It is widely considered a simple spooky party game along the lines of Bloody Mary and the telling of ghost stories.

The game appears in the 1996 film The Craft, which follows the story of four high school students as they familiarize themselves with witchcraft and various arcane experiments—one of which is light as a feather, stiff as a board.

In the movie, the four young women are seen performing the version of the game described in Samuel Pepys’ diary, which involves one participant lying down, while the others kneel around her.